Dallas Woman’s Forum presents

2nd Annual Literary Salon

Authors’ Panel and Book Signing

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Saturday, March 15, 2025

2:00 – 5:00 PM

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Alexander Mansion

4607 Ross Ave, Dallas, TX

Reservations Required

$25 per guest

Click Here for Reservations

Please join us for our Literary Salon Authors’ Panel and Book Signing

We are thrilled to invite you to our second annual Literary Salon Authors’ Panel and Book Signing on Saturday, March 15th from 2:00 – 5:00 PM. This exciting event will feature five fantastic, local authors from various genres. Join us for a moderated panel where you can learn about their unique writing styles, their current books, and their inspiring publishing stories.

The event will kick off with the panel discussion, which will take place in the ballroom upstairs. Our esteemed authors will share insights into their writing process and answer questions from the audience. Following the panel, each author will have their books available for purchase, signing, and will be happy to spend some time chatting with our guests.

We have carefully selected these authors for their exceptional talent and diverse range of genres. Whether you’re a fan of romance, mystery, fantasy, or non-fiction, there will be something for everyone. Get to know our authors and discover your next favorite book!

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to engage with local authors and support their work. Mark your calendars for March 15th and join us for an afternoon of literary delight. We can’t wait to see you there!

About our Authors

Ashley N. Hence

Ashley N. Hence is a modern romance novelist. She is a native of Arkansas, raised in Pine Bluff and currently resides in Dallas, Texas. She has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology/Sociology from The University of Central Arkansas. She has a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling and is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor.

Ashley’s passion for writing was initiated by her love for reading which fueled her ideas for stories of her own. Her creativity and ability to wordplay makes her a prolific writer. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She also enjoys running, volunteering, traveling abroad and stateside. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

John Leake

John Leake studied history and philosophy with Sir Roger Scruton at Boston University. He then went to Vienna, Austria on a graduate school scholarship and ended up living in the city for over a decade, working as a freelance writer and translator. His first book, Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG) was a New York Times Sunday Book Review “Editors’ Choice,” a Men’s Vogue “Best Book of 2007,” and the inspiration of The Infernal Comedy, starring John Malkovich.

His second book, Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery, was winner of the 2012 Independent Publisher Award. The German translation, Eiskalter Tod, published by the Residenz Verlag was a bestseller in Austria. His investigative work for the Jack Unterweger, Duncan MacPherson, and Angelika Foeger stories has been the subject of numerous television documentaries produced by A&E Biography, Discovery, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Fifth Estate, and the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation’s Am Schauplatz Gericht.

In March 2020, when SARS-CoV-2 started to spread in the United States, he perceived that the pandemic response was illogical at best, and possibly criminal. He found it especially suspicious how quickly public health officials dismissed repurposed medications such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. In November of 2020, he watched a video of Dr. Peter McCullough’s U.S. Senate testimony about early treatment. He sensed from this performance that Dr. McCullough was likely to lead the way in developing a more rational, honest, and humane response to the crisis. He made contact with McCullough in Dallas, Texas, where both authors live, and together they wrote The Courage to Face COVID-19.

Kathie “Pixie” Truitt

As a former radio personality, Kathie “Pixie” Truitt considers herself a storyteller rather than a writer. She may have never started writing if her 6th grade teacher hadn’t encouraged her to put her imagination to paper. Soon, she was writing and producing plays for her 6th grade class.

While she wrote advertising copy and her own comedic material for her show and other emceeing gigs, she never felt she had the material for a book. That dilemma was solved when she moved to the Washington DC area and was stalked by a crazed neighbor for 3 years. That nightmare culminated into her first novel False Victim which became a documentary on Investigation Discovery and in 2020 a Lifetime Movie titled, The Neighbor in the Window.

‘False Victim’ may have put Pixie on the map, but her second novel The Hillbilly Debutante Cafe is her very favorite. A fun, cozy mystery that takes place in her childhood home in Southwest Missouri, it’s been described as a mixture of “Fried Green Tomatoes” and “Steel Magnolias”, with “My Name is Earl” sprinkled on top. Truitt’s 3^rd novel, The Hillbilly Debutante Mercantile and Pie Shoppe is the 2^nd and final in the Hillbilly Debutante series. Why only 2 books in a series, you ask? Because when you write a book about your home town, even though it’s fiction and the characters are just your crazy imagination, everyone thinks it’s about them. On a brighter note, The Hillbilly Debutante Cafe was a top ten Screencraft Finalist in 2020.

Ignoring the famous ‘Thomas Wolf’ quote ‘You can’t go home, again”, Pixie tried. Really, she did. Learning her lesson, she high-tailed it back to Texas. She will never leave the Lone Star state again. When pressed, Pixie says she may never write another book. But if she does, it will take place in a totally, made-up, fictitious town – somewhere in outer space.

Michael J. Mooney

Michael J. Mooney is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Life and Legend of Chris Kyle. He is a regular contributor to The Atlantic, GQ, ESPN the Magazine, Texas Monthly, and Politico. His stories have appeared in multiple editions of The Best American Crime Reporting and The Best American Sports Writing. His GQ story about a 21-year-old man who convinced an entire Texas town that he was a 15-year-old orphan, and then became the star of the high school basketball team, is currently in pre-production with producer Andrew Hevia, who won an Oscar for Best Picture with Moonlight. Mooney’s Atlantic feature about a married mother who ran a prison dog program, fell in love with a convicted murderer, and then helped him escape, was recently optioned by Warner Bros. Television Studios. He’s been interviewed as a subject-matter expert on Dateline NBC, and on a variety of shows on CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and Investigative Discovery. From 2015 to 2019, he was director of the annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. Mooney lives in Dallas with his wife, Tara, and their son, Cormac.

Rusty Williams

About Texas Loud, Proud, and Brash: “We don’t look down on everybody else,” a Texan bragged recently. “We just don’t look up to anyone.”

If you’ve ever wondered how Texans gained a reputation for being oversized, cocky, self-promotional, sports-crazy, and too rich for their own damn good, Texas Loud, Proud, and Brash — How Ten Mavericks Created the Twentieth-Century Lone Star State (new from Rowman & Littlefield) has the answers. In 1925, most non-Texans wrote off the state as little more than cactus, cattle, and cowboys; by 1950, Life Magazine (among others) was dedicating multi-page spreads to Texas sports teams, Texas women, Texas oil millionaires, and the locals who bragged about everything Texan.

Ten unique Texans, people who — through their accomplishments, actions, and words — gained national attention between 1925 and 1950. Those individuals painted an indelible picture of the Lone Star State that continues to percolate throughout the nation’s popular culture today.

In Texas Loud, Proud, and Brash you’ll meet a seventeen-year-old Beaumont secretary who took up track and field in 1930 and became an internationally-known phenom at the Olympics two years later. You’ll read about a small-town West Texas newspaper editor who captured the nation’s attention with his dispatches about a unique type of Texas wildlife. And there’s the shy Hunt County cotton-picker who became the boyish face of every GI returning from WWII.

Even if you’re not a Texan, you’ll be fascinated with the stories of these mavericks and how they branded the Lone Star State with its lasting reputation for being loud, proud, and brash. Author Rusty Williams shares the only-in-Texas stories of those mavericks whose words and accomplishments defined Texas in the mid-twentieth century.

Important Notes about Tickets

You will NOT receive tickets in the mail.

Your confirmation of purchase will be your receipt delivered to your email address.

Please make sure your phone and email address are correct upon check out.

Check your spam/junk email folder if you do not see a confirmation email in your inbox.

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Reservation Cancellations and Ticket Refund Policy

All purchases are final. No refunds will be issued.

Your ticket is transferable to another person. Please contact us to change the name on the reservation. Email us at [email protected].

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Accessibility Notice

Please note, the Literary Salon panel discussion will take place upstairs on the 2nd level. Due to the historic status of the Alexander Mansion, we do not have an elevator. We apologize for the inconvenience.

The Authors will be on the main level for a Meet & Greet and book signings following the panel discussion. There is an accessible ramp on the right hand side of the front porch. If you or your guest uses a wheelchair or other mobility assistive device, please email [email protected] to let us know.

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