Catskills Association of Publishers

The genesis of the Catskills Association of Publishers (CAP) came about when Weston Blelock was browsing the local history shelf in a Hobart bookstore and saw Purple Mountain Press’s reissue of Alf Evers’s The Catskills. The book, which came out in 2024, was selling for $80, and Blelock asked the store owner how sales were going. The owner was happy that the book was back in print, but said that sales were slow due to the high price point. (Small press publishing is bedeviled by steep paper costs, high unit costs due to short print runs, and stiff shipping rates.)

Upon his return to Woodstock, Weston contacted Steve Hoare of Black Dome Press with the idea of forming a 501 (c) (3) to solicit public funds and grants to keep old Catskill classics in print at affordable prices. Steve emailed his support and suggested contacting Purple Mountain Press, which he did. They were also enthusiastic. The organization was formed in 2025 to support the literary arts and facilitate connections among book-related organizations through networking events and collaborations with educational institutions on book-related initiatives.

CAP is starting out slowly with a small core of board members to find our footing, but we hope to grow the organization into a vibrant pan-Catskills organization encompassing all who are dedicated to the continued preservation and exploration of Catskill Mountain history and lore through the written word.

Weston Blelock, President

Co-principal of WoodstockArts, a book publishing, distribution, and marketing company in Woodstock, NY. The group publishes award-winning art books, such as Anita Smith’s Woodstock History and Hearsay and Lawrence Webster’s Under the North Light: The Life and Work of Maud and Miska Petersham. Additionally, the company distributes books for over a dozen local presses, including Bushwhack Books and the Golden Notebook Press. Further, Blelock has been a longtime volunteer at the Historical Society of Woodstock, serving variously as a trustee, vice president, and president.

Steve Hoare, Vice President

Publisher and president of Black Dome Press since 2011, and editor for the press since 1993. Black Dome Press publishes regional histories of New York State and New England on a wide range of subjects, from art and architecture to geology, nature, and landscape architecture, and from the tragic histories of slavery and colonial wars to successful early victories in the fight for environmental conservation and preservation. A companion line of outdoor guidebooks celebrates the region’s seemingly limitless natural treasures. More than 100 titles have been published in its 35+ years.

Brett Barry, Treasurer

Partner at Purple Mountain Press, specializing in books about the Catskills, Hudson Valley, Adirondacks, Lake George, and Mohawk and Champlain Valleys. The press grew out of a printing business started in 1973 by Wray and Loni Rominger in the village of Fleischmanns, New York, who turned to full-time book publishing in 1988. Brett Barry, Rebecca Rego Barry, Carolyn Bennett, and Lee Hudson purchased the press in 2025, committed to carrying on its publishing legacy in the Catskills. Brett is also the owner of Silver Hollow Audio and producer of Kaatscast, the popular Catskills podcast.

Adrienne Larys, Trustee

The immediate past president of the Mountain Top Historical Society in Haines Falls, Adrienne S. Larys grew up in Woodstock. A graduate of Onteora Central School, she went on to receive a B.A. in Languages and Literature from Bard College and an M.S. in Education at the University at Albany. Adrienne spent her career in private education. She worked as a fundraiser for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Emma Willard School, and in admissions at Mount Holyoke College. A  resident of Troy, NY, she served as president of the Troy Boys and Girls Club. With the Mountain Top Historical Society, she has hiked throughout the Catskills and developed a deep love for and interest in the history of the Catskill Mountains. She has known the Blelock family since the 1950’s.  

Carolyn Bennett

Carolyn Bennett, a co-owner of Purple Mountain Press, worked in publishing for 8 years before moving to the Catskills in 1980. Following a career in book production, she edited The Windham Journal and The Mountain Eagle. She authored A Thing Among Things (Birch Brook Press), The Everyday Way (Slow Motion Books), and Looking for Cold Mountain (Outloud Books). She holds an MA in English Literature/Creative Writing, where she studied with Joseph Heller, Susan Sontag, and Donald Barthelme.

James Conrad

Co-owner of Woodstock’s Golden Notebook bookstore and proprietor of the Golden Notebook Press. Conrad previously worked as an art director for publications including Out Magazine, Esquire, InTouch, and Radar. His poetry and short stories have appeared in Tin House, Publishers Weekly, and Chronogram, and his novel Making Love to the Minor Poets of Chicago was published by St. Martin’s Press. The Golden Notebook Press features such recently reissued Catskill classics as Nancy Furstinger’s Catskill Creatures and Leslie T. Sharpe’s The Quarry Fox: And Other Critters of the Wild Catskills.

Richard Frisbie

Richard’s passion for New York State history was originally shared with the patrons of his brick-and-mortar bookstore, Hope Farm Press & Bookshop, in Saugerties, New York. There, he cataloged more than 2500 titles of New York State-centric books, many of which he published, such as Picturesque Catskills, Water For New York City, Teacup Tales, and Indian Tribes of Hudson’s River.  After selling his publishing company, Richard became a semi-retired online bookseller on eBay. He is humbled to be invited to share his interests and expertise with his colleagues at the Catskills Association of Publishers (CAP).

Richard Heppner

Richard Heppner has served as Woodstock Town Historian since 2001. During this period, he has also served as a Board member of the Historical Society of Woodstock and currently serves as its President. In addition to numerous essays for local media, his most recent book, Woodstock – From World War to Culture Wars (SUNY Press) was selected as the Foreword INDIES Bronze Winner in Popular Culture. In addition, he is the author of Woodstock’s Infamous Murder Trial – Early Racism in Upstate New York, Women of the Catskills, and co-author with Janie Fallon-Mower of Legendary Locals of Woodstock. After serving in numerous academic positions over twenty-five years at Orange County Community College, he retired as Vice President of Academic Affairs at SUNY Orange and holds the rank of Professor Emeritus. Heppner is a former member of the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild’s Executive Board of Directors, and the former President of the Woodstock Artists’ Cemetery. He also served as a Woodstock Town Board member from 2017-2021. A graduate of Onteora High School, Heppner received his BA in Political Science/History from SUNY Albany and an MA from the New School for Social Research in Media Studies.

Bruce McPherson

Bruce McPherson founded the precursor to McPherson & Company—Treacle Press—in 1974 at Providence, Rhode Island, and three years later relocated to the Hudson Valley. Since then, McPherson & Company Publishers has issued roughly 150 editions of more than 120 titles by authors from around the country and around the world. The press specializes in four areas: contemporary fiction (mostly American authors), “lost” literary works from the Twentieth Century (the Recovered Classics series), non-fiction books dealing with performance art, experimental film, aesthetic theory, and contemporary culture (often presented under the Documentext imprint), and, finally, translations of works by authors of Italian, Spanish, French, Russian and German fiction and non-fiction. Alongside the press, McPherson has freelanced as a book designer, graphic artist, editor, proofreader, arts consultant, and book distributor.

Tom Newton

Tom Newton is a co-founder of Recital Publishing. He is the author of Warfilm (Bloomsbury 2015) and the Dactyl Literary Award-winning story collection, Seven Cries of Delight, as well as The Right Moment and Other True Stories, Voyages to Nowhere: Two Novellas, and a novel, Fabian. He spent many years working in the film industry while pursuing a double life as a musician and sound engineer. He co-hosts The Strange Recital, a podcast about fiction that questions the nature of reality.

Will Nixon

Nixon co-founded Bushwhack Books in 2009 with Michael Perkins. Over the years, the press has published about a dozen wildly popular guidebooks and poetry titles, like Walking Woodstock, The Pocket Guide to Woodstock, and Time Under the Overlook. In the past, Will was a freelance environmental journalist for The Amicus Journal, published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Adirondack Explorer, Mother Jones, and other magazines. In addition to being a writer, Nixon is a poet, activist, photographer, and supporter of Catskills’ causes.

Thomas Petzinger

Thomas Petzinger Jr. spent 22 years at The Wall Street Journal as staff reporter, Washington economics editor, Houston bureau chief, Millennium Edition editor, and weekly “Front Lines” columnist. He is the author of three narrative nonfiction books: Oil & Honor(Putnam), Hard Landing (Random House/Times Books), and The New Pioneers (Simon & Schuster). Oil & Honor and Hard Landing were selected as Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. Tom spent many years as board chair of Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation, which owns WESA-FM, Pittsburgh’s NPR affiliate, and the alternative music station WYEP-FM. In a career after journalism, he co-founded multiple life science companies in Pittsburgh. He and his wife, Paulette Thomas, recently retired from Pittsburgh to Salt Point, N.Y. They have three daughters and two granddaughters. Tom is currently researching a narrative history of the artist colonies of Woodstock, New York, and the role of the town in shaping Twentieth Century American culture.

Brent Robison

Brent Robison is a co-founder of Recital Publishing. He lives in Woodstock with his wife, mask-maker Wendy Drolma. His fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies, and has won the Literal Latte Short Short Award, the Chronogram Short Fiction Contest, a Fiction Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, and a Pushcart Prize nomination. His story collection, The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility, and his mystery novels, Ponckhockie Union and A Book with No Author, are available from booksellers. He co-hosts The Strange Recital, a podcast about fiction that questions the nature of reality.