About Us
Briar Press New York is a boutique publishing house devoted to Gothic. Under that umbrella, we focus on anything from Regency and Victorian romance, Classic Gothic/Ghost tales and takes on Women Running from Houses, to Literary Fiction in any time period. We at Briar Press are book nerds—we love books! Collectively, our publishers, editors and artistic directors have spent decades working in the arts, design, and book world. See our Staff Info below…
Jaclyn Baer She/Her
Co-founder, Editor-in-Chief
Jackie graduated with a BA in Literature from Bennington College, and earned her Masters of Library Science from Pratt Institute. She is a voracious reader, enjoying a wide range of genres including Romance and Fantasy of all types. She is focused on fostering underrepresented women writers of all Gothic and Romance genres.
Erica-Lynn Huberty She/Her
Co-founder, Editor at Large
Erica-Lynn earned a BA in Writing and Fine Arts from NYU, and an MA in Literature from Bennington College, where she focused on early 20th-century writers of the Bloomsbury Group. She is obsessed with history and is focused on fostering underrepresented women writers of traditional Gothic genres.
Beatrix Huberty She/They
Social Media Consultant
Bebe Huberty is a dancer and artist who is Briar Press’s lifeline to the Web. She loves Fantasy, Manga, LGBTQ graphic novels, and is an avid Dungeons & Dragons player.
Aeven O’Donnell They/She
Associate Editor
Aeven is a recent graduate of Bennington College, where they focused on writing prose of all sorts and studied under Manuel Gonzales and Anaïs Duplan. They are an avid consumer of realist and historical fiction, but deeply interested in the limits of realism and the inherent fabulousness of moving outside of it.
Kathryn Tarlow Sears She/Her
Editor at Large
Kathryn earned her BA in writing from NYU, as well as a post-bac writing degree from Columbia University; In addition, she earned her MFA in Writing from NYU, where she studied under E.L. Doctorow. She has worked at Smithmark Publishing and Villiano Literary. She’s currently writing an historical literary novel, and edits select content and copy for Briar Press.
Jen Van Arsdale She/Her
Web and Graphic design
Jen attended Bennington College and SUNY Empire State and launched her marketing and design career in New York City, where she fine-tuned her one-of-a-kind style while working on creative projects for the Wall Street Journal and Co-op City Times. As an Art Director at The Princeton Review, she unleashed her creative powers to add life and personality to the publication. She founded and runs Jen Van Arsdale Designs, focusing on websites, book covers, and branding.