Mary Donnarumma Sharnick

Mary Donnarumma Sharnick has been writing ever since the day she printed her long name on her first library card. A native of Connecticut, she graduated from Fairfield University with a degree in English and earned a master's degree in Renaissance studies from Trinity College, Hartford.

Fascinated by la Serenissima and the islands of the Venetian lagoon since her first visit in 1969, Ms. Sharnick has returned to Venice numerous times. A Solo Writer's Fellowship from the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation afforded her the opportunity to live and write in Venice during July, 2010, where she completed THIRST, published by Fireship Press.

Ms. Sharnick teaches writing and chairs the English Department at Chase Collegiate School, Waterbury, Connecticut. She is writing a trilogy set in Venice and at sea during the early 15th century. With her husband Wayne, she leads her writing students on "slow travel" tours of Italy, the country she considers her second home.