From the Gottesman Libraries at Columbia University:
Christoph Keller is a Swiss writer and critic, living in New York City with his wife, the poet Jan Heller Levi. He has written three prize winning novels in his native German; plays for Swiss, Austrian, and German audiences; and most recently a memoir about living with a progressive disability, Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Also known as Kugelberg-Welander Syndrome, SMA is an incurable hereditary disease of progressive muscular degeneration. Now wheelchair dependant, Keller was diagnosed at the age of fourteen, just after playing a game of tennis.
Der Beste Tänzer received glowing reviews for its release in Germany by S. Fischer, in 2003. It spent six weeks on the Swiss bestseller list, and triggered talk show appearances, as well as an hour-long movie about Keller for the prestigious Sternstunden documentary program on Swiss National TV. The book was translated into English by Alison Gallup and made its American debut through Ooligan Press in May 2009.
Christopher Keller writes, “I hope The Best Dancer is one of those books that make you see the world differently. It’s more a book about life in general, than about progressive disability. But life is progressive as well, isn’t it? In the end it’s about something we all share: loss. My wife, Jan Heller Levi, ends one of her poems with the haunting lines: ‘how we’re always losing something,/how beautiful that is.’ Those words reverberate through my book – and through our lives.”
Writes Lois Keith, author of Take Up Thy Bed and Walk: Death, Disability and Cure in Classic Fiction for Girls, “The Best Dancer is a celebration of this new life – it’s a story of love and loss and leaving things behind. Like the best kind of novel, this memoir will grab you and live in your mind long after you’ve finished reading.”
Included in the U.S. edition are two new chapters: “The Island Cathedral,” recounting Keller’s 9/11 experiences, and a short story entitled “The Meeting with Christopher Keller.” The book is illustrated richly with family mementos, personal photographs, and reproductions of art.
Following the opening reception for Disability Awareness Week (10/26-10/30), this book talk is co-sponsored by the Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities (OASID) and the Gottesman Libraries.
Individuals with disabilities are invited to request reasonable accommodations including, but not limited to sign language interpretation, Braille or large print materials, and a campus map of accessible features. Address these requests to the Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities at (212) 678-3689, keller@tc.edu, or Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services at (212) 678-3853 V/TTY, jaech@tc.edu.
http://library.tc.columbia.edu/news.php?id=487
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