Maureen-Mackenzie-Ruppel-C-2.png” alt=”Maureen Maureen Mackenzie-Ruppel” width=”160″ height=”159″ />TAA Member Dr. Maureen L. Mackenzie-Ruppel, authored The Fearless Speaker: The Strategic Presenter’s Playbook, published by SophiaOmni on August 5.
The Fearless Speaker delivers a powerful and proven roadmap for mastering public speaking and transforming fear into focused intentional presence.
It’s your final curtain call to put forward a session for the 2027 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference in Austin, TX. The deadline is approaching – submit before Friday, October 9, 2026.
A big thank you to anatomy and physiology textbook author Kenneth Saladin for his donation of $15,000 in support of TAA’s efforts to guide authors through the Bartz v Anthropic settlement process.
“Thank you so much for TAA’s immeasurably helpful information on how we authors can advocate for a just apportionment of the Anthropic settlement,” he said. “I think most of us would be lost without this, particularly since counsel for the class cannot represent or advise any one of us as individuals. It’s probably more than I stand to get in settlement even for my eligible books, but fighting for principles is more important to me than fighting for money. Anthropic isn’t the last AI battle that authors will have to fight, but it will help lay the groundwork to perhaps make others a little easier.”
Two TAA members whose works are included in the settlement have generously shared their arguments in support of their settlement percentage allocations. We have added links to the downloadable PDFs on our guidance page, “Contract Considerations for Authors in Anthropic Settlement Process” (available to TAA members only). Both authors, who will remain anonymous, hoped that sharing their arguments would help other authors in developing their own. We are thankful for their support of other authors whose works are included in the settlement!
There have been some exceptional session proposals coming through so far, but we know there are still plenty of writing tips and strategies out there waiting to be shared to help inspire other textbook and/or academic authors at any stage of their career.
Our focus remains on networking and professional development throughout the 2027 Conference. If you have a collection of tips, or an interactive session style that gets people talking and networking, we want you on our agenda! Help us create an environment where attendees don’t just listen but actively collaborate and walk away with actionable strategies.
