Reservations:

Meg Ripley was born in Ontario and raised in Newfoundland, Canada, surrounded by whales and icebergs. After a BFA from the University of Western Ontario with a focus in drawing and an interest women’s studies, she won a stint as a fry-cook at the local diner. She set her sights on NYC and an MFA in illustration from The School of Visual Arts. The program’s mandatory (ahem, I-can’t-believe-they’re-making-me-do-this) writing workshop came to hold more value than she could have ever anticipated. Her illustration work for various fashion and design agencies culminated in a tenure as creative director for a brand development firm––but then came her beautiful children, and an idea for a book that she couldn’t ignore. Necrology is her widely-acclaimed debut novel, first in the Dirty duology, in which a Catskills orphanage serves as a backdrop to an alternate history 200 years after the Salem witch trials.

Deirdre Sinnott is an independent scholar, filmmaker, author, and social change activist. Currently, she is a historical consultant and researcher for the Ft. Stanwix Underground Railroad History Project, funded by the National Parks Service. And she is working on a non-fiction book about the American abolition movement and Underground Railroad centered in her native Utica, New York. She also speaks about the lingering effects of racial injustice on society. Her writing has appeared in numerous places including The New York History Blog, the Utica Observer Dispatch, ForeWord Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine and the Catskill Review of Books. Her essay Right-sized Rats was nominated for a Pushcart Award by Hippocampus Magazine and appeared in the publication’s anthology titled Selected Memories. Sinnott, who has a background in theatre, has directed two award-winning documentaries on social justice and mass incarceration issues, 23 Reasons Why 23 Years is Enough: Clemency for Pascual Carpenter and Multiple Injuries. Sinnott attended Syracuse University where she earned a BFA in Acting/Directing from the school’s prestigious theatre program. Her debut novel The Third Mrs. Galway takes place in 1835's Utica, a city at the center of emancipation efforts as abolitionists arrive for the founding meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society.

Ruth Bonapace, a Brooklyn-born author with a BA and MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook University. Ruth has been a journalist, essayist, mortgage banker, real estate agent, laundromat manager and, of course, waitress. Not in that order. The Bulgarian Training Manual, published by Clash Books, is her debut novel. It's the story of Tina and her working-class dreams. A struggling real estate agent and ex-roadie, she is on a quest to find her true parents, jeans that fit, and an escape from her basement apartment in Hoboken, NJ. With the help of a mysterious book, our heroine sets on a hilarious, mind-bending journey of discovery and friendship.