Fairmont, WV – Acclaimed author Jonathan Corcoran will deliver a literary reading at Pierpont Community and Technical College’s Advanced Technology Center on Thursday, October 17 at 6:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Corcoran will read from his new memoir, No Son of Mine, where he details the chasm between his upbringing in rural West Virginia and the expanding horizons that brought him new bonds beyond bloodlines. He recounts the years of a seemingly unbreakable relationship with his late mother that ended abruptly as he embraced a new path, leaving the remnants of a complex relationship to be explored through grief, anger, questioning, and growth.
“I hope readers of my book will come away with a better understanding of the complicated factors that shape families and family relationships, particularly within our wonderful and complex homeplace of West Virginia,” said Corcoran. “I hope that my book – my life story – offers folks a chance to reflect on how we love each other and how we can love each other better. This story is bigger than the LGBTQ+ community. It is about learning to treat our friends, loved ones, and neighbors with kindness and dignity. It’s about choosing respect and kindness over the forces of hate.”
No Son of Mine: A Memoir has received high praise following its release in April 2024, joining Corcoran’s collection of essays and stories that have been published in Belt Magazine, Salvation South, Still: The Journal, the Oxford University Press text book, How Writing Works, and more.
Corcoran received his Bachelor of Arts in Literary Arts from Brown University and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Rutgers University-Newark. He resides in Brooklyn, New York, with his husband, where he teaches writing at New York University and for the low-residency MFA program at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Light refreshments and a question and answer session with Corcoran will follow the event.
This literary reading is a collaboration between Pierpont’s Office of Student Involvement and writing program. The collaboration is the second of the series, with hopes of providing a showcase for diverse literary forms and voices in the Mountain State and beyond.