Helyn Edwards
Born: 1955 in Chicago, IL
Pen Name: H. M. Edwards Connection to Illinois: Edwards was born and raised in Chicago and lived briefly in North Chicago while her father taught Electronics at the Great Lakes Naval Station. She graduated with a M. S. & B. S. in Psychology/Corrections from Chicago State University and A. A. S. in Aviation from Daley College. Most of her adult years were spent in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. Two of her books, ''The Bridge Club'' and '''No, N-O-E, No' - The Cicero Riot Story'' take place in Illinois. The main characters in both are based on her great-grandparents' lives. In '''No, N-O-E, No' - The Cicero Riot Story'', she recounts growing up in Chicago - one side of her family moves to Chicago in the 1890's, the other side moves to North Chicago in 1905, and how they were involved in the 1951 Cicero Riot, aka Berwyn Riot. Biography: H. M. (Helyn) Edwards has been a professional tennis player and coach, college tennis coach, and certified teaching tennis professional for the past forty years. She has advanced degrees and certification in Corrections-Psychology where she has been a counselor and a college instructor on the undergraduate level. Her degree in Aviation helped her become a private pilot with single engine (SEL), multi-engine (MEL), and instrument training (IFR). In early years she started writing as a past-time. In later years she wrote trade manuals for the governing body of tennis as an employee and as a consultant. Currently she focuses her energies on taking care of her parents, writing, and discovering family history and genealogy, such as being descendants of a Creek Native American, Civil War veterans from both sides, slaves, freedmen, plantation owners, possibly President John Q. Adams and one of the creators of 'policy' in Chicago.Some of Edwards works include three fiction novels: ''The Bridge Club'', ''B.L.T. - Basketball, Love, & Tennis'', and ''Could It Be Your Neighbor''. She is also the author of several non-fiction works: (1), ''No, N-O-E, No - The Cicero Riot Story'' which received a 2012 NY Book Festival Honorable Mention; (2) ''The Psychopathology of Inappropriate Behaviors''; (3) Manual ''for Teaching Adaptive Tennis''; (4) ''Curriculum for Teaching Tennis to Special Populations''; (5) ''Manual para la ensenanza Tenis Adaptado''; (6) ''NJTL On-Court Guide''; (7) ''Program Development Guide''; and (8) ''The Secret of Doubles''. She has also penned a script called ''Mind Games'', two songs: ''All Right I Guess'' and ''A Love for All Seasons'', and seventy-eight articles as a blogger/sportswriter for the 'Sportsnet' of the International Business Times.Her most important work to date, is the non-fiction novel on her family, '''No, N-O-E, No' - The Cicero Riot Story''. It focuses on her family ethics and history; how they came into money and lost it; and what happened to them after being indicted for starting Chicago's second worst race riot, the 1951 Cicero a. k. a. Berwyn Riot. Growing up during 'Jim Crow' and the Civil Rights Era in the very segregated city of Chicago, she experienced many prejudices like her family before her. The family had kept quiet on the destruction of their lives and the murder of a family member for sixty years. The research and the journey to uncover the past revealed in the book has helped her to dispel the notion that her family started Chicago's second worst race riot and has sparked an on-going appreciation of her family's struggles, values, and triumphs as the mystery of her multiracial ancestors unfolds.
Awards:
- '''''The Bridge Club'''''
- -- Honorable Mention, Paris Book Festival, 2014 '''''"No, N-O-E, No" - The Cicero Riot Story'''''
- -- Honorable Mention, New York Book Festival, 2012
Email: authorhmedwards@live.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorhm.edwards
Website: http://www.hmedwards.webs.com/
Helyn Edwards on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=helyn+edwards
Selected Titles
| No, N-O-E, No : ISBN: 9780615597348 OCLC: 946596575 60 Years Ago - One Family was Accused of Starting Chicago's Second Worst Race Riot - Attorney George C. Adams and Charles S. Edwards, Realtor, were in the business of buying and selling property. They bought the wrong property from the wrong person in the wrong town. Almost five thousand watched as the riot reached its peak. The lawsuits and aftermath left one family member dead and others hurt, physically, psychologically, and financially for decades to come.--Page 4 of cover. |