Anchored in Resilience:
University of Rhode Island, Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences
Kingston, Rhode Island
May 21-22, 2025
Wednesday, May 21
Vanessa Lillie Keynote Speaker Vanessa Lillie is the author of the USA Today bestselling suspense novel, Blood Sisters, which was a Target Book Club pick and GMA Book Club Buzz Pick as well as named one of the best mystery novel in 2023 by the Washington Post and Amazon. Vanessa has also written the bestselling thrillers Little Voices (October 2019) and For the Best (September 2020). She is the creator and co-authored the instant bestseller Audible Original Young Rich Widows (April 2022). Vanessa was a columnist for the Providence Journal, has published essays in Refinery29, CrimeReads, Boston Globe, and hosts an Instagram Live show 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. |  |