Join us for an evening with alumni parent and former long-time GUS basketball coach Kevin Carey as he celebrates the launch of his latest book, Junior Miles and the Junkman.
The evening will include a reading, Q+A with the author, and a book signing. The Bookshop of Beverly Farms will be on-site selling books. Light refreshments will be provided.
About Kevin Carey
Kevin Carey is Coordinator of Creative Writing at Salem State University. He has published a chapbook of fiction from Red Bird Chapbooks, The Beach People (2014) and three books of poetry, The One Fifteen to Penn Station (2012), Jesus Was a Homeboy (2016) which was an Honor book for the Paterson Literary Prize, & Set in Stone (2020) all from CavanKerry Press. His poems have appeared three times on The Writers Almanac on National Public Radio and on The Academy of American Poets Poem a Day. Kevin is also a playwright and a filmmaker. He has co-directed & co-produced two documentaries about poets, All That Lies Between Us and Unburying Malcolm Miller, which premiered at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in 2017. Kevin has also co-authored a screenplay Peter’s Song which won Best Screenplay at the New Hampshire Film Festival in 2009. His latest stage play The Stand or Sal is Dead, a murder mystery comedy, premiered at the Actor’s Studio in Newburyport, MA in June, 2018. His crime novel, Murder in the Marsh, from Darkstroke Books, was released in October (2020). A new middle grade novel Junior Miles and the Junkman will be published in September of 2023 from Fitzroy Books, an imprint of Regal House Publishing. Kevin was a 7th grade basketball coach at GUS for 19 years before stepping down a few years ago. More info at kevincareywriter.com.
About Junior Miles and the Junkman
Junior and his family live in a junkyard, where his father creates pieces of art from the junk surrounding them. When Junior’s father falls ill and dies, Junior and his mother are left with few resources, other than what his mother brings in from her job as a waitress. The junkyard is threatened by encroaching development, and just when Junior thinks all is lost, he finds that a junk sculpture of a man, gifted to him by his father, begins to speak to him. The junkman provides advice in the form of enigmas. Are they clues? Or is it nonsense? Junior and his best friend, Isaac, embark on a journey to find out. Can a man made of junk parts teach Junior about art and friendship and overcoming the loss of a loved one? Only if Junior believes it can.
Praise for Junior Miles and the Junkman
“A tender, transformative novel packed with endearing characters and conversations, partially set in a junkyard, which makes it even more appealing. For all who sometimes feel they don’t fit in, for anyone who’s ever been struck down by scamming or bullying, and for anyone who ever suffers profound pangs of loss—which would be, probably, everybody. You will never forget this terrific story.”
— Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People’s Poet Laureate of the United States 2019 - 2021 and author of The Turtle of Oman and The Turtle of Michigan
“Kevin Carey has given us an admirable young hero who mourns, makes mistakes, and persists in search of something he can’t quite name. His adventure unfolds in the rough-and-tumble world of pre-adolescence, where bullying and bravery clash amid glimpses of a future where bright things are possible. Junior Miles is a boy to believe in.”
— Jabari Asim, author of A Child’s Introduction To African American History and Preaching to the Chickens
“Featuring heart and humor, Kevin Carey has crafted a story of friendship, love, and the lengths we go to in keeping our memories close. Junior Miles and the Junkman is a treasure!”
— Erin Dionne, author of Bad Choices Make Good Stories: Conversations About Writing and Secrets of a Fangirl
“This story is just magic – it’s gentle, kind, and sensitively told; Junior could be any child reading who feels or looks different. To deal with grief in all its surreality and rawness in the way Carey does is masterful. His drawing-in of other male role models to support Junior as he works through his grief is just beautiful, and the depiction of Junior’s relationship with his best friend is so heartwarming. Disability, bullying, bereavement, friendship, trust, and overcoming adversity; all these themes and more are touched on in this unusual gem of a book. “