BRUNSWICK — Weiala Press, an independent publisher, has announced the release of a new collection of short stories by the award-winning local author,

. “Bookends: Stories of Love, Loss, and Renewal” will be distributed to booksellers and will also be available directly from Weiala Press or online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

“Bookends” is Verdino-Süllwold’s third work of fiction and first foray into the short story genre, following her two novels, “Raising Rufus: A Maine Love Story” and “The Whaler’s Bride.” The wedding that turns feast into fiasco; the childhood games that foreshadow life’s realities; dreams of romance shattered and reborn; professional and creative identities forged, challenged, and affirmed; farewells presaged and paid — these eight poetic and poignant stories, reflected through the prism of love and loss, ultimately offer the reader epiphanies of renewal.

Born and raised in the metropolitan New York area, Verdino-Süllwold received her degrees at Sarah Lawrence College and Fairleigh Dickinson University. She began her career as a teacher and arts administrator before becoming a journalist, critic, and author.

Her music and visual arts reviews and features appeared regularly in Opera News, Gramophone, Opéra International, Opera, Music Magazine, Beaux Arts, and The Crisis, and her byline headed numerous program essays and record liner notes.

Among her scholarly works, the best known is “We Need A Hero! Heldentenors from Wagner’s Time to the Present: A Critical History.” She helped to create several television projects, serving as associate producer and content consultant/writer, among them “I Hear America Singing” for WNET/PBS and “Voices of the Heart: Stephen Foster” for German television. She is also the author of “Top Cat Tails of Mannahatta,” a fictional account of her and husband Gregory’s adventures in breeding Maine Coons.

In 2009 the Süllwolds realized a lifelong dream to move to coastal Maine. Her first novel, “Raising Rufus A Maine Love Story,” is a fictionalized account of the couple’s last year together with their beloved Newfoundland, Rufus, before Gregory Süllwold’s fatal heart attack in February of 2010. Her screenplay version of the book was the 2011Grand Prize Winner at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

“The Whaler’s Bride,” a metaphysical romance spanning two centuries, is her second novel.  Verdino-Süllwold continues to work as a journalist and arts critic, in addition to writing fiction. She shares her home in Brunswick, Maine, with her kitties and a new Newfoundland puppy, Ruffian. She is a member of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

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