Monday, February 13, 2023

Meet the Eckhartz Press Author: Pat Colander

 Now that we have such a big stable of talented authors, we're going to take some time this year to re-introduce them to you. Pat Colander was a key author in our early years. In fact, her book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral and other True Tales of Life and Death in Chicago was our first book to be named Book of the Year by the Chicago Writers Association. We are so proud that she came to us to publish this book.


Pat Colander

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Pat Colander was a writer, editor, and publisher. 

She was a writer for The Reader and The Chicago Tribune in the 1970s and 1980s, and covered some of the most offbeat stories during that time. Seven of those tales of love and death in Chicago are featured in this incredible book. 

Pat was an editor at the Northwest Indiana Times for years and the publisher of Shore Magazine. In that role she was a mentor and champion of a generation of writers, including Eckhartz Press co-publisher Rick Kaempfer.

Pat grew up on the south side of Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois and Purdue University Calumet. She lived in Gary, Indiana with her husband Jeff, until she passed away in January of 2019.