“Lord Byron’s Whipping Boy: Dr. John William Polidori and the 200th Anniversary of The Vampyre” (Famous Monsters of Filmland, Issue #291), Short Non-Fiction, 2019
BIO: Valerie E. Weich has worked in the non-profit world for over 25 years, raising funding to support a variety of incredible causes and programs, including animal welfare, domestic violence survivors, healthcare for immigrant women, children with autism, adults with developmental disabilities, youth development and the arts.
In April 2003, she made her debut as “Louisa May Alcott” for the Pasadena Museum of History in an original, one-woman presentation, The Late Louisa May. She subsequently developed the performance into an educational outreach program (Literary Lives) and has since performed for more than 8,000 students in the Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank, Alhambra, and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. She has also made numerous appearances in a variety of venues (libraries, museums and women’s clubs) for audiences of all ages. FIRSTS: The Book Collector’s Magazine published her article about Miss Alcott titled, “Collecting Louisa May” (December 2004).
Valerie curated her first art exhibition at the South Pasadena Public Library in October 2018—Frankenstein Meets Little Women: A Monster Mash—that featured eleven artists (Patience Anders, Mike Bell, Joan Charles, Steven Corvelo, Tony Gleeson, Gris Grimly, Douglas W. Kirk, Tim Kirk, Tanya Maibaroda, Cassie Meder and Dany Paragouteva) celebrating the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein and the 150th anniversary of Little Women.
A member of the Horror Writers Association, Valerie was accepted into HWA’s Mentor Program and partnered with J.D. Barker as her mentor. He is advising her on her debut novel, Frankenstein Reborn (working title).
She is currently a Bram Stoker Award® nominee in the category of Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction. Her article titled “Lord Byron’s Whipping Boy: Dr. John William Polidori and the 200th Anniversary of The Vampyre” was published in Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 291 (October 2019). She is also a nominee for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award.
With grant funding from The Puffin Foundation, Ltd., Valerie is developing a one-woman presentation titled Frankenstein’s Mother: An Evening with Mary Shelley.
She will appear as American author Louisa May Alcott in a special Living History presentation on Sunday, March 15, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. at The Shakespeare Club of Pasadena in partnership with The Pasadena Museum of History.
