Christoph Keller

Determined to live outside the confines of his disabled body, author Christoph Keller puts his life into perspective through wit and imagination. In this colorful memoir, Keller shows us that sometimes moments of great weakness can be moments of great happiness.

At fourteen, Christoph Keller was diagnosed with a hereditary neuromuscular disorder called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) that should have confined him to a wheelchair by the age of twenty. Defying doctors’ advice to “take it easy,” he began to appreciate every moment by living each day to its fullest. By embracing the memories of an imagination-filled childhood, Keller was able to accept his alcoholic father and an ever-changing disability. This account of Keller’s experience demonstrates that every life can be full of laughter.

For more information: ooliganmarketing@pdx.edu

ISBN: 978-1-932010-22-0
6˝ x 9˝, softcover
288 pages
$16.95

About the Author

Christoph Keller

Christoph Keller believes that everyone should not only know what it’s like to live with a disability, but should simply know how to live. Keller knows this very well, because he not only lives his life to its fullest, but he does it while living with an incurable disease.

Born in 1963, Keller was raised in St. Gallen, Switzerland. At the age of fourteen, Keller was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, an incurable degenerative disease which later forced him into a wheelchair. Keller broke out from his restricted world, overcoming his illness and his alcoholic father, to discover the world on wheels. From 1984 to 1991, Keller studied at universities in both Geneva and Konstanz, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Arts. Keller is the author of several novels, narrations, and plays. He currently lives in New York with his wife Jan.

Interview

Christoph Keller

Q: Where did you get the idea for the book?

A: It was time to write it—I wrote too many books not dealing with my disability. This explains the hybrid novel-memoir form. As a literary writer I wanted to write a literary book, yet I did have a “mission” to open people’s eyes to what it is to live/grow up with a disability. The premise was to describe a human condition that concerns us all.

Q: Why is it called The Best Dancer?

A: Dancing, metaphorically and literally speaking, is an expression of the joy of life. It’s the mindset that guides me through my own life, and it did guide me through the writing of this book. And, guess what, you can dance in a wheelchair.