Kathleen M. Kline, President
Kathleen M. Kline has been putting words to paper and screen since Oct. of 1991. Her craft has taken shape, grown and expanded from the newspaper and magazine industries to the book, booklet, teaching, coaching and publishing arenas. This self-starter began learning with Writer’s Digest magazine’s teachings and then added her university education which led to industry training and experience to her growing craft. She is an author of Memoirs, Fiction and Self-Help books while she coaches internationally and enjoys encouraging writers and aspiring authors in and around her community as well as her expanded community world-wide.
Julie Bonderov, Vice President
Julie enjoys children, animals, music and color. She writes memoir, poetry, children’s stories, songs, and devotionals. Her writing has been published in Writers of Kern Anthologies. She is a recipient of the 2026 Peggy Connelly Scholarship for children’s authors and is working with an illustrator towards publishing her story, Twinkle. Julie is a retired RN who worked in pediatrics, as a school nurse, and as a camp nurse. She appreciates other cultures, languages and cuisine. She has quite a collection of hats and collects how to say, “Don’t cry.” in other languages.
Jennette Green, Secretary
Jennette Green writes sweet romance with a touch of spice. She fell in love with writing when she was seven. As a teen, while traveling on a sailboat with her family in Central America, she filled notebooks with stories. Her books have received “Reader’s Favorite Hero,” “Reviewer’s Choice Award” and more. Snowstorm was an international bestseller. In addition, she helps authors format their books and covers for print and ebook distribution, and in 2020 published the well-received second edition of Book Formatting for Self-Publishers, a Comprehensive How to Guide. You can discover more about her books at JennetteGreen.com.
Carla Stanley, Treasurer
Carla Stanley has been writing for years, but it wasn’t until 2017, when she retired from teaching high school English and Theater, that she got serious. Since taking a memoir writing class in 2018, Carla has written over 150 memoirs to share with family and friends. Carla has continued the playwriting she polished working with students for 14 years at Shafter High School. In 2022, one of her short plays was performed at Bakersfield Community Theater’s One-Act Festival. Carla joined WOK during the pandemic and participated in many Zoom Open Mic events. Her poem “Veterans” and her short story “A Bunch of Bull” were published in the 2021 Writers of Kern Anthology Pathway to the Heart.
Lisa-Behrens Smith, Critique Group Coordinator
Lisa-Behrens Smith is a Santa Barbara Foundation scholarship recipient and a two-time Santa Barbara Writers Conference section winner. She currently lives with her husband in Bakersfield and teaches junior high Social Studies while working on her second book, a memoir of her college years as 40-year-old re-entry student living in the dorms at UC Santa Barbara. You can discover more about her at lisa-b-smith.com.
Stephanie Apsit, Sunshine Chair
Stephanie Apsit is our wonderful Sunshine Chair. Stephanie sends holiday, get-well, birthday (if we have your birth month), sympathy, and other supportive cards to the Writers of Kern members. Every card is filled with nurturing, caring thoughts, sending rays of peace and comfort to uplift our fellow members’ spirits. How do we know when those special occasions, illnesses, or hardships arise? We rely on you, our WOK members, to alert Stephanie by emailing her the information: sunshine@writersofkern.com.
Gay Chambers, Member at Large
Gay Suzette Chambers, also known as G. S. Chambers enjoyed working for the same school district for 28 years until her retirement and the librarian’s job was a perfect fit. The students had inspired her to pursue a new interest in writing children’s books. She is the author of a children’s series “It Takes a Pond” with the fourth book coming out soon. Gay is a member of Writers of Kern and SCBWI. She has an awesome critique group that meets twice a month and a wonderful Bible Study group that keeps her on the right track. Besides writing, she knits, makes quilted bags for new babies at the church and card making.
Shirleen Nunn, Social Media Manager
Shirleen Nunn is our wonderful Social Media Manager. A few of the many things she does is update events on our Facebook page and contact the Bakersfield Californian each month with information about our upcoming month’s meeting and speaker.
Jennette Green, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster
Jennette Green writes sweet romance with a touch of spice. She fell in love with writing when she was seven. As a teen, while traveling on a sailboat with her family in Central America, she filled notebooks with stories. Her books have received “Reader’s Favorite Hero,” “Reviewer’s Choice Award” and more. Snowstorm was an international bestseller. In addition, she helps authors format their books and covers for print and ebook distribution, and in 2020 published the well-received second edition of Book Formatting for Self-Publishers, a Comprehensive How to Guide. You can discover more about her books at JennetteGreen.com.
Sandy Moffett, CWC Representative, Membership Chair
Sandy Moffett has been a poet and lyricist for more than 40 years. She is an inspirational speaker for women’s groups and uses her personal life experiences and history as a third-generation funeral owner to help those who are grieving.
Sandy’s tales as a funeral singer have appeared in, Mortuary Management and International Mortuary and Cemetery Management. She is the author of Dear Ones, a collection of poetry and prose and has had stories published in Cup of Comfort: Devotional for Mothers and Daughters and Chicken Soup for the Soul Angels Among Us.