Victor DiGenti spent more than thirty-five years working in public broadcasting as a director, public affairs producer, head of a two-station corporate communications department, and was responsible for special events, including producing the acclaimed Jacksonville Jazz Festival for eight years. During that time, he won national, regional and local awards, produced documentaries, and was a freelance writer. Prior to that, he attended the University of Florida, worked at a CBS affiliate, and as an announcer with a top 40 radio station..
After his retirement, Vic turned to his first love—writing. He found inspiration in his household of feline critters and wrote three adventure/fantasies with a feline protagonist. All of his novels —Windrusher, Windrusher and the Cave of Tho-hoth, and Windrusher and the Trail of Fire (Ocean Publishing) — have won multiple awards and attracted readers of all ages.
Vic is a regional director of the Florida Writers Association and President of the Friends of the Library–Ponte Vedra Beach. His unpublished manuscript, Matanzas Bay, a mystery/suspense novel set in St. Augustine, Florida, won the 2007 Josiah W. Bancroft, Sr. Award, and was selected as a Book of the Year in the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Awards in 2009.
For a time after he retired from public broadcasting, Vic was executive director of a volunteer non-profit organization that worked for the welfare and protection of abandoned, feral and homeless cats and kittens. This intense exposure to the world of feral cats, along with his own household of cats, helped spur him on to complete and publish the book.
Photo by Kelly LaDuke
Looking for a Speaker?
Vic is available with several fast-paced and entertaining talks for your club, civic organization, or Friends of the Library. Click below to learn more about his talks and topics.
Vic with one of his many jazz festival posters. He's the one in the foreground.
Evanne, my wife, and I have done our part to help the overpopulation problem by rescuing unwanted and abandoned cats. "They've taken to knocking on our door at dusk," I once wrote in one of my columns,"with only a few pitiful belongings and a crudely printed note pinned to their furry pajamas begging us to take them in."
Today, we share our home with seven cats ranging from sweet and shy Sasha to playful Sergio, from weird and wacky Gus to Alpha Cat Duke. Then there's Sofi who likes to sit on my lap as I write and critique my work. Check out the photos of our cats on .
I may have exaggerated a bit, but in a few short years we went from a fairly sane, pet-free existence, to a household of loveable furballs and our world was never the same.
Read more about Vic and Windrusher in column by Charlie Patton.
Another is an conducted by Western fiction author Marsha Ward as part of her website. The third ran in Kay Day's column, and finally, a review also appeared in
Reader Kathy Armbruster took this picture of her cat Maggie snuggling next to a newspaper article about Windrusher. Looks like this smart kittyis giving it the prestigious Two Paws Up recommendation.
There's also a nice review in
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Ever wonder why writers write? Vic answers that question in Steve Robertson's "Writer's Block feature at Jacksonville.com. Click here for
