Lillian Dean Inspiration Award
The Lillian Dean Inspiration Award is given by the Central Coast Writers Conference to a Central Coast author or mentor who has demonstrated achievement, dedication, and facilitated early writers to grow and flourish. The recipient is a mentor and peer to all who tap the keys and strive to create with the written word. The award is named for Lillian Dean, the Cuesta College instructor who created the Central Coast Writers Conference 35 years ago and encouraged writers to improve their skills and ultimately publish. Past recipients include Carroll Leslie, Wendelin Van Draanen, Tom Wilmer, David Congalton, Paul Alan Fahey, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Judy Salamacha, and other distinguished writers and supporters.
The Lillian Dean Inspiration Award Recipient for 2020 is...
Janice Konstantinidis
The Cuesta College Central Coast Writers Conference congratulates
Janice Konstantinidis
About Janice:
Janice has shown a true dedication and commitment to local writers through her roles as the President of the SLO NightWriters group, CCWC Advisory Committee member (5 years and counting!), and her hours of instruction teaching poetry classes. Janice is well known for her wicked and quick ability to sculpt a limerick out of thin air, to the delight of everyone.
Janice is a poet with a fascination for limericks. She is currently writing her memoir; she enjoys writing short stories. Janice was born in Tasmania, Australia. She retired to the Central Coast of California in 2005.
Some of Janice’s poems have been published in literary magazines over the past several years. She won first place for Creative nonfiction and first second place for poetry in the Lillian Dean writing contest in 2014. Her new book of limericks in collaboration with a nature photographer with a specific focus on birds is titled 'Words Of Beak.' Janice draws inspiration from her past and nature. She has deep regard and sense of the transience of life.