Speaker Biographies

John Michael Cummings

John Michael Cummings, author of the exciting new young adult novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group), grew up in Harpers Ferry in the 1970s, in a little stone house across the street from the John Brown Wax Museum. His family had no ties to the national park. His father worked for the post office, and his mother was the town clerk. His family has lived in Jefferson County for five generations.

His novel, which has received rave reviews by Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, The Boston Globe, and The Buffalo News, along with five award-winning literary journals, including Mid-American Review, centers on 13-year-old Josh Connors who, to free himself from his shy, sheltered life in the historic town, idolizes the fierce spirit of the controversial figure of John Brown. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph writes: "From a literature standpoint, The Night I Freed John Brown is a masterful work that is crafted in the time-honored genre that Mark Twain milked so gracefully in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, the most compelling works of that ilk in American letters."

Cummings' short stories have appeared in more than 75 literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Iowa Review. Twice he has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. His short fiction has also received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.

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