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. (If you’d like to learn more about Vic’s experiences producing the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, click here to read this 1999 Florida Times-Union article.)

For a time after his retirement 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, moved him to complete and publish his first Windrusher adventure.

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. His unpublished manuscript, Matanzas Bay, a mystery/suspense novel set in St. Augustine, won the 2007 Josiah W. Bancroft, Sr. Award, and was named a Book of the Year in the 2009 Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition.

Vic is a regional director of the Florida Writers Association and President of the Friends of the Library–Ponte Vedra Beach.

Sometimes Vic feels like he’s up to his hairline in cats. And Sergio in particular has taken a particular liking to his hair. Must be the tuna-flavored shampoo he uses.

Vic and his wife have done their part to help the overpopulation problem by rescuing unwanted and abandoned cats. “They’ve taken to knocking on our door at dusk,” he once wrote in one of his newspaper columns, ”with only a few pitiful belongings and a crudely printed note pinned to their furry pajamas begging us to take them in.”

Maybe he exaggerated a bit, but in a few short years they went from a fairly sane, pet-free existence, to a household of loveable furballs and their world was never the same.

Today, they share their home with seven cats ranging from sweet and shy Sasha to aloof Soxi, from weird and wacky Gus to Alpha Cat Duke. Then there’s the hair-licking Sergio, and Sofi who likes to sit on Vic’s lap as he writes and critique his work. Click here to check out photos of their cats.

Sad News: Since this photo of Sergio was posted last week, Vic reports that Sergio succumbed to kidney failure. “He was one of the sweetest cats ever,” Vic said. “Sergio put up a good fight for three months after he was diagnosed, but the disease finally won out. He’ll be remembered along with the other feline companions who have left us over the years.”

Vic with one of his many jazz festival posters. He’s the one on the right. (Photo by Oscar Sosa)

Vic is a member of both the Florida Writers Association and Cat Writers Association.

Ever wonder why writers write? Vic answers that question in Steve Robertson’s “Writer’s Block feature at Jacksonville.com. Click here to read the Column.

Read more about Vic and Windrusher in The Florida Times-Union column by Charlie Patton.

Another is an Internet interview conducted by Western fiction author Marsha Ward as part of her website. The third ran in Kay Day’s column, Books by Area Authors and finally, a review also appeared in The St. Augustine Record

Reader Kathy Armbruster took this picture of her cat Maggie snuggling next to a newspaper article about Windrusher. Looks like this smart kitty is giving it the prestigious Two Paws Up recommendation.

Kay Day’s column in The Florida Times Union helped introduce Windrusher to the world, Books by Area Authors, and finally, a review of Windrusher appeared in The St. Augustine Record.