Memoir Reading

I will be departing from my usual format to write this blog by announcing a reading I'm doing at Strive Bookstore on 9th Street and Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, March 13th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. I'll be reading from my first memoir -- BORN IN THE YEAR ZERO. Strive Bookstore, which is owned by Mary Taris, features books by African-American authors and black culture. This bookstore also supports local authors, and that is why I was invited to schedule a reading there. My memoir will be on sale during my reading, and I will be signing copies of my book.

BORN IN THE YEAR ZERO (2020) is my first of three memoirs. It tells the story of my boyhood in post-World War II Germany where I was born in 1945. I call this date "the year zero" because it marks the low point in modern German history. I also write about my emigration to the U.S. with my dad in 1954 when I was nine years old. I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio where I graduated from Xavier University in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. After obtaining my M.A. degree in English Literature from The Ohio State University in 1970, I returned to Marburg, my hometown in Germany, where I lived for two-and-a-half years. I also spent two summers in Paris and Zurich.

After obtaining my MLS (Master's in Library Science) degree in 1974, I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to pursue yet another Master's degree in English as a Second Language with hopes of teaching English overses. However, things did not work out since I dropped out of the University of Minnesota after only one quarter because of a recurrence of severe depression. But I fell in love with Minnesota and decided to make it my new home.

Besides BORN IN THE YEAR ZERO, I've also published two other memoirs. The second one, entitled RESURGENCE (2021), tells the story of how I spent two-and-a-half years in a residential treatment center for mentally ill from 1979 to 1981. In this memoir I also relate an experience I had as an in-patient in the psych unit of a Minneapolis hospital in 1995.

My third memoir -- SENIOR MOMENTS (2022) -- is a collection of 24 brief chapters detailing my reminiscences related to being a senior. Themes include "Heroes and Sheroes," "Bussing It," "Dreams and Other Visions," "Musical Notes," and "Games I Like to Play."

I was very fortunate to find an editor at a Loft workshop, who not only edited my three memoirs, but also found a publisher for them. BORN IN THE YEAR ZERO includes pictures of my childhood and adult years, many of which I have my father to thank for. I'm very excited about this opportunity because this will be my first reading at a bookstore.