by Robin Black
My mother and my brothers have given me the extraordinary gift of encouraging me to write honestly about my late father, and about the many complexities of my relationship with him. I am fortunate to have family who understand why doing so matters so much to me, and who support this exploration of mine.
Anyone who has read this book knows I have a lot for which to thank my children, Elizabeth, David, and Annie. And I do thank them, with love, with homemade challah, with The Meal, with almond cookies, with amaretto pound cake—and with all that implies.
And thank you, Richard, always and endlessly. This is, in many ways, a love letter to you—as is everything I write.
Most of these essays have been individually published, often in somewhat different forms, and with different titles. Many thanks to these print and online publications: The New York Times Magazine; the Chicago Tribune; Psychology Today, One True Thing; Psychologies Magazine; The Quivering Pen; Hunger Mountain; Gulf Coast Review; Bloom; and of course, again, Beyond the Margins.
About the Author
Robin Black is the author of the story collection, If I loved you, I would tell you this, a Finalist for the Frank O’Connor Story Prize, and named one of the best books of 2010 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Irish Times; and the novel Life Drawing, long listed for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, the Folio Prize, and The IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and named one of the best books of 2015 by NPR. Her numerous essays and stories can be found in such publications as the New York Times Magazine, One Story, O Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. She lives with her family in Philadelphia, and has taught most recently at Bryn Mawr College, as the Distinguished Visiting Writer, and in the Brooklyn College MFA Program.