Bill Mathis

Bill Mathis won the 2019 Pencraft Runners Up Award for Family Fiction. He is a Preacher's Kid from Clarksville, Michigan. Bill directed YMCA camps and worked with foster children. He grew up in a tiny town filled with other big families, which may be the reason he frequently writes about family -- maybe it's therapy? He has children, grandchildren, is divorced, retired, and lives with his partner near the Rock River in Beloit, Wisconsin (a wonderful town) from where he can see Illinois. He travels, reads, writes, volunteers with hospice, and eats. He’s trying to lose weight - hopefully next year.

Bill's books are about family, warts and all, diversity, and usually include some LGBTQ characters. His second novel, ‘The Rooming House Diaries: Life, Love & Secrets,’ is based upon diaries and correspondence discovered in an old Chicago rooming house. Against the backdrop of history from the 1880's to 2009, it details the lives of the owners and some residents and how non-DNA persons become family. Kirkus Reviews said the book is, "A story of secrecy, suffering, fortitude, and compassion that demonstrates an exceptional understanding of the human psyche."

Bill's third novel, The Rooming House Gallery, is a companion to The Rooming House Diaries and will publish in June 2020. It's a love story that explores what happens to the old place and to the new owners as they struggle to turn it into a community art center at the same time as they're developing their own non-DNA family.

Bill's first novel, ‘Face Your Fears,’ is based from his life experiences working with marginalized youth and families, and his imagination. His experiences working with diverse populations including the disabled and foster children played a major role in the writing.

He is currently finishing his fourth novel, Revenge Is Necessary. Set in the corn and soybean farms of Southwest Minnesota, the book involves finding out the husband and father is a sociopath.