Daniel Allen Cox
Spring memoir author: Daniel Allen Cox
Author of the memoir-in-essays I Felt the End Before It Came, a finalist for the Grand Prix du livre de Montreal.
“I spent eighteen years in a group that taught me to hate myself. You cannot be queer and a Jehovah’s Witness—it’s one or the other.”
‘Daniel Allen Cox grew up with firm lines around what his religion considered unacceptable: celebrating birthdays and holidays; voting in elections, pursuing higher education, and other forays into independent thought. Their opposition to blood transfusions would have consequences for his mother, just as their stance on homosexuality would for him.
But even years after whispers of his sexual orientation reached his congregation’s presiding elder, catalyzing his disassociation, the distinction between “in” and “out” isn’t always clear. Still in the midst of a lifelong disentanglement, Cox grapples with the group’s cultish tactics—from gaslighting to shunning—and their resulting harms—from simmering anger to substance abuse—all while redefining its concepts through a queer lens.
With great candour and disarming self-awareness, Cox takes readers on a journey from his early days as a solicitous door-to-door preacher in Montreal to a stint in New York City, where he’s swept up in a scene of photographers and hustlers… The culmination of years spent both processing and avoiding a complicated past, I Felt the End Before It Came reckons with memory and language just as it provides a blueprint to surviving a litany of Armageddons.’
“This is ultimately a story about the struggle to build a life out of ashes with little to no support — about unlearning familial inheritances and forgiving ourselves for our own trespasses. Most of all, it is about learning how to carry on after leaving a community obsessed with finality… I Felt the End Before It Came is Cox’s way of putting his chaotic life experiences into words. In so doing, he has offered up a language for others who might still be searching for the right thing to say.”
Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post (Book World)
Finaliste, Grand Prix du livre de Montréal 2023
Publishers Weekly Best Books 2023
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Globe and Mail 39 Fiction and Non-Fiction Books to Read This Spring
Quill & Quire Spring Nonfiction Preview
49th Shelf Most Anticipated Nonfiction, Spring 2023
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Kobo, Books We Can’t Wait To Get Our Hands On
Zoomer Magazine, 21 LGBTQ+ Books for Pride Month
CBC Books 70 works of Canadian nonfiction to check out in spring 2023
Audible’s The Best Audiobooks of 2023 (So Far)
CBC Books 20 Great Memoirs to Read Now
This event is presented in partnership with the Owen Sound & North Grey Union Public Library
Author Reading
The author talk will be Daniel Allen Cox talking about his memoir, his writing process, and having lively Q&A with the crowd.
This is an opportunity for fans of memoirs, books and fans of Daniel to hear from, and meet the author.
The seating is limited so if you love hearing great stories from one of our best Canadian writers, get your ticket today!
Friday,
May 24, 2024
Owen Sound
Library Auditorium
Writing Workshop
The writing workshop will have Daniel Allen Cox hosting amateur, and experienced writers through his methods.
This workshop will concentrate on how to organize and begin to put together your own memoir. If you want to participate in important conversations, or are interested in writing your own memoir, join us and learn from for the writing workshop, or for both events!
Time:
1:00-3:00 p.m
Workshop Only:
$40.00
Owen Sound
Library Auditorium