About.
Bio
Nancy Dane is an author and lecturer with expertise on the American Civil War in Arkansas. Her Tattered Glory novel series won the 2011 Fiction Award presented by the Arkansas Library Association, and her children’s book titled Sarah Campbell, Tale of a Civil War Orphan, an Amazon Reader’s Favorite winner, won the award for best children’s history book for 2016 presented by the Arkansas Historical Society. The Arkansas Center for the Book featured another of Dane’s books for children, William’s Story, as an Arkansas Gem at the 2016 National Book Fair in Washington, DC.
Her detailed research is compiled into a documentary history book titled Tattered Glory, which along with the four-novel series is used as curriculum in Arkansas schools and colleges. Where the Road Begins and the companion novel, A Long Way to Go, are from the Confederate perspective. A Difference of Opinion and An Enduring Union are written from the pro-Union standpoint.
The Civil War children’s series includes titles Sarah Campbell, William’s Story, and A Boy Named David. Ms Dane also writes newspaper serials for children. The Arkansas Newspaper Association features installments of her work in the Newspapers in Education programs.
Dane’s novel titled A Reasonable Doubt moves forward in time to the Reconstruction era. This was a time in Arkansas of tragic events almost equaling the war years. And her novel Jackson Loring is an Arkansas home front story about WWII. Her title Secrets was released in 2018 and her novel Smoke in the Hollows in 2020, and Deep Trouble in 2023.
Along with lecturing to civic groups and schools, Nancy also conducts professional development seminars. She and her husband, Louis, currently reside in Johnson County, Arkansas. They are the proud parents of four children, who have blessed them with a dozen grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Why I Write…
At age seven, I first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. I instantly fell in love with reading and longed to write something to entertain and bring readers joy.
Then, as is so often the case, life happened. I grew up, married, and had four children. My husband and I bought a farm and began raising kids and cows. If you know anything about farm life, you know it is time consuming! My desire to write got shoved into a drawer, along with a few of my scribbles.
Fast forward twenty years. When our last child was heading off to college, my husband shocked me with the announcement that we needed to get out of the cattle business.
WOW! What now? The short version is, after earnest prayer, I felt the time had come to pursue my long-forgotten dream of writing. And the rest is history.
At the numerous events I’ve done around the country, I’ve met literally hundreds of people who have told me, “Someday, I want to write a book.” I always say, “If a little Arkansas farm wife can do it, why not you?”