Our Cancers

by Author Dan O'Brien

  • Publisher Acre Books
  • Year published 2021
  • ISBN: ISBN 978-1946724427
  • Number of pages 102 pages
  • WorldCat

Our Cancers book cover
About the Book
Book description

Poet and playwright Dan O’Brien chronicles the year and a half during which both he and his wife were treated for cancer. On the fourteenth anniversary of 9/11—an event that caused their downtown apartment to become “suffused with the World Trade Center’s carcinogenic dust”—Dan O’Brien’s wife discovers a lump in her breast. Surgery and chemotherapy soon follow, and on the day of his wife’s final infusion, O’Brien learns of his own diagnosis. He has colon cancer and will need to undergo his own intensive treatment over the next nine months. Our Cancers is a compelling account of illness and commitment, of parenthood and partnership. This spare and powerful sequence creates intimate mythology that seeks meaning in illness while also celebrating the resilience of sufferers, caregivers, and survivors. ebook icon

Dan O'Brien photo
About the Author
Author description

Dan O’Brien is a poet and playwright. His previous poetry collections include War Reporter, New Life, and Scarsdale. O’Brien is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and two PEN America Awards for playwriting.

Photo Credit: Cambridge Jones

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