The August 2005 Idlewild Jazz Festival was much more than music. Williams Island was also the site of good food, fine art and books. With the written word came good writers. Several published authors and budding writers gathered under the Chesnutt-DuBois Creative Writing Institute tent, overlooking the beach, but within earshot of Dr. Dan’s bandstand.

Lansing based author, Tanya Bates was in charge of the writers workshop. She kept the discussions flowing and a tight rein on the clock. The workshop agenda read like titles on a library shelf: Therapy Through Autobiographical Writing, Sweet Music in Harlem, Publish or Perish, How to Write Love Scenes that Sizzle! and Poetry by the Lake.

A native of Rockford, Ill, Bates, 31, has made the Capital City her base for the past three years. She is a six-time award winning author. Bates was recently crowned the “Princess of Poetry” by the Metro Detroit Literary Collective for her book, “ One Day’s Peace: A Woman’s Journey Through Life.”

An internal drive to write has been powering Bates since she was seven-years-old “I knew I was going to write a book, I just didn’t know when” she said. “ I decided to write about going through tough times. So my book is about all kinds of issues women experience at some time in their lives from age 14 and up. The issues I write about affect every race and every ethnic group.”

Bates says she is tired of the competition and competitiveness between women. “ I want for my sister as I want for myself,” she said. Jealousy and envy are the results of all that competition Bates explained.

The star author uses her pen to detail how to have positive interpersonal relationships with other women and how to just be friends. Bates also schools her readers concerning their relationship with the “Most High” and with family members.

Future reviewers may have to add the descriptive title “Prolific” when referring to Bates. She has three books ready to be published late this year or the first quarter of 2006. Her works are entitled:

Fashion and style – “Girl You Look A Mess: A teen guide to fashion and style”

Traces of My Lipstick– "The relationship experience about issues with men and women"

Go Ahead and Free Yourself: "The Importance of Women in the Ministry.”

If these three books are as successful as the first , next year, the Idlewild Festival Committee may have to provide Bates with her own tent.