Kirjahaku

Orville, Illinois, is bucolic, charming, and almost Norman Rockwellesque—if you’re white. But like many midwestern cities in the 1960s, it is a “sundown” town—a place where Black Americans are prohibited from entering or remaining after dark. The town’s most adventurous woman, Cassie Zeul, is an outcast because she has no husband and takes an occasional lover. Her son, Gus, guided by Sister Damien, aspires to be a priest, but he is increasingly overwhelmed by his infatuation with Pat Lemkey—who is herself drawn to Jenny Biel, considered by many to be the most beautiful girl in town. Gus’s best friend, Fenza Ryzchik Jr., a somewhat notorious bully desperate for his father’s attention, hates “colored people,” doesn’t think he knows any, and is certain he can convince Jenny to marry him one day—without realizing that her devout mother has been passing for white her entire life. Events come to a head when a visiting nun from the South brings an African American friend with her to Midnight Mass one Christmas Eve. The dreams and desires of these characters collide and intersect as they navigate life and coming of age in the rural Midwest. In Janko’s masterful hands, the darkness—of prejudice, privilege, and power—that they don’t even recognize threatens to overwhelm their lives and their plans for the future. This novel forces us, as well as its characters, to acknowledge the cost of hiding our true selves, and of judging others based on the color of their skin or the longing of their hearts.

James Janko has been awarded a number of honors as a novelist, including the AWP Award for the Novel. Love and Catastrophe is his first book of poetry. Albert deGenova, Executive Director of Write On Door County, Publisher and Editor of After Hours Magazine, an award-winning poet, publisher, teacher, and blues saxophonist, said in a review that "With his poetry collection Love and Catastrophe, James Janko weaves metaphor and imagery into a poetry that sings both joyous and sad songs but insists on reminding the reader of the spiritual, life-affirming connection between our "selves," the things we touch, and the world around us. For Janko the wind and sea are as one with the human heart and soul." The poet Standing Feather said about this collection of Janko's work, "Much like the process of the archetypal hermit, James Janko's poetry encourages us to descend the often damp, dark stairs of human reasoning. When we reach the bottom, he gently guides us into a private and sacred holding space, where we learn to honor the deepest parts of ourselves, and in turn, learn to rise and illuminate a shining path of compassion for the world to traverse."A Viet Nam veteran who served as a medic because he refused to carry a gun, he was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor and a Purple Heart. He gave both medals away to Vietnamese harmed by the war after the finish of the war.

In the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, Palestine, sixteen-year-old Amal Tuqan finds her escape in tightrope walking. Living in an alley so narrow that " the walls hold their breath," she practices tirelessly on thin wires and slippery rebar. Her extraordinary talent leads her to Tel Aviv in the summer of 2019, where she joins The Flying Kids, a circus that brings together Israeli and Palestinian children. There, she forms a deep friendship with Tali Glazman, a Jewish Israeli juggler, and they discover they share a painful bond: both have lost their fathers to violence. As their friendship defies the deep-seated animosities that divide them, The Wire-Walker reveals more than just a tale of friendship; it is a raw and powerful commentary on the daily struggles faced by Amal and her community in the occupied West Bank. Set against the backdrop of 2019-2020, this poignant tale serves as a prequel to the struggles that have unfolded since, highlighting the enduring spirit of youth amidst conflict.

Winner of the AWP Prize for the Novel “Part of me wanted to quit, let the Red Birds hammer us, and slink away to hibernate all winter. I had that old feeling of worthlessness running through me, and sadness, too. A coach, whatever his age, should be a reservoir of hope, but I, in my Cub heart, boarded a shipwreck, my own Titanic, and awaited the dark plunge into the familiarity of loss.” Billy Donachio, an aging coach for the Chicago Cubs, has never had a lucky day let alone a lucky year. Every team he has been part of and everything he has ever cared about has ended up in the dumps. When at last he’s able to be a part of a winner, a Chicago Cub team on the cusp of World Series victory, Billy struggles with neurosis. A thief, a kleptomaniac, he loots the lockers of his star players and comes away with notes, letters, a neighborhood newspaper, a photograph, a computer disc. By accident, Billy receives an education.