THE BOOK: All Who Belong May Enter
PUBLISHED IN: 2021
THE AUTHOR: Nicholas Ward
THE EDITOR: Christine Stroud
THE PUBLISHER: Autumn House Press, a nonprofit literary published based in Pittsburgh, PA, who publishes full-length collections of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction
SUMMARY: My debut essay collection, All Who Belong May Enter, centers on self-exploration and cultural critique. These deeply personal essays examine whiteness, masculinity, and a Midwest upbringing through tales of sporting events, parties, posh (and not-so-posh) restaurant jobs, and the many relationships built and lost along the way.
THE BACK STORY: Many of these essays were originally written as stories for the Chicago-based storytelling collective, 2nd Story. This meant that they were written in collaboration with other writers and intended for a live audience, who in turn helped shape what worked and what didn’t, or what might require further expansion into a longer format. Over time, I realized that I was tracing some socio-political terrain around masculinity and whiteness, with a labor component being added later as I started to write about my twenty-year career waiting tables. I worked on the book in fits and starts, beginning with a residency at Ragdale in Lake Forest, IL in early 2016 and continuing for four years of revisions and submissions until it was awarded the Nonfiction Prize from Autumn House Press in the fall of 2020.
WHY THIS TITLE?: The title refers to the twin sources of power that the book circles around, whiteness and masculinity. As someone who holds privilege but is also harmed by my relationship to these forces, I’m committed to ending these power structures. However, I know that my own individual ability to dismantle these large scale systems has its limits. I belong, whether I want to or not.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? Part of my interest as an essayist is thinking critically about how to bring an audience member into the story, rather than appearing narcissistic and navel-gazing. In order to do that, I believe that it’s my job to be as absolutely specific as I possibly can about my experience and my relationship to my friends, family, lovers, pets, and Chicago. In turn, that allows a reader the possibility of connecting that experience to their lives, to imagine how they might have reacted in similar situations or yearned for a present different than the one they have.
I also think that these essays cover topics from which white men writers typically shy away, namely what benefits them, how they’re harmed by masculinity and whiteness, and how they heal.
REVIEW COMMENTS: Well observed and curious, these essays will appeal to readers who, like Ward, are sensitive to inequality but unsure how to combat it. — —Publishers Weekly.
AUTHOR PROFILE: Raised outside the Detroit suburbs, I moved to Chicago in 2004 with big dreams of taking the theatre world by storm. For years, I worked in restaurants to support myself while pursuing the art that I loved. I linked up with 2nd Story, my artistic community, originally as a producer and then eventually as a storyteller, curator, teacher, and very occasional (okay, once) sound designer for our live shows. I worked in traditional theatre for a very long time as well, as a production manager with a small storefront company called Theatre Seven of Chicago, and as a casting associate with the famed regional theatre, Steppenwolf. These days, I’m an arts administrator with a literary arts organization in Chicago and an organizer with a localized independent political organization in my community on the North Side, fighting for housing justice, public schools, and against police brutality.
SAMPLE: https://catapult.co/stories/there-is-no-violence-here
LOCAL OUTLETS:
WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: https://www.autumnhouse.org/books/all-who-belong-may-enter/
PRICE: $17.95
CONTACT THE AUTHOR: You can write to me via my website at: www.nicholascward.com, or follow me on Twitter & Instagram @NicholasCWard
Snowflakes in a Blizzard 