Happy Birthday Vincent -- and an Announcement

On 30 March 1853, Vincent van Gogh was born in the small town of Groot Zundert, in the southern province of the Netherlands known as Brabant. Happy Birthday Vincent!!!

And in honor of Vincent's birthday: time to let a cat of the bag, a cat who's been squalling pretty loudly already. Less than two weeks ago, I signed a contract for representation with Barbara Braun of Barbara Braun Associates, a literary agent with a PhD in art history (yay!) who represents my favorite author, Susan Vreeland. The project in question? A historical novel about none other than Monsieur Vincent, which I've been working on since June 2006 -- my first novel after years of academic writing.

While not saying too much, it's called "The Sunflowers" (at the moment) and is set during the last two years of Vincent's life, primarily in Arles and Saint-Rémy. I was seized with inspiration after a visit to Auvers-sur-Oise in May 2006 -- something that incredibly special day spoke to me, and a story began to emerge. Last summer I spent time in Holland and France to continue the research. Right now I am doing another set of revisions, pruning and trimming, and the current plan is for Dr. Braun to approach editors sometime this summer or early fall. Here's hoping my work can find a good home, and someday, readers who will enjoy and learn from it, as I've been enjoying and learning every step of the way.