By Dirk Langeveld

FAIRFIELD — Kate Belli never planned to become an author. One day, she just decided to try writing a book.

Belli describes herself as an avid reader who enjoys fiction. She was also friends with a group of writers while finishing her PhD in art history in New York City. 

“It demystified the idea of being a writer, which I had never considered before. So I gave it a try, at the time writing historical romance,” she said. “My first drafts were pretty terrible, but like everything, I got better with time. I hope I’m still getting better!”

Belli will be a guest at the Philip I. Eliasoph Open Visions Forum: Espresso at Fairfield University, part of a series featuring distinguished authors and experts. Her presentation, entitled “From Art Historian to Art Sleuth,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23rd at the Dolan School of Business Event Hall.

The discussion will explore how Belli used her scholarship in art history as an inspiration for her fiction writing. It will also examine how she applied the process of scholarly research methods to her fiction, especially mystery.

A start in the Staples Players

Belli’s family were longtime residents of Westport, living there from 1986 until 2008. She graduated from Staples High School in 1990.

“I was a very active member of the Staples Players, and I think being immersed in a creative environment really drew me to pursue a career in the arts,” she said.

When she began attending Mount Holyoke College, her first intention was to pursue a career in theater. However, she was drawn to art history after she became fascinated by the subject during a sophomore year class.

Belli subsequently earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the subject, as well as a PhD. She has worked in auction houses and galleries, as well as a museum curator and professor. Belli is currently a gallery director and faculty member at Gettysburg College, living in central Pennsylvania with her husband and son.

Author of five novels

Belli published her first novel, Deception by Gaslight, in 2020. Set in 1888 in New York City, the story follows society journalist Genevieve Stewart as she seeks to uncover the identity of a jewel thief dubbed the “Robin Hood of the Lower East Side.” The narrative is interwoven with a murder mystery, as Stewart seeks to determine if the philanthropic bandit is also responsible for a series of homicides in the city.

Deception by Gaslight kicked off the Gilded Gotham Mystery Series, with three additional novels following Stewart. She said her experience in art history played an important role in helping her depict the settings of the mysteries.

“There’s a reason my series is set in Gilded Age New York City and not, say, Victorian London,” she said. “My scholarship is in 19th and 20th century American art, so that’s a historical time period I know well.”

She notes how her third novel, Treachery on Tenth Street, features the 10th Street Studio Building, a real structure in Greenwich Village that offered a groundbreaking way for artists to work and display their art in a single venue. The novel also features period artists like William Merritt Chase.

Belli’s latest novel, The Gallery Assistant, is a thriller that follows a New York art gallery assistant who has to reckon with her own shadowy past amid a web of deceit after an up-and-coming painter is murdered. Set shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the narrative draws on Belli’s own experiences and addresses the trauma felt in the city after the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Return to Connecticut

Belli says she is excited to be returning to Fairfield County after growing up there as a teenager. She noted how she has a personal connection to the namesake of the Open Visions Forum, whom she has known since her youth.

“It was actually Philip Eliasoph of Fairfield University who first suggested to me that I get a PhD,” she said. “The thought that I could spend my life thinking about art, and get paid for it, was enormously appealing. I still love it.”

Eliasoph is special assistant for arts and culture to the president at Fairfield University, as well as a professor of art history and visual culture. The Open Vision Forum was established to honor his 50 years at the university as “a lasting tribute to his visionary leadership and dedication to free inquiry, critical thinking, and cultural enrichment.”

Belli’s next work will bring her back to the Westport of her youth. A short story, entitled “There’s No Place Like Home” and set in the town in the 1980s, will appear in Unloaded Vol. 3. This anthology of short crime fiction stories, none of which feature firearms, is edited by novelist and fellow Staples Players alumnus Eric Beetner. Proceeds from sales of the anthology will benefit efforts to support sensible gun control legislation.

Tickets to this event are $20 and can be purchased through the Fairfield University website.

Kate Belli: From Art Historian to Art Sleuth

Wednesday, September 23
7:30 pm
Dolan School of Business Event Hall, Fairfield University
1073 North Benson Road
Fairfield

Expanded coverage of Fairfield County cultural events is made possible with support from the Fairfield University Quick Center for the Arts