Hey! You look familiar

Hey all

Muchos exciting Nuevos.

First off, gracias for coming on back to this site. I know its been a long time away and all of you have many other things on your plates. Work, family, a pepper steak, and it’s summer and the weather’s been nice (at least out here in the northeast).

Much news to share. First, my book, The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness in Africa (alternate titles: A what man in Africa, Africa on 40 decibels a day, Africa? I thought this was Jersey, and my favorite: Are You There God, It’s Me Josh), is due to be released on Sept 4th. Along with the crack teams at Henry Holt and ICM, as well as the secret weapon, the amazing book publicist/superaunt Judi Davidson (aka The Unpaid), I’ve been busy trying to rev up the publicity machine. Will there be parties? Yes, there will be parties. And yes, you are invited and I hope to see you there. There will be readings, too. In NY, Massachusetts, DC, and LA thus far. I’ll post the schedule for all these events as the time approaches. You can pre-order the book here.

In the meantime, we just got this review from Publisher’s Weekly:

The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa
Josh Swiller. Holt, $14 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-8050-8210-4
Although doctors diagnosed Swiller’s deafness early enough to fit him with hearing aids, the young man from Mantattan’s Upper West Side still felt different. As a young adult he drifted from college to college, job to job, relationship to relationship, never quite finding what he was looking for: “a place beyond deafness.” He found that place in the mid-1990s, when the Peace Corps posted him to a remote corner of Zambia. During his two-year stint working in a run-down health clinic in a rural village, he fought for irrigation projects and better AIDS facilities. He befriended a young local who played chess and provided constant counsel in the ways the young white American could—and did—run afoul of local tribesmen (and women) and their age-old ways. Deafness would have provided a unique sensory filter for anyone, yet while Swiller may have his particular aural capabilities, he also has literary talents—an eye, a voice and a narrative talent—in abundance. A story in any other Peace Corps volunteer’s hands might have been humdrum, but in Swiller’s becomes intensified, like the rigors of day-to-day Zambian life, through deprivation. (Sept.)

PW is the prime early reviewer in the country. That is, bookstores and libraries and reading groups take their lead from its choices, so hopefully this will lead to more attention, more sales and I may some day pay off my credit card bill and student loans. Some call me a crazy dreamer, but that’s only because our society has been so corrupted that crazy dreamers who used to wish for a world full of international goodness and kindness now just wish for balanced bank accounts and buy bracelets for Barack.

But I digress. In addition to planning events, we’re placing book excerpts and lining up radio interviews. Many things are in range and its exciting and I'll have the information for you shortly. Also, my website, www.joshswiller.com will be up soon, and will have all this information and more. But it ain’t up yet either, so I imagine this update feels a little like fooling around with a girlfriend/boyfriend in junior high – everything’s there, more or less, but you just got to wait to get the full effect.

I can say this for sure: The Unheard will be reviewed in several national magazines in the fall, which will be nice. Outside, GQ, and my personal fave, Penthouse will all give it some space. I believe the Penthouse review will be written by my old friend, Nameand Addresswithheld, and will begin, Dear Penthouse, I never thought I’d ever write to you but you’ll never believe what happened to me…

It’s been a long slog to get the book to this point, round after round after round of edits, during which I read my own words so much I began to see messages to Satan in them and also we had a bit of a struggle to get the right cover before finally coming up with this one:



Which I really like, though I look about twelve. It captures the feeling of the book.

I have to thank Supurna Banerjee, my Henry Holt editor who has read the book more than I have, and yet stayed enthusiastic to the end. Also Dana Trombley, my amazing publicist at Holt. And AJ, who has put up with far too many moments (days? weeks?) of artistic self-indulgence and mood-swinginess. Ugh.



On a personal front, two and a half months ago AJ and I moved from Brooklyn to the bucolic village of Cold Spring, about an hour up the Hudson (that's the view from town up above). Our Brooklyn rent went up a bundle and our landlord was constantly confusing our comings and goings with his eight campaigns in WWII (bless him for that, but we were just getting the paper) and so while looking around the neighborhood and considering renting one-bedroom shoeboxes and walk-in closets, we thought, let’s try something different for a change. Now I’m sitting on the front porch of our cottage as I write this, looking out over the Hudson river, over acres of trees, hills shaped like the faces of reclining Indian chiefs, and a man riding a motorcycle while wearing a helmet with buck antlers welded on it. Are the antlers a homage to the history of this place? Or is he just a buttface? It’s the circle of life. At least thanks to the implant I can hear his motorcycle’s 950 cc engine just fine. Neither Amos nor Otis know what to make of him either, though they too, seem to be enjoying the country living. They have become champion swimmers. Otis especially, is just a few bike lessons from competing in triathalons.

Meanwhile the world continues to burp up news stories that just make you shake your head or bang it against a wall. They’re swimming at the North Pole! They’re turning the corner in Iraq! Posh and Becks are here! But we’ll get to that in future posts.

So to sum up: Book: done. Blog: back. Hills: beautiful. Parties, excerpts, readings: a-coming. Penthouse: buy it for the articles. Joshswiller.com: soon.