Rose Marie Kern, President
Retired air traffic control specialist Rose Marie Kern is an award-winning author and a conference speaker. With more than 1,000 articles and four books published, Rose Marie thinks of herself primarily as a teacher. Though most of her work has been connected with aviation, she also writes about gardening, solar energy, and sustainable living practices. In addition to her own work, she has helped dozens of SWW members through the intricacies of self-publishing and is the editor of numerous SWW publications.
Brenda Cole, Vice President
Brenda Cole won her first writing contest at 13. Over the years she has become an award-winning author of nonfiction short stories. Brenda has been an educator for children from preschool through high school. Her multiple life sciences degrees led to teaching Biology and Western Medicine at three different institutions. Currently she splits her time between writing, art projects, and genealogy.
Jennifer Black, Treasurer
Jennifer Black joined SouthWest Writers in 2017. Answering a 2018 call to volunteer, she helped run the business table, which led to an invitation to join the Board in 2019. In 2018, she won first place in the David Morrell Prize for Fiction through the Albuquerque Museum’s Author Festival. She has been self-employed for eighteen years and lives west of Rio Rancho with her husband and animals.
Patricia Walkow, Secretary
Patricia Walkow is an award-winning author. Her work was honored in the 2016 William Faulkner Literary Competition. A full-length biography, The War Within, the Story of Josef, won first-place awards in national and international competitions. She writes short stories and essays and has contributed to both online and in-print anthologies, newspapers, and magazines. Ms. Walkow is a former systems manager in a Fortune 200 company and is a member of the Corrales Writing Group. She lives in Corrales with her husband, cats, and one very spoiled dog.
