About

Ragbagger Press is the publishing imprint of author Michael Hurley.  Michael and his wife Susan live in South Carolina near Charleston. They have four children ranging in age from 19 to 23.  Born and raised in Baltimore, Michael studied English at the University of Maryland and law at St. Louis University. He is admitted to the bar in North Carolina and Texas.

Michael’s first book, Letters from the Woods, is a collection of wilderness-themed essays published by Ragbagger Press in 2005.  It was shortlisted for Book of the Year by ForeWord magazine.  In 2009, Michael embarked on a two-year, 2,200 mile solo sailing voyage that ultimately ended with the loss of his boat, the Gypsy Moon, in the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti in 2012. That voyage and the experiences that inspired him to set sail became the subject of his memoir, Once Upon A Gypsy Moon, published in 2013 by Hachette Book Group. The Prodigal, his debut novel from Ragbagger Press, is about four people whose destiny is tied to a mystical schooner found adrift off the Outer Banks. It has received numerous accolades in the trade press, including Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, and five-star reviews from ForeWord Reviews, BookTrib, Chanticleer and many other literary journals.

When he is not writing, Michael enjoys doing all the cooking for Susan and himself in their rambling, one-hundred-year-old house.  His fondest pastimes are ocean sailing, playing piano and classical guitar, and keeping up with their energetic Irish terrier, Frodo Baggins.