In David’s as-yet unpublished memoir manuscript, a return to Pennsylvania to care for his dying father stirs up memories of his displacement mid-childhood from more cosmopolitan Pittsburgh to a backwoods small town a few hours north. Like a young David Sedaris plopped unceremoniously into Alison Bechdel’s Beech Grove, David survives brutal adolescent bullying and escapes the northern Appalachian wilds as soon as he can. He carries away a deep ambivalence toward the region, whose wooded mountains mask a history of industrial exploitation and environmental devastation that he will begin to understand only in his father’s final days.

If you are interested in reviewing the manuscript for publication or agent representation, please email David at d.blackmore@chatham.edu.