Pirates in Paradise features Maritime Artists, Historians & Literary Luminaries

Pirates in Paradise 2006 features something for everyone as we pay homage to Key West’s early maritime heritage. The visual arts are celebrated with a variety of art exhibits and activities for artists and art aficionados, including the pirate and maritime related exhibits at the Custom House & Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum.


Don Maitz
Best known for his Captain Morgan’s artwork, Maitz artwork has been featured many of Pirates in Paradise Festival's promotional pieces and postcards. His pirate art has been featured in National Geographic, on a “Dateline NBC” program featuring discoveries at the site of the wreck of the Whydah, the San Diego Maritime Museum and the Orlando History Center.


Rosalind Brackenbury
An Englishwoman, Brackenbury came to Key West on vacation twelve years ago and has lived here ever since. She has published eleven novels (including “Seas Outside the Reef,” which is set in Key West), four books of poetry and a collection of short stories. A former mate on the schooner Wolf, her recent novel 'Landfall' is set in Key West during the time of Hurricane Georges and Hurricane Mitch.


Norma Miller
Norma Miller, author of Swingin’ at the Savoy: A Memoir of a Jazz Dancer, recieved the 2004 National Heritage Award from the National Endowments of the Arts. An accomplished choreographer, dancer, comedian and actor, Norma is known as the "Queen of Swing, and is currently completing her second book (the final chapter is set in Key West.) Prominently featured in the Ken Burn’s Jazz documentaries, her recollections provided a first hand account of the Harlem music and dance scene in the early 1930’s and 40’s. Her film credits include the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races, Hellzapoppin’, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Debbie Allen’s Stompin at the Savoy. In the sixties she began working with Redd Foxx, and later joined him on the 1970’s television series Sanford and Son, serving as both a stand-up comic and choreographer. During the festival, Norma will celebrate her 87th Birthday and will host a screening of her recently released documentary, Queen of Swing, which features footage of the 2004 Pirates in Paradise Festival.


Sandra Riley
With two degrees in theatre, Riley spent a number of years as director of plays in Florida and the Bahamas. An opportunity to do historical research in the Bahamas led to writing The Lucayans, a story of the life of the Lucayn Indians, prior to European contact. She is also the author of “Homeward Bound” (a definitive history of the Bahamas to 1850), published in 1983. In addition to her historic plays, “Matt Lowe” (based on an 18th century Bahamian turtler, wrecker and sometimes pirate) and “Miss Ruby” (the story of William Curry's niece, who came to Key West from Green Turtle Cay in the 1890's), she has recently finished a history play about Anne Bonny & Mary Read based on her book Sisters of the Sea.


Kat Epple
Kat Epple, also known as Emerald Web, creates ethereal, progressive music on a wide variety of instruments including , flutes, synthesizers, and Digital sampling keyboards. Nominated for a Grammy, Kat has won 8 Emmy Awards and has 10 Addy Awards to her credit for Music in Advertising. In her Ft. Myers, Florida based studio, Kat also composes her New Age Jazz World Music and produces film and video soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, Cnn, Carl Sagan, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System and NASA among others. Kat's live performances include: solo performances at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, and Bibao, Spain, opening act for "Air Supply", and for Timothy Leary. She has been a featured performer at the National Gallery, Washington DC, and played at gallery and museum openings in NYC for the renowned artist, Robert Rauschenberg. Music Director and co-composer for the dance performance piece, "CALUSA" with the David Parsons Dance Troupe, Kat Epple uses her music in her work toward environmental and humanitarian awareness, and has traveled to the far reaches of the globe including China, Africa, Russia, The Amazon, Europe, Peru, Mexico, Japan, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean, to learn of the people, natural environment, and the music of other cultures. She has amassed a large collection of flutes from other cultures from around the world, which she features in her original compositions.


Cynthia Zeuli

Cynthia Zeuli was born and raised in spooky New England. As a prolific writer, she majored in Creative Writing at Emerson College, where she was the only student in her Genre Writing class to complete an entire novel during one semester. She originally intended to write Romance novels, but changed direction after falling in love with the dark and chilling works of Anne Rice and S. P. Somtow. Cynthia's most recent book is a pirate themed novel, The Legend of Tormenta. She has two previous books to her credit, Bound by Blood and Succulent Crimson. Cynthia spent two years living in the French Quarter of New Orleans, where she learned how to cook, explored the above-ground cemeteries, and worked for the Walt Disney Company. She currently resides in the Orlando, Florida area and is a member of The Pyrates of the Coast entertainment troupe.