Bill Mathis won third place in the 2020 Chicago Writers Association First Chapter Award for his most recent novel, Memory Tree, published May 2021. He also won first place for Revenge is Necessary that published in December 2020. He received the 2019 Pencraft Runner Up award for Family Fiction for his novel, The Rooming House Diaries. Bill began writing after he retired from careers in YMCA camping and foster care. His books involve family, warts and all, usually some LGBTQ characters, diversity and non-DNA family. He resides in Beloit, Wisconsin and enjoys writing, reading, volunteering and traveling.