Benjamin Whitmer

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Benjamin
Whitmer
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Benjamin Whitmer

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Benjamin Whitmer was born and raised on back-to-the-land communes and counterculture enclaves ranging from Southern Ohio to Upstate New York. One of his earliest and happiest memories is of standing by the side of a country road with his mother, hitchhiking to parts unknown. Since then, he’s been a factory grunt, a vacuum salesman, a convalescent, a high-school dropout, a graduate student, a semi-truck loader, an activist, a kitchen-table gunsmith, a squatter, a college professor, a dishwasher, a technical writer, and a petty thief. He lives with his two children in Colorado, where he spends most of his free time trolling local histories and haunting the bookshops, tobacconists and firing ranges of ungentrified Denver. His first novel, Pike, was published in the US in 2010 by PM Press, and in France in 2012 by Éditions Gallmeister. Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers, a memoir co-written with Charlie Louvin, was released by Igniter Books in 2012. His latest novel, Cry Father, was published to great critical acclaim.

 

What Ben looks for in a Book Project mentee: Jim Harrison once said that “the only advice I can give to aspiring writers is don't do it unless you're willing to give your whole life to it.” I’m looking for mentees who’re willing to shove their ego down the drain and give their craft everything they’ve got. Everything else is secondary, but all things being equal, I also gravitate towards projects with big stakes where things happen.

Benjamin Whitmer's Published Work

Whitmer did an exceptionally strong job of building class community in a way that ensured feedback was both very helpful and very positive.
Suzanne

Benjamin Whitmer's Articles

The Lookout

Lit Matters: Restless Songs, Lost Highways, and Lonesome Yearning

November 04, 2014

Like every other reader, probably, I tie my love for reading to my childhood.