Finding me―and Them - Michael P Amram

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Résumé :
Finding me-and Them: Stories of Assimilation is a collection of ten stories. They are autobiographical. They are nonfiction. They are fiction based on fact. Each story tells the author's life as an individual with or (fictional) without a disability. All of them find the author. They show different phases and challenges in his life, from rehabilitating from a head injury at age five to learning the logistics of an after-life. In ways that co-mingle genres, the stories in my book are related. There are central themes concurrent in all of them. Many of the stories are written from the perspective of someone growing up with an ambiguous disability. A theme is how I found the world to perceive me. Family is a theme. Wandering, exploration, the search for identity, are central themes in my stories. My book is learning to live (physically different). It's learning to love. It's learning what faith can do and what's offered in worlds we can't see. In Finding me and Them, Michael Amram shows his versatility as a writer, combining stories of fact and fiction, often with poetic lyricism, to tell the story of his life, a life he says is influenced by the disabilities caused when a distracted teen driver hit the then 5-year-old boy. In reality, it's a life that reflects Amram's abilities - his ability to see joy and sorrow in life, his ability to observe the ironies of life, his ability to appreciate that overcoming takes many forms. Amram blends humor and poignancy to engage readers as he portrays life's simplest interactions as meaningful. Never preachy, each of the 10 stories in this collection teaches us something about living the fullest life we can. - Ellen Weingart, editor

Biographie:
I earned a BA degree in English from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1989. Success, having my writing read and possibly bought, was always the plan. To implement it, I began writing stories, poetry, snippets of everything I saw. Before I was married, I lived (and made it out alive) in a very much crack-infested urban area of South Minneapolis. I dealt with roaches, crack-heads and shrill siren sounds every night. The days, hanging out at Brit's Pub, gave me insight to how the have-nots live. I grew up in the relatively tranquil suburb of Richfield, Minnesota. During and after college I traveled. Germany, France, Egypt, England, Israel, Norway can be claimed as places I've visited, derived poems from, recorded my benign experiences. My first Poetry book, Scenes the Writer Shows {forty-one places a poem can go} conspires to retell the snippets of life abroad. My pose has so far manifested itself in the genres of nonfiction, creative nonfiction, and historical fiction. My first novel, The Orthodoxy of Arrogance (Trafford, 2013) is historical fiction. My second novel, Agent of Orange (Trafford, 2014) also fictionalizes history in a way James A Michener never did. I relate fads, trends, and news events of the time to my characters. I write how they live, what they learn, and how the events affect their lives. My first effort was a small nonfiction book called Would God Move a Ping-Pong Table: a cumulative analysis of faith and religion (Loft Press, 2005). This book follows religion, and the faith it requires, from the Inquisition to the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is full of factual information dealing with everything from faith healing to the Golden Rule. The only part that borders on creative nonfiction is the chapter from which the title comes. At UMD I prayed for a Ping-Pong table to be moved, and it was, ostensibly by supernatural forces. My other shorter stories have been published in paper and online magazines, anthologies, and journals. My first occurred in 1998. I currently participate in a writer's group at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis....

Sommaire:
Finding me-and Them: Stories of Assimilation is a collection of ten stories. They are autobiographical. They are nonfiction. They are fiction based on fact. Each story tells the author's life as an individual with or (fictional) without a disability. All of them find the author. They show different phases and challenges in his life, from rehabilitating from a head injury at age five to learning the logistics of an after-life. In ways that co-mingle genres, the stories in my book are related. There are central themes concurrent in all of them. Many of the stories are written from the perspective of someone growing up with an ambiguous disability. A theme is how I found the world to perceive me. Family is a theme. Wandering, exploration, the search for identity, are central themes in my stories. My book is learning to live (physically different). It's learning to love. It's learning what faith can do and what's offered in worlds we can't see. In Finding me and Them, Michael Amram shows his versatility as a writer, combining stories of fact and fiction, often with poetic lyricism, to tell the story of his life, a life he says is influenced by the disabilities caused when a distracted teen driver hit the then 5-year-old boy. In reality, it's a life that reflects Amram's abilities - his ability to see joy and sorrow in life, his ability to observe the ironies of life, his ability to appreciate that overcoming takes many forms. Amram blends humor and poignancy to engage readers as he portrays life's simplest interactions as meaningful. Never preachy, each of the 10 stories in this collection teaches us something about living the fullest life we can. - Ellen Weingart, editor...