Authors From Sand Springs
If there's one thing that the hills and lakes and spirit of Sand Springs are good for, it's inspiration. This unique Oklahoma town is filled with artists, including many published authors. Here are some of the talented writers who have called Sand Springs home over the years. Let us know if we’re missing anybody!
Judy Ballard
After a decades-long career with Sand Springs Public Schools, retired speech pathologist, counselor, and administrator Judy Ballard added author to her resume when she contributed to “Kid Me Not.” This anthology of true stories highlights women like Ballard who chose not to have children.
Zachary Brooks
Zachary Brooks is a Charles Page High School graduate and his short story horror anthology “Of Fear, Of Passion” was written heavily while he was still in school. Several of the individuals the book is dedicated to are CPHS teachers.
Opal Bennefield Clark-Moss
The late Opal Bennefield Clark-Moss was Sand Springs’ oldest citizen at the time of her death in 2018. She was 105 years old, and was one of the town’s earliest citizens as one of the first residents of the Sand Springs Widow’s Colony.
Opal published “A Fool’s Enterprise” in 1988, telling the life of Sand Springs founder Charles Page. She also wrote and illustrated children’s book “Leelore’s Unusual Choir” in 2000.
Steve Clem
Growing up in Sand Springs, CPHS 1972 graduate Steve Clem liked KAKC so much that he chose a career in radio. In 2010, Clem wrote and produced the award-winning radio documentary “Tulsa’s Top 40 Legend, KAKC,” which aired on KWGS 89.5 and contained reminiscences of former KAKC personnel. That led to his involvement in the Tulsa Historical Society exhibit, “The Big 97: Tulsa’s KAKC,” which opened in June 2011; many of the images in his first book are from that exhibit.
Images of America: Tulsa Movie Theaters (2021)
Images of America: Tulsa’s KAKC Radio: The Big 97 (2013)
David Emigh
David Emigh founded Word of Life Fellowship church in Sand Springs in 1981 after growing up in nearby Tulsa. He pastored Word of Life for 30 years before his death in 2011 and helped plant dozens of churches around the world.
David published his first book “Knowing the Father” in 1988, followed by “The Holy Spirit: Two Occurrences” in 2009. His final book, “The Fourfold Blessing of the Tithe” was published posthumously.
Scott Emigh
After graduating Charles Page High School in 2012, Scott Emigh founded Sandite Pride News in 2014 and has worked as a freelance journalist for publications such as the Sand Springs Leader, Owasso Reporter, Sapulpa Times, and Tulsa World. He published a commemorative magazine in 2017 to celebrate the Sandite Wrestling team’s State Championship.
Charles Watson Gray
The late Charles Watson Gray graduated Sand Springs High School in 1947 and spent 50 years as a news broadcaster in television and radio before retiring in Leawood, Kansas. Charles was inducted into the Sand Springs Education Foundation Hall of Fame in 2005 and passed away in 2016. He wrote “A Million Miles Over Kansas City: A Story of John Wagner” in 2000.
Neal Hallford
Charles Page High School class of 1984 graduate Neal Hallford began his decorated career in entertainment as a DJ at KTOW at the age of 17. There he wrote and produced the “Uncharted Regions” radio drama from 1984 to 1989. He then entered the computer gaming industry as a writer and designer, and he published his first book in 2001. In 1996 he relocated to San Diego, where he is now involved in the indie film scene.
Swords & Circuitry: A Designer’s Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games (2001)
The Derailment of the Sunset Limited (2012)
Sam Harris
Sam Harris was born and raised in Sand Springs and made his claim to fame by winning the first season of Star Search at the age of 22. He is now a Tony-nominated Broadway star, multi-platinum recording artist, television writer and actor, playwright, and author.
Sam published his first book, “Ham: Slices of Life” in 2014 and soon adapted it into a one-man show that he performed in New York and Los Angeles. His first novel, “The Substance of All Things” was published in 2020.
Sam now lives in Los Angeles with his husband and son.
The Substance of All Things (2020)
Ham: Slices of Life: Essays and Stories (2014)
Greg V. Hurd
Longtime Sand Springs resident Greg Hurd is the pastor of Lake Church in Mannford since 2017 and the author of three nonfiction books.
Cross Eyed (2023)
Secret World (2021)
Treign: Empowered to Discover (2021)
Jamye K. Landis
Published in 1999, Images of America’s Sand Springs, Oklahoma edition was a collaboration between historian Jamye K. Landis and the Sand Springs Cultural and Historical Museum Association.
Shelby Lawson
Charles Page High School graduate Shelby Lawson authored and self-published her own freshman-year memoir as a sophomore. “Shelby’s Memoirage: The Collage Based Memoirs of a Ninth Grade Extraordinaire” is no longer in print.
Donna Howerton Moore
Sand Springs resident and retired educator Donna Howerton Moore published her debut children’s novel in 2014.
Rusty Pope
Charles Page High School 1978 graduate Rusty Pope explores the war on drugs in this fictional tale of a US drug task force going up against the Mexican cartel.
Philip D. Smith
Sand Springs resident Philip D. Smith is an Assistant Professor of History at Tulsa Community College. Philip published “From Praha to Prague: Czechs in an Oklahoma Farm Town” as his dissertation for the University of Oklahoma in 2017.
Tara Lynn Thompson
Tara Lynn Thompson no longer resides in Sand Springs but spent many years in the community and was formerly the Managing Editor of the Sand Springs Leader.
Tara published her first novel, “Not Another Superhero” in 2015 and has since published two sequels.
Always Another Villain (2021)
Just Another Sidekick (2017)
Not Another Superhero (2015)
Robert Lowell Walker
If you ask most folks about Bob Walker they’ll either know him as the former Mayor of Sand Springs or as The Voice of the Sandites, having been an announcer at Sand Springs football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, softball, and other events for decades. But Bob is also a published author, releasing “Cowboy Bob’s Tall, Tall Christmas Tale” in 2017.
Karen Toller Whittenburg
Karen Whittenburg grew up in Sand Springs and currently resides in Tulsa. Karen published her first book in 1984 and has since written over a dozen harlequin romance novels.
The Matchmaker’s Apprentice (2004)
The Matchmaker’s Sister (2004)
The Matchmaker’s Plan (2004)
His Shotgun Proposal (2001)
Baby By Midnight (1999)
Million Dollar Bride (1996)
Nanny Angel (1995)
Pauper and the Princess (1994)
Wedding of Her Dreams (1994)
Perfect Pair (1991)
For the Fun of It (1991)
Day Dreamer (1990)
Only Yesterday (1990)
Happy Medium (1990)
A Matched Set (1988)
Summer Charade (1987)
Winds of Heaven (1984)
Amanda Webster
Amanda Webster is a longtime Sand Springs elementary teacher whose world was rocked by a devastating car accident in 2005. She explores the survival and recovery process in her memoir “Random Thoughts on Survival,” published in 2015. She also published a memory book about growing up at her church in Sand Springs called “All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Brother Bill and Sister Becky” in 2017.
Michael Wilson
2009 Charles Page High School graduate and minister Michael Wilson published his first book, “Hello My Name Is” in 2018. His follow-up, “Work That Matters” was released in 2022. Michael is a missionary and pastor on staff at Church That Matters in Sand Springs and has spent years traveling to the poorest places in Haiti to spread the word of God.
Teresa Prins Wood
Originally from San Diego, then Missouri, Teresa Prins Wood has chosen the beautiful hills and lakes of Sand Springs as her home and inspiration. Teresa published her first book, “Saint Somebody” in 2015, which explores her religious journey. She has since published works of poetry and historical fiction. The proceeds from all of her book sales are donated to charities including homeless outreach.
Just One Last Thing (2020)
Song of Bethlehem (2019)
Turn and Face the Wind (2019)
In Her Own Native Tongue (2016)
Saint Somebody (2015)
Are we missing you? If you’re a published author with ties to Sand Springs, let us know!
*Disclosure - Sandite Pride News may earn compensation for purchases through some of the links above.
