BUFFALO, NEW YORK – Lowery Writer-in Residence Eric Gansworth is receiving critical acclaim for his debut young-adult novel If I Ever Get Out of Here. The Los Angeles Times described it as “the sort of book that can spark all kinds of meaningful conversation.” The Washington Post referred to it as “funny and poignant.” Teenreads writes it is “a brilliantly written tale of growth and change.” Most recently, the Library of Congress invited Gansworth to read from his new book at the National Book Festival, held on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on Saturday, September 21.
Gansworth will mark the formal release of If I Ever Get Out of Here at Canisius University with a book reading, reception and signing on Thursday, September 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the Grupp Fireside Lounge, located on the second floor of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center. The book will be available for sale to the public at that time, courtesy of Talking Leaves Books, Buffalo’s oldest independent bookseller.
If I Ever Get Out of Here tells the story of Lewis Blake, a friendless teenager whose family is poor and from the Tuscarora Reservation, an area which is routinely treated with disdain by the outside community. Lewis’ life begins to change when he meets George, an Air Force kid who is also somewhat of a misfit. As their friendship grows, Lewis and George encounter issues of race, poverty and power. Along the way, the teens are forced to question their beliefs.
“If I Ever Get Out of Here,” Eric Gansworth’s first novel for young people, rings true with a sophisticated look at what it’s like to be an outsider and what it takes to be a true friend,” writes Mary MacVean of the Los Angeles Times.
A professor of English at Canisius, Gansworth is the author of nine previous books, including Extra Indians (American Book Award, New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year), Mending Skins, (PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award), and A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function, which appeared on the National Book Critics Circle’s “Good Reads” list in 2008. An enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation, Gansworth was born and raised on the Tuscarora Reservation in Niagara County, NY.
If I Ever Get Out of Here is published by Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic and is available nationwide. For more information on the book reading, reception and signing, contact the Canisius University Office of Public Relations at (716) 888-2790.
Canisius University is one of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation and the premier private university in Western New York.
