Tonight’s seminar offered insights to Dubus’s experiences and writing journey. Thank you to Andre Dubus III and the Katherine Anne Porter House for the inspirational discussion.

Dubus found his happiness in his future wife. “The parts of me I was ashamed of felt smaller around her,” Dubus said.
37 years with his wife has healed him, and he wouldn’t have been able to do it if he hadn’t surrendered to love.

Dubus writes about his experience with his first therapist. The session showed a part of him he didn’t like, “I did not trust the good things in life” Dubus said.

Dubus’s short story “A Letter to my Two Sons on Love” is a story written to his two adults sons on his experiences with love and belonging.

Eventually he decided to make a decision to save his life and others, he picked up a pen and paper. “I’ve been writing ever since that night,” Dubus said.

After years of self hatred and numerous violent incidents, he found himself fighting others to take out his rage and to protect himself and his brother.

He searched for years for an answer as to why he felt so much hatred for himself and it wasn’t until his memoir that he realized where that feeling stemmed from.

“I faced two feelings in my life; physical fear and self hatred,” Dubus said. He struggled with bullying as a child, which shaped his own feelings about himself.

Dubus’s mother was 26 years old with four kids, no job and no college education. His family moved at least four times every year and struggled affording groceries, gas and bills.

“Painting my big homemade house, it made my mother happy, and that made me happy,” Dubus wrote. “I’d never been happier than when building us this house.”

He said he had to adjust to this new life. Living in a home that was not owned by another person was a brand new experience.

The story explains about how his view on material possessions, including his new home, was impacted by his young life.

His short story “Sheltered”, highlights aspects of his life. The story follows Dubus as he navigates finally having the financial means to build his own home after “20 years of daily labor.”

Dubus grew up with a struggling single mother. He explains how this experience has shaped him into the person and writer he is today.

Dubus is laying out the groundwork for this seminar. He plans to read from his book Ghost Dogs and inform the audience of his inspirations for his novels.

The session has just begun. Dubus is praised by the moderator for his unique abilities to encapsulate the complexity of human existence.

Dubus was a finalist for the National Book award, as well as awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Magazine Award for Fiction, three Pushcart Prized and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

Dubus is renowned author who is published in over 25 languages. He is the author nine books, including several New York Times’ bestsellers. House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last and his memoir, Days and Townie are some of his most distinguished works.