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about the book

In 2009, writer Sandy Allen got something in the mail from his uncle Bob. It was Bob's autobiography, typed on sixty pages in all-capital letters. Bob was a self-described "hermit" who lived in the desert in northern California. Sandy didn't know Bob well. On the phone, Bob said he wanted to get his story "out there" because it was "true." In A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story about Schizophrenia, Sandy shares Bob's story with the world. 

AKOMP is written in two fonts. In one font, Sandy tells Bob's life story faithfully to his account. Bob was a Hendrix-obsessed kid coming of age in tumultuous late sixties Berkeley, CA. His world was forever changed when one day in 1970, at about age sixteen, he was driven to a mental hospital, locked in a cell, injected with drugs and thereafter, as Bob put it, "labeled a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic." In a second font, Sandy interlaces familial, historical, and medical contexts, seeking especially to better understand the 'label' his uncle received. 

The result is an utterly unique and electrifying work, one that has changed the conversation about schizophrenia and about mental illness generally. 

A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise_PB cover f

Hardcover, ebook, paperback now available from Scribner

Buy online from your favorite local bookshop via Bookshop or from any bookseller, today. Or get it from your local library!  

 

Audiobook available Simon & Schuster audio

read by Sandy Allen and actor Pete Simonelli

Also out in French from Belfond 

reception

Top Work of Journalism of the Decade (nominee) – NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute

40 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 – Esquire

​​The Most Anticipated Books of January 2018 – Vogue
18 Nonfiction Books to Watch For in the First Half of 2018​ – CBC
The 30 Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2018 – Bitch

​​​​21 Books to Read in 2018 – The Week

​​The Most Anticipated Books for the First Half of 2018 – The Rumpus
Book Club Pick for January 2018​ – Bookish

“This book is an act of radical empathy through which the author—and, vicariously, the reader—enters intimately into a life that would otherwise be unintelligible.”

– Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

“To pay great attention and devote steady care to the perspective of another is, in itself, almost miraculous—especially when the Other has been cast as mad and dangerous.[Sandy] Allen has brought forward [his] uncle’s life, rendering in exquisite detail what his experiences as a stigmatized, struggling man allowed him to see. This is a truly original piece of work. I urge you to read it.”

– Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author of Random Family

"I know the decision to write this story wasn't an easy one.... I’m really, really grateful that you did 💖 Thank you for bearing witness. Thank you for being kind, and curious, and thorough, and honest. Just, thank you. 📚😭

– Heben Nigatu (host, Another Round)

"Timely . . . An excellent contextualized first-person narrative of schizophrenia . . . My hope is that it will become a classic and universally read by all psychiatrists."

 Howard L. Forman, MD, Psychiatric Times

"Thrilling writing . . . The interest and the quality of the story make honesty about each aspect of this strange life worth including . . . A watershed in empathetic adaptation of 'outsider' autobiography."

Jo Livingstone, The New Republic

“A book of many strange and often oddly beautiful pieces that together combine into a story that will make you tremble. [AKOMP] is a resurrection of sorts, a profound retrieval of a life from beyond the veil with which so many of us obscure the realities of illness and family, loneliness and intimacy.”

– Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family

"It is an odd thing, paranoia. It’s easily lampooned and culturally accessible, but it’s seldom experienced or portrayed so elegantly as Allen does here."

– B. David Zarley for Paste Magazine*

"In a searing new memoir, [Allen] tries to make sense of [his] uncle's mental illness."

O Magazine

“[Allen] calls the beautiful final product a cover version—rather than a translation—and it is a marvel.”​

– Esquire

"Insightful . . . Allen offers readers an incredible glimpse into the life of a person ... with schizophrenia."

Publishers Weekly

"A glimpse of how schizophrenia looks and feels from the inside."

Kirkus Reviews

“Deeply affecting . . . Evokes what it’s like to try to make sense of a troubled loved one from afar . . . The picture of a distinct but impenetrable life”

– LA Review of Books

“[A] compelling debut . . . Allen is a skillful writer."

Library Journal (starred review)

"Allen has crafted a fearless narrative about what it is really like to grow up under the weight of mental illness . . . Honest, heartbreaking, and often humorous, this remarkable book offers a window into an experience of mental illness that many people often never get the chance to see through."

Bustle

“Compulsively readable . . . A fascinating and important work.”

Booklist

""[AKOMP ] is an extraordinarily empathic journey into the mind and lived experience of a man who struggled to understand and explain his life . . . I urge you to let Allen introduce you to [his] uncle Bob."

Little Village Magazine

“Shows a burgeoning critical mental health gaze . . . [Allen] allows Bob’s story to flow without neatly fitting into one model of thought around what it means to be diagnosed with schizophrenia."

ISPS UK

More reviews:

Minneapolis Star TribuneWinnipeg Free Press, The RumpusLos Feliz LedgerSignature Reads

interviews with Sandy Allen

for The Los Angeles Times with Maris Kreizman ("Compelling . . . A bracing work of art and a loving tribute to a man whose voice, no matter how unpolished, deserves to be heard.")

for The Boston Globe with Kate Tuttle, president of the National Book Critics Circle

for The Cedar Rapids Gazette with Rob Cline ("A unique and effective effort to honor [his] uncle’s story while placing it in a larger context . . . Allen asks [his] readers to expand their notion of what is 'normal.'")

for The Missoulian with Chris La Tray 

– for The Daily Texan with Brooke Sjoberg

for The Daily Iowan with Haley Triem

–  for The Essay Review with Nicolás Medina Mora

radio & podcast appearances

– This American Life –  "Applied Bob Studies

Produced during the pandemic by Bim Adewunmi for the "How to Be Alone" episode, a piece on the ways Sandy looked to his Uncle Bob's story as a road map for how to survive isolation

– WAMC's "The Roundtable"

New Books in Psychology podcast 

– KCUR's "Up to Date"

– XRAY.fm's "In the Morning"

– Woodstock Book Talk Radio!

Blog Talk Radio with Cyrus Webb

"Moments with Marianne" with Marianne Pestana

MPR News with Kerri Miller

IPR's "Talk of Iowa"

KCRW's "The Organist"  a feature on AKOMP and outsider art, featuring Uncle Bob's music

related works

Since the book's publication, Sandy has continued writing and publishing about mental health, in pieces such as: 

The Cut - "It's Not Just Britney"

In the wake of Britney Spears speaking out against her conservatorship, an essay on the broader problem of coercive psychiatry

99% Invisible – "The Kirkbride Plan" 

A long radio story produced by Sandy about the surprising history of mental health care in America 

Guernica – "Out of the Maze

The story of Sandy encountering the painting on the AKOMP paperback, and about grappling with whose truths to listen to, when it comes to "mental illness" 

Mad in America – "Media Errors in Covering Mental Health: Advice to  Fellow Writers and Editors" 

A long essay looking back on a previous experience of reporting about police violence against a psychiatric patient, and the errors that media tend to make when covering these topics 

Gay Magazine – "'That's So Crazy': Why the we talk about mental health matters" 

An essay about a month Sandy tracked instances they heard people use words like "insane" and "crazy" and what this language reveals about our attitudes towards people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders 

Lit Hub – "The Challenge of Book Tour as a Nonbinary Author

Sandy reflects on coming out as nonbinary after their book initially published 

BuzzFeed Books – "How Pie Keeps Me Steady

An essay about a small thing that helps Sandy, and about how writing AKOMP changed their thinking around 'self-care'

Powell's Blog – "The Madness Shelf" – 

An essay about Sandy reading all the books they possibly could "about schizophrenia" and what that did and didn't yield

CNN Opinion – "This Toxic Lie Hurts Society's Most Vulnerable

An op-ed calling out the bigotry of the NRA and GOP's as they blame people with psychiatric disabilities for gun violence 

tour

paperback 

January 15, 2019 // Iowa City, IA 

Prairie Lights (Paperback launch), 7PM

January 17, 2019 // Bronx, NY 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Grand Rounds), 10:30 AM

January 25, 2019 // Brooklyn, NY

Books Are Magic (w/ Kevin Nguyen), 7:30PM

February 7, 2019 // St. Paul, MN 

Subtext Books 7PM

February 19, 2019 // Oakland, CA

East Bay Booksellers (w/ Rahawa Haile)​, 7:00 PM

hardcover 

January 24, 2018 // Brooklyn, NY

Greenlight Bookstore (Hardcover launch w/ Meredith Talusan), 7:30PM

 

January 27, 2018 // New York, NY

You Get a Spoon, 4PM

 

January 30, 2018 // New York, NY

House of Speakeasy, (w/ Elif Shafak, Christopher J. Yates, and Michael Wolff), 7PM

 

January 31, 2018 // Portland, OR

Powell’s Books, 7:30PM

 

February 1, 2018 // San Francisco, CA

Booksmith @ The Bindery (w/ Esmé Weijun Wang), 7:30PM

 

February 3, 2018 // Marin County, CA

Book Passage, (w/ Anita Badejo), 1PM

 

February 7, 2018 // Los Angeles, CA

Skylight Books (w/ Amanda Chicago Lewis), 7:30PM

 

February 8, 2018 // Providence, RI
Brown Bookstore (w/ Lucas Mann), 6PM

 

February 9, 2018 // Cambridge, MA

Harvard Book Store, (w/ Matthew Spellberg), 7PM

 

February 13, 2018 // Kingston, NY

Rough Draft Bar & Books (w/ Elmo Keep), 7PM

 

February 22, 2018 // New York, NY

NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute (w/ Robert Boynton), 6PM

 

March 5, 2018 // Coral Gables, FL

Books & Books, 8PM

 

March 9, 2018 // Tampa, FL

The Hub (University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program alumni reading), 6:30PM

 

March 18, 2018 // Woodstock, NY

The Golden Notebook, 3PM

 

March 26, 2018 // Annandale-on-Hudson

Bard College 6:30PM

 

March 29, 2018 // South Hadley, MA

Odyssey Bookshop (w/ Adrian Nicole LeBlanc), 7PM

 

April 5, 2018 // Chicago, IL

Women & Children First (w/ Jessica Hopper), 7:30PM

 

April 6 // Iowa City, IA

Carver College of Medicine, 12PM

Mission Creek Festival Lit Walk, 7PM

 

April 9, 2018 // Minneapolis, MN

Moon Palace Books, 7PM

 

April 10, 2018 // Excelsior, MN

Trinity Church panel on Mental Health in Literature (w/ Marya Hornbacher and Andy Steiner), 1PM

 

April 18, 2018 // Missoula, MT

Fact & Fiction (w/ Anne Helen Petersen), 7PM

 

April 22, 2018 // Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (Memoir: The Unexpected Hard Stuff), 11AM

 

May 14, 2018 // Brooklyn, NY

Franklin Park Reading Series, (w/ Alexander Chee, Gregory Pardlo, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Mike Scalise), 8PM

 

May 17, 2018 // New York, NY

Susan Eley Fine Art “Self and the Other” Literary Salon (w/ Akwaeke Emezi), 7PM

 

May 21, 2018 // Brooklyn, NY

POWERHOUSE Arena (Memoir Monday w/ Nuar Alsadir, Minda Honey, and Tom McAllister), 7PM


September 2, 2018 // Spencertown, NY

Spencertown Academy of the Arts Festival of Books 

October 12, 2018 // Fairfax, VA

George Mason Fall for the Book Festival 6:00 pm

October 26, 2018 // Iowa City, IA

The Examined Life Conference, 12:45PM

October 28, 2018 // Austin, TX

Texas Book Festival (w/ Melissa Stephenson), 3:30PM

November 18, 2018 // Miami, FL

Miami Book Fair (w/ Jean Guerrero), 12:30PM 

about the author

Sandy Ernest Allen (he/him) is a queer and trans journalist and author. His work focuses on mental health and gender, especially when it comes to debunking false constructs of normalcy. He's produced stories for 99% Invisible and written for many publications, including Esquire, The Cut, Guernica, and The Paris Review. Sandy has appeared on podcasts such as This American Life and TED's How to Be a Better Human. He writes a newsletter about staying alive on earth called What's Helping Today. He lives in the Catskills. 

Photo credit: Louie Tomás

contact

For speaking inquiries, please contact Leslie Shipman of The Shipman Agency.

For more on how to contact Sandy, visit this page.

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