Vikk Simmons
City Expert
Vikk Simmons has a traveler's spirit and the soul of an explorer. An avid reader, writer, blogger, reviewer, and photographer, she is passionate about writing and traveling and loves to combine the two. Coming from a military family, she has lived in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Germany, and now makes her home base in Houston, Texas, where her father worked in the space program. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Vermont College and has taught writing at local community colleges.
Vikk is the co-author of three travel books: Exploring Texas History: Weekend Adventures, Exploring Houston with Children, and Exploring the Arts and Cultures in Houston with Children. In 2005 she participated in the Texas Book Festival as a panelist on Texas travel writing. Barnes and Nobles named her a 2001 Author of the Month for Exploring Houston with Children.
Vikk is also celebrated for her young adult novels, Divided Loyalties and Video Magic. She has been certified as a Journal to the Self instructor, and has facilitated writing and journaling groups, as well as several Artist’s Way groups. She is often asked to speak on the subjects of creativity, the publishing industry, the business and craft of writing, and, of course, travel writing. In 2005 she participated in the Texas Book Festival as a panelist on Texas travel writing.
When she is not traveling, writing, teaching or lecturing, Vikk participates in local animal rescue and her home is filled with adopted dogs and cats. In the spring she gardens. In the winter she indulges her passion for Greek icon painting and mixed-media collage. In between she blogs, photographs the world around her, meditates, and thinks about new territory to explore.
Vikk maintains a blog where she comments on the writing life and the publishing industry at www.thewriterspath.com. As a result of her young adult novels, she has a website dedicated to teens at www.teenstakeaction.com. Contact Vikk at vikksimmons@aol.com.
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Aaron Hermes
Photographer
Aaron Hermes is a Texas native who resides in Houston, making music and artworks at Free Range Studios, an artists' complex, performance space, and gallery that he founded in 2001. A versatile audio and visual artist, Aaron plays the sitar, drums, percussion, and creates paintings, photography, and expresses himself in other mediums. He attempts, through these various mediums, to explore and define life, evolution, and the moment.
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Ankah Hagakore
Photographer
Ankah's dad is one of those Asians who loves to take copious quantities of photos that end up living in a box for years. He purchased a high-end pro-consumer Canon SLR in the late 80s just to take tourist photos of the cities they visited on the Hagakore station wagon tour. Little Ankah sneaked the camera out occasionaly and dropped it once on concrete at a water park, cracking the LCD screen. She used this same camera through high school and college to take black and white photographs that went on to win awards and earn publication in art journals. Ankah has lived in NY, MA, DC, & TX. Her education includes the studies of writing, literature, art history, photography, and spirituality. She is slowly creating an external life that reflects her internal life. Her life purpose is to communicate and understand creative expression.
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