Memoir/Creative nonfiction/anthology
Date Published: October 1st, 2018
Publisher: Oleb Books
Take a step back in time with some of the best writers with disabilities as they recount their first adventure, their first heartbreak, and the first time the unexpected treaded into their life. From body transformations to social setbacks, to love affairs and family trauma, Firsts collects the most thought-provoking and exciting stories of our time by people with disabilities. Contributors include Nigel David Kelly, Kimberly Gerry-Tucker, Caitlin Hernandez, Andrew Gurza, and David-Elijah Nahmod
Interview with Belo Cipriani
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Firsts?
Coming of Age Stories by People
with Disabilities is a collection of 11 personal essays. Each story is told
from the perspective of a writer with a disability and dives deep into an
experience that shaped their life.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have
planned for the future?
I am working on a second work of
nonfiction, which will be a sequel to my debut title, Blind: A Memoir. While my
first book took about two years to write, the sequel has taken four years to put
together. This is largely because I had a lot of huge things in my life happen,
such as losing my mom, changing careers from high tech to journalism, and
moving to Minneapolis from San Francisco. So, there were plenty of days where I
could not get to my computer to write. Also, since I am blind, it takes me
longer to edit, as I use special software for the visually impaired.
How
long would you say it takes you to write a book?
While I am able to crank out a few news
articles per week, when it comes to creative writing, I am slow. I have a novel
that I have been working on for three years and the above mentioned sequel to
my memoir that is going on year five. So far, I feel that it takes me several
years to complete a book.
What
is your favorite childhood book?
I simply love the Wizard of Oz both because
it’s the only American fairy tale and because I connect with it being situated
in the Midwest. Additionally, as a gay man, I consider it a favorite of the
lgbt community. You can go to any gay bar on Halloween and always find a
Dorothy in the mix.
If
you could spend the day with one of the characters from Firts who would it be?
Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and
what you would do.
I do not have a character from fiction I
would like to hang out with in real life, but there is someone I would have
liked to meet. That is Louis Braille, who did not just give the blind a way to
read and write, but he did it against the will of the school for the blind. In
fact, he was even tortured for developing the Braille code, as the sighted
teachers in his school did not want him to develop anything they could not
understand. Thus, if given the opportunity, I would love to thank him in person
for the big risk he took.
What
was the hardest scene from Firsts to write?
For Firsts, I received over 500
submissions, which made my job hard as the editor. All of the stories in the
anthology pushed me to drop what I was doing and not stop reading until it was
over. Sometimes, this caused me to miss a day at the gym, or push an errand to
the following day. Regardless, all of these stories helped me experience the
world in a new way.
What
made you want to become a writer?
When I was in my late twenties and newly
blind, I struggled to find books by blind writers. So, I started to write. I
never thought that I would lecture on writing at Yale, write for the San
Francisco Chronicle, or even own a publishing house for people with
disabilities.
Just
for fun
(a
Favorite Movie: But I’m a Cheerleader
(b
Favorite TV Show: Big Bang Theory
(c
Favorite Food: Indian
(d
Favorite Drink: Sangria
(e
Favorite Website: Avid Reader
Thanks
so much for visiting with us today!
About the Author
Belo Miguel Cipriani is a columnist with the Bay Area Reporter. In 2017, his column on disability issues was recognized by the National Center on Disability and Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.
He is the author of Blind: A Memoir (2011), which received an Honorable Mention for Best Nonfiction Book by the 2011 Rainbow Awards, and an Honorable Mention for Best Culture Book by the 2012 Eric Hoffer Awards.
He has received fellowships from Lambda Literary and Yaddo, and was the first blind writer to attend the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Cipriani has guest lectured at Yale University, University of San Francisco, and University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, and was the Writer-in-Residence at Holy Names University from 2012 to 2016.
His writing has appeared in several publications, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Business Insider, and HuffPost. He was a contributor to the Ed Baxter Morning Show on iHeart Radio, and was also a frequent commentator on San Francisco’s KGO Radio, as well as on several NPR shows.
Cipriani has received numerous awards for his disability advocacy work, including being named “Best Disability Advocate” by SF Weekly (2015), an “Agent of Change” by HuffPost (2015), and an “ABC7 Star” by KGO-TV (2016). He was also honored as the first blind Grand Marshal at San Francisco’s 45th Annual Gay Pride Parade.
He currently works at the Center for Academic Excellence at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN, where he helps students improve their writing skills.
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1 comments:
thanks for hosting
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