Barbara Gregorich
Barbara Gregorich writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her novel She’s on First was called “the best book that’s written on the idea of the first woman to play professional baseball,” and her nonfiction title, Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball, won the SABR-Macmillan Award for Best Baseball Research of the Year. Barbara’s Chicago detective Frank Dragovic solves mysteries in Dirty Proof and Sound Proof. Midwest Book Review called her Guide to Writing the Mystery Novel: Lots of Examples, Plus Dead Bodies “an accessible primer for writers of all skill and experience levels.” Barbara's most recent book is one she has wanted to write since the age of sixteen: Charlie Chan's Poppa: Earl Derr Biggers.
Works

The F Words
Coming from City of Light Publishing on September 1, 2021, The F Words is YA fiction about social and political protest.
Sophomore Cole Renner knows teamwork inside and out from running cross-country at his multi-ethnic Chicago public school. He knows about braving the elements and not getting passed in the chute. What Cole doesn’t know is how much he’ll need all of his mental and physical skills when the heavy doors of Cook County Jail slam shut on his father, a community activist; when his English teacher catches Cole tagging the school with the F word and sentences him to write two poems a week, each on a word that starts with F; when his best friend Felipe Ramirez runs for class president against the girl who dumped Cole; and when the school bully prowls the halls looking for Cole and the principal seems more interested in punishing Cole than the bully. As much as Cole wants to win meets, what he wants even more is justice—for his father, for himself, for Felipe, and for his fellow students. Cole learns that actions matter, but so do words. He takes his write words (in both Spanish and English) and turns them into the right words to fight for justice.