Buffalo, NY – Canisius University English and Creative Writing Professor Eric Gansworth released his newest book, Apple: Skin to the Core, on Tuesday, October 6. The book was recently selected to the 2020 National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature. The National Book Awards are presented annually by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization that celebrates the best literature in America and works to ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. The awards honor five categories of literature: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature and young people’s literature.
In Apple: Skin to the Core, Gansworth reflects on his life growing up in an Onondaga family but living among the Tuscaroras and Native people in the U.S. He shares personal stories about the damaging effects of government boarding schools; of a boy who watched his siblings leave and return only to leave again; and of a young man fighting to be an artist in multiple worlds. In sharing his journey, Gansworth addresses deeply offensive racial stereotypes including “apple,” a slur common in Native communities, which means “red on the outside and white on the inside.”
Gansworth is a nationally-recognized, award-winning writer, visual artist and playwright whose works range from poetry and painting, to novels and collaborative multimedia theater performances. His novel, Give Me Some Truth, was selected for numerous Best Books of 2018 lists, including National Public Radio's Book Concierge and School Library Journal's Best Books. Gansworth’s work also has been supported by the Library of Congress, the National Book Critics Circle, the Saltonstall Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the Arne Nixon Center, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Seaside Institute among other institutions.
Apple: Skin to the Core is Gansworth’s 12th book and third young adult novel.
One of 27 Jesuit universities in the nation, Canisius is the premier private university in Western New York. Canisius celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary during the 2019-20 academic year, marking 150 years of Jesuit education and leadership in the city of Buffalo and Western New York. Visit www.canisius.edu/150 for more information about Canisius’ milestones and celebratory events.
