Don Maitz Painting   Oldest House in Key West   Janny Wurtz


Artists, Historians and Literary Luminaries

Pirates in Paradise features Maritime Artists, Historians & Literary Luminaries

Pirates in Paradise 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   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   ROSALIND BRACKENBURY
An Englishwoman, Rosalind 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
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 90th Birthday and will be holding birthday events throughout the festival. (John Biffar's documentary on Norma's exciting life, Queen of Swing, features footage of the 2004 Pirates in Paradise Festival.

Sandra Riley   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 also written a history play about Anne Bonny & Mary Read based on her book Sisters of the Sea.

    John Viele
John Viele is a board member of the Key West Maritime Historic Society of Key West and the Florida Keys and a retired US Navy submarine commander. His trilogy of the early settlers of the Florida Keys (The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers, The Florida Keys: The Wreckers and The Florida Keys: True Stories of the Perilous Straits) shares the stories of the island's first inhabitants and the struggles they faced.

Kat Epple   KAT EPPLE
Eight time Emmy Award-winning composer, Kat Epple's original jazz/world/new age music features flutes, electronic keyboards and percussion. Kat has performed around the world with live performances including solo performances at the National Gallery, Washington, DC, the Guggenheim Museum in NY City and Spain, Hollywood Palace, Whitney Museum, and Planetariums around the US. She has been commissioned to compose music for several dance troupes, including the David Parson’s Dance Company where she was Music Director and co-composer for the dance piece, “Calusa." In her Ft. Myers, Florida-based studio, Kat composes and produces film and video soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagen, ABC's “Another World", Turner Broadcasting System, CBS' “The Guiding Light”, CBS's "As the World Turns", NASA, “The World I See From A to Z” with Dick Smothers, among others, and was Music Director on the feature-length film, “Captiva Island” starring Ernest Bourgnine. For more information visit: www.i2Art.com/katepple

    ROBERT N. MACOMBER
Robert N. Macomber is an internationally recognized award-winning maritime writer, lecturer, and television commentator. He has lectured as part of the Distinguished Military Author Series at the Center for Army Analysis in Washington DC, at the U.S. Southern Command’s Notable Military Author Series, for the West Point Society, and at the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Mr. Macomber is annual guest author and lecturer aboard the Queen Mary 2 since her maiden voyage, as well as the Silver Sea fleet of luxury liners; a maritime commentator for Florida PBS; and a naval history lecturer for the American History Forum and the Civil War Education Association.

Mr. Macomber is the author of the acclaimed Honor Series of naval novels and is proud to have readers in ten countries. His awards include the Outstanding Achievement Award of Florida for his non-fiction work on Florida’s maritime history, the Patrick Smith Literary Award for Best Historical Novel of Florida (At the Edge of Honor), and the John Esten Cooke Literary Award for Best Work in Southern Fiction (Point of Honor).

Mr. Macomber was named by Florida Monthly Magazine as one of the 22 ‘Most Intriguing Floridians of 2006’ and The Most Intriguing Author. His sixth novel, A Different Kind of Honor, recently won the highest national honor in his genre—the American Library Association’s 2008 W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction. His seventh novel, The Honored Dead, came out in March of 2009 to rave national reviews.

Each year Mr. Macomber travels approximately 15,000 sea miles around the globe giving maritime lectures and researching his novels, including an annual lecture tour across the Pacific.

When not on lecture, research, or book tour journeys, Mr. Macomber lives a simple life in a small bungalow by Serenity Bay at Matlacha Island. The community is an old Florida fishing village on the same southwest coast of the peninsula where he grew up as a sailor.

For more information about Mr. Macomber’s fascinating life and work, visit his website at www.RobertMacomber.com.

Kat Epple  

ROBB "HURRICANE" ZERR
Since 1982, Robb has been a pirate entertainer, charting a course for unchartered waters and points unknown, even to himself. His new book, Memoirs of a Buccaneer: 30 Years Before the Mast, is a logbook of his travels during that time, the adventures he has had, the people he has met, the places he has been, and yes, the loves he has found and lost along the way.

It's been a pirate's life in the truest sense of the term, and perhaps no place is more appropriate for the release party of his book than Pirates in Paradise, which plays a central role throughout.

In his non-piratical life, Robb is an award-winning writer, author of the daily humor column RobZerrvations.com and CEO of CommuniCreations, Inc. He also is lead singer of the band Knot for Sail, which is performing at PiP on the Village stage throughout the festival.

 

 

*photos by Tony Callahan, Callahan Digital Art, Mike Cuffin/Barefeet Photography, Anita Mixon, Wendy Wellman, Jan Minutti and Angelina Morgan.