Anchored in Resilience:
University of Rhode Island, Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences
Kingston, Rhode Island
May 21-22, 2025
2025 Sponsor & Exhibitor Info Coming Soon
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Wednesday, May 21
Vanessa Lillie Keynote Speaker Vanessa Lillie is the author of the bestselling thrillers Little Voices (October 2019) and For the Best (September 2020). She is the creator and coauthor of the instant bestseller Audible Original Young Rich Widows (April 2022). With fifteen years of marketing and communications experience, Vanessa is a columnist for the Providence Journal and hosts a weekly Instagram Live event with crime fiction authors. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma living on Narragansett land in Rhode Island. | Thursday, May 22 Cathy G. Johnson Keynote Speaker Cathy G. Johnson (she/they/Mx.) is an artist, award-winning cartoonist, printmaker, educator and scholar in Providence, Rhode Island, the occupied Wampanoag and Narragansett land. She makes comics, prints, paintings, drawings and zines. Her work delves into the complicated worlds of young people, exploring the hardships and joys of adolescence. Cathy explores themes of the monstrous and rebellious. Cathy is the author of several graphic novels, her third graphic novel, The Breakaways was published by First Second in 2019 and she has a forthcoming graphic novel titled Charger County which will be published by Silver Sprocket. Cathy also co-hosts a scholarship podcast called Drawing a Dialogue, where she talks about comics in historical, theoretical and educational contexts. |
RILA 2025 Annual Conference Exhibitor/Sponsor/Attendee Registration Info:Exhibitor/Sponsor Registration for RILA 2025 is open now! Exhibitors/Sponsors register here. Need to register as an attendee? Attendees register here. |  |