HNS2025 Conference Board
Meet the seven individuals who are responsible for organizing and running the 2025 Historical Novel Society North America Conference, held in 2025 from June 26 to 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Conference Chair: Jenny Quinlan
Jenny Quinlan, aka Jenny Q, is an independent editor specializing in historical fiction and romance. As the founder of Historical Editorial, she has helped hundreds of authors achieve their publishing goals and now manages a team of dedicated editors. She earned a degree in history from Virginia Tech and a copyediting certification from the University of California San Diego. She has been an ardent supporter of historical fiction through her book blog, Let Them Read Books. Jenny has been volunteering at HNS conferences since 2015 and served as chair for the 2021 and 2023 conferences. She also co-founded the Historical Novel Society Romance Chapter. In addition to history and books, Jenny loves traveling, comfort food, football, music, and craft beer. She lives on a farm in Virginia with her family and a spoiled rotten German Shepherd.
Programming Chair, Christopher M. Cevasco
Christopher M. Cevasco holds degrees in Medieval Studies and English from Rutgers College and a JD from Emory University School of Law. His debut historical novel, Beheld: Godiva's Story, was published by Lethe Press in April 2022. Having signed a three-book publishing deal with Sapere Books in 2024, Chris is currently working on a series of historical novels based on the Arthurian legends. He was also the founding editor of the award-winning Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction, and his own historical short stories have appeared in several magazines and anthologies. He has been attending HNS conferences since the first North American conference in 2005, served as Registration Chair for the 2023 conference in San Antonio, and is excited to help shape the program for the 2025 conference. Following ten years in Brooklyn, NY, Chris and his wife moved to Myrtle Beach, SC, where they now live with their two children. For more information, visit christophermcevasco.com.
Secretary & Communications Chair: Maryka Biaggio
Maryka Biaggio is a psychology professor turned novelist who specializes in historical fiction based on real people. She loves unearthing the stories of people overlooked by history and bringing them back to life—portraying their challenges and foibles and rekindling their emotional world. Doubleday published her debut novel, Parlor Games, in 2013. Her second novel, Eden Waits, was published by Milford House Press in 2019. In 2021, Milford House Press released The Point of Vanishing and in 2022 The Model Spy. Her fiction has won several accolades, including Willamette Writers Award, Oregon Writers Colony Award, Historical Novel Society Review Editors’ Choice, La Belle Lettre Award, an Upper Peninsula of Michigan Notable Books Award, and a Regional Arts & Council grant. She's an avid opera fan and enjoys gardening, art films, and, of course, great fiction. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Venue Chair: Susan Moynihan
Susan grew up moving around as a Navy brat before her parents settled in Annapolis, Maryland, during her high-school years. After graduating from the University of Maryland, she set her sights on New York City, equally entranced by magazines and rock and roll. A chance trip to the Caribbean led her to discovery of travel writing, and she spent the next 20 years as a travel editor and writer, from her home bases in NYC and Florida. As a writer and travel planner with her company, The Honeymoonist, she has visited 60 countries and counting, but it was a work trip to Wyoming that kicked off her fascination with the American West, and is the basis for her first historical novel-in-progress. She relocated back to Annapolis in 2018, and her first book 100 Things to Do in Annapolis/Eastern Shore Before You Die was published in 2019. She’s currently finishing her next book, Secret Maryland, due out in 2024.
Marketing Chair: Carol M. Cram
Carol M. Cram is the author of three historical novels: The Towers of Tuscany, A Woman of Note, and The Muse of Fire, and a contemporary novel, Love Among the Recipes. She also expresses her passion for sharing the written word, the arts, and her love of travel on two websites Artsy Traveler (www.artsytraveler.com) and Art In Fiction (www.artinfiction.com), and on The Art In Fiction Podcast on which she chats with authors who write novels inspired by the arts. In addition to writing novels, Carol is the author of over sixty college textbooks in computer applications and communications. Carol lives with her husband, painter Gregg Simpson, on beautiful Bowen Island near Vancouver, BC, where she also teaches Nia, a holistic dance/fitness practice and is co-director of Write On Bowen: A Festival for Readers & Writers on Bowen Island.
Registration Chair: Michelle McGill-Vargas
Michelle McGill-Vargas is a teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing. Her debut novel, American Ghoul, will be published by Blackstone in September 2024. It is a darkly humorous novel set in post-Civil War era where a newly-freed slave travels to northwest Indiana with an undead companion. Michelle also serves on the Board of Directors for the Midwest Writers Workshop and provides manuscript critiques and presentations for Writing Day Workshops. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Michelle resides in northwest Indiana with her family and two fur babies.
Technology Chair: Mary K. Tilghman
Mary K. Tilghman, a Maryland native, wrote her first novel after 35 years as a journalist, editor and graphic designer. Divided Loyalties, the story of an immigrant Irish teenager who serves as a battlefield nurse during the Civil War, was published in 2017 by Black Rose Writing and reissued in 2019. It was cited in CBSBaltimore’s “Five Baltimore Authors To Put On Your Summer Reading List.” It was inspired by her work as a travel writer for Frommer’s travel guides. Mary has since released Love Letters & Gingerbread, a Jane Austen-inspired Christmas novella of two sisters recounting the romances of two sisters living in 1831 Annapolis. She and her husband Ray live and sail in Maryland and are lucky to have their three grown children living nearby.
The HNS North America conference is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. A copy of our bylaws can be found here.