Richard Spilman is the author of In the Night Speaking, winner of the Sacramento Poetry Center Book Award, and of Suspension, winner of the New American Press Chapbook Award. He is also the author of two collections of short fiction: Hot Fudge, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and The Estate Sale, which wasn’t.
He was born and raised in Normal, Illinois, half a block from Main Street, in a house that backed onto Sugar Creek. There was a Dairy Queen across the street, a Texaco station on the corner, and the first ever Steak and Shake a block away. The house, the Dairy Queen, and even part of the creek are gone now, as is the trailer park two blocks away. Now, the neighborhood boasts more respectable people.
He and his wife, Joan, live with their grandsons in Hurricane, WV. Though he seldom returns to Normal, he has never escaped it.
Paperback: 54 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (September 27, 2023)