5/8/2018 Read It: Former Scranton professor sets debut novel in familiar NEPA landscape - Lifestyles - The Times-Tribune
http://thetimes-tribune.com/lifestyles/read-it-former-scranton-professor-sets-debut-novel-in-familiar-nepa-landscape-1.2192041 1/7
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Read It: Former Scranton professor setsdebut novel in familiar NEPA landscape
F O N T S I Z E
S H A R E T H I S
A R T I C L E T O O L SAuthor David Hicks returns to Northeast
Pennsylvania, a place he once called home,
to promote his debut novel, “White Plains,”
which takes place partly in the region and
examines the nature of mistakes and the
way a landscape a�ects an individual.
As part of his book tour of the U.S. and
Ireland, Hicks plans on holding a meet-and-
greet and book signing on Monday, May 15,
from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Hoyt Library,
284 Wyoming Ave., Kingston. On Wednesday,
May 17, from 7 to 8 p.m., Hicks will give a
book reading and signing at Library Express
in the Marketplace at Steamtown, 300
Lackawanna Ave., Scranton.
Hicks, who holds a Ph.D. in literature from
New York University, teaches and directs the
MFA program at Regis University in Denver,
Colorado. He said the protagonist of “White
Plains,” Flynn Hawkins, shares many
similarities with himself.
“Except I think he’s a little worse than I am, a
little more of an idiot than I am. But who’s to
say ... It’s mostly �ctionalized. I made up
people and made up events but, [for] most
– +
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5/8/2018 Read It: Former Scranton professor sets debut novel in familiar NEPA landscape - Lifestyles - The Times-Tribune
http://thetimes-tribune.com/lifestyles/read-it-former-scranton-professor-sets-debut-novel-in-familiar-nepa-landscape-1.2192041 2/7
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of my work, I base the characters on real
people,” Hicks said.
The novel follows Hawkins and his “series of
mistakes, “ as well as his recovery and
growth, part of which takes place in NEPA.
“Most of it is about a man who grows up in
New York and, after 9/11, has his life fall
apart,” Hicks said. “[He] ends up bottoming
out and trying to become the man his kids
want him to be.”
Personal experience led to Hicks setting a
major section of his novel in NEPA. After
moving from Colorado, Hicks lived in
Nicholson and taught at Marywood
University in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He loved the natural beauty surrounding his
property, which bordered Tunkhannock
Creek.
“I was very happy there,” Hicks said. “My kids
really loved Colorado, and they kind of
wanted me to go back, but I could have
stayed in Nicholson.”
Hicks described how the region �ts into the narrative of “White Plains.” After leaving his
family to pursue a relationship in Colorado, Hawkins moves to work at a university
closer to his children, living �rst in Scranton and then Nicholson.
“The Scranton chapter is a little rough, because he’s living in a basement and not being
very healthy,” Hicks said.
However, while in Nicholson, Hawkins reconnects with his children and “reforms his life
in the woods.”
“That’s kind of the healing part of the book... he starts to get better again,” Hicks said.
Other regions factor heavily into the novel’s narrative, including White Plains, New York,
and where both Hicks and his character grew up. Colorado and NEPA, where both lived
and worked, shaped the rest of the book.
“I intentionally focus on landscape when I write, because I think the places where we live
have a profound in�uence on who we are and how we behave,” Hicks said.
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5/8/2018 Read It: Former Scranton professor sets debut novel in familiar NEPA landscape - Lifestyles - The Times-Tribune
http://thetimes-tribune.com/lifestyles/read-it-former-scranton-professor-sets-debut-novel-in-familiar-nepa-landscape-1.2192041 3/7
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On The Record
The debut novel took a long time to come into being. As a child in White Plains, Hicks’
mother was a working-class Italian immigrant and his father worked in a factory and
then as a security guard. Hicks and his brother were the �rst in their family to go to
college. Originally, while working as a professor, Hicks wrote only academic work.
“Then, in my 40s, I decided to stop being a writer who writes about writers and just be a
writer,” Hicks said.
After writing and publishing short stories for a number of years, he decided to release a
collection of his work and came to a realization that went on to inform his novel’s
distinctive structure.
“When I went to put them together in a collection ... there was a progression of a guy
who screws up his life to a guy who puts his life back together,” Hicks said. “So, I added
some stories or chapters to �ll in the gaps ... It’s called a ‘novel and stories,’ because
each chapter is its own story, but it still has a novel arc.”
The book was released May 1, keeping Hicks busy promoting it.
“I’m very happy being a writer instead of an academic,” he said. “I much prefer the
writing life to the academic life ... This is my �rst big book tour. I’m 56 years old, and this
is the �rst time I really get to be an author.”
As part of his book tour, Hicks gets to revisit old ties to the region. Hicks met his wife,
Cynthia, who also teaches at Regis University, while both worked at Marywood
University. She grew up in Kingston, so both are intimately familiar with the area and
excited to see family and former colleagues, he said.
Contact the writer:
[email protected]; 570-348-9127
‘White Plains’
Author: David Hicks
Pages: 280
Publisher:
Conundrum Press
Price: $15.99
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5/8/2018 Read It: Former Scranton professor sets debut novel in familiar NEPA landscape - Lifestyles - The Times-Tribune
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5/8/2018 Read It: Former Scranton professor sets debut novel in familiar NEPA landscape - Lifestyles - The Times-Tribune
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5/8/2018 Read It: Former Scranton professor sets debut novel in familiar NEPA landscape - Lifestyles - The Times-Tribune
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