ARTISTS AMONG US 2002
ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Robb Armstrong is creator of the comic strip Jump Start, which runs in more than 250 newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal and Constitution and the Chicago Sun-Times. The strip first appeared in newspapers in 1988. In 1995, Jump Start won the Wilbur Award from the Religious Public Relations Council for excellence in communicating religious issues and themes. In 1996, HarperPerennial published "Jump Start: A Love Story," a collection of strips about how the characters in the comic strip met, married and had a family. Also in 1996, Armstrong published the first in a series of books for young readers.

Karen E. Quinones Miller is a former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Miller, a member of the Philadelphia Black Writers Group, wrote her first book, "Satin Doll," in only two months in early 1999. After unsuccessfully trying to find a publisher for the novel, she self-published it in December 1999, selling more than 24,000 copies in eight months. The publishing rights to "Satin Doll" were sold at a publishing auction, and Simon and Schuster acquired the rights. The novel was re-released in July 2001. Her new book, "I'm Telling," was released in summer 2002.

Elmer Smith has been a journalist for 30 years. He has been with the Philadelphia Daily News since 1982, working as a sports columnist, editorial writer and now metro columnist. He is a panelist on "Daily News Live," a Comcast Cable TV sports show. Smith has won the Nat Fleisher Award, the highest award of the Boxing Writers Association of America; a National Headliners Award and an American Red Cross Service Medal. He is a member of the William Monroe Trotter Group, a national organization of black commentary writers.

John J. Fried is the computer-advice columnist and software reviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Before joining the newspaper in 1991 as an environmental writer, Fried was editor of the editorial pages at the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram. He has published 12 books on science and medicine, including one novel. His writing awards include the Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi) Distinguished Service Award, numerous Los Angeles Press Club awards and the Eugene Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing.

Donna L. Clovis is a journalist, and documentary and fine arts photographer. She has been a photojournalist for ABC Television and New York University's online news magazine on health. She has been a fellow at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. She has written six books in the genres of poetry, fiction and children's literature. She has exhibited at such venues as the Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, and the State Museum of Trenton.

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