Kevin Sampsell always thought he was part of a normal family growing up in the Pacific Northwest. He never wondered why his older siblings had different last names or why one of them was black. But when his estranged father passed away in 2008, his mother revealed to him some of the family’s mysterious and unsettling history. A history of betrayal, madness, and incest.
A Common Pornography is a uniquely crafted, two-pronged “memory experiment”: a collection of sweet and funny snapshots from his childhood, and an unsensational portrait of a family in crisis. Sampsell blends the catastrophic with the mundane and the humorous with the horrific. From his mother’s first tumultuous marriages and his father’s shocking abuse of his half sister to Kevin’s own memories of first jobs, first bands, and first loves, here is a searing, intensely honest memoir that exposes the many haunting shades of a family—both its tragedy and its resiliency.
“For beauty, honesty, sheer weirdness, and a haunting evocation of place, Kevin Sampsell is my favorite Oregon writer. Ken Kesey, Chuck Palahniuk—make some room on the shelf.”
—Sean Wilsey, author of Oh the Glory of it All
Kevin Sampsell lives in Portland, Oregon, and works at the legendary Powell’s City of Books. He started his small press, Future Tense Books, in 1990 and has published small books by many of America’s most exciting new writers. His own writing has appeared widely in publications such as Nerve, McSweeney’s, Pindeldyboz, 3 AM, Hobart, Night Train, Elimae, Smith, Opium, and Failbetter. His essays and reviews of books and music have also appeared in various publications.
His previous books include Beautiful Blemish (Word Riot Press) and Creamy Bullets (Chiasmus). He also edited the anthologies The Insomniac Reader (Manic D Press) and Portland Noir (Akashic).
The Monthly Book Club meets on Thursday, May 20th at 7:00 P.M.