Fairfield University will host local author Ivan Maisel, whose memoir “I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye: A Memoir of Loss, Grief and Love” was chosen as this year’s Fairfield Public Library “One Book One Town” (OBOT) selection.
— an announcement from Fairfield University
In partnership with FairfieldLibrary, Maisel will be speaking about his memoir on Tuesday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on the University’s campus.
“I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye” is an honest, deeply emotional memoir in which the author reflects on the loss of his son, Max, to suicide, the impact of grief on family, and the painful journey that brought Maisel to understand grief is an expression of love.
Ivan Maisel is vice president/editorial and senior writer at on3.com and has covered college football for nearly four decades, from 2002-2021 at ESPN. There he wrote for ESPN.com and appeared on television, ESPN Radio, and podcasts. Prior to ESPN, Maisel covered national college football for Sports Illustrated, Newsday, and The Dallas Morning News.
He has been honored eight times for Best Story by the Football Writers Association of America, and twice by The Associated Press Sports Editors, which in 2019 named him one of the ten best sports columnists.
He and his wife, Meg, reside in Fairfield where they’ve raised three children.
Fairfield’s community reading initiative, named “One Book One Town,” began in 2008 when a committee of members from Fairfield Public Library, the Pequot Library, Fairfield University, Fairfield University Bookstore, and the Fairfield Public Schools met to select that year’s book.
Copies of “I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye” and its companion books are available to borrow at either location of Fairfield Public Library and at Pequot Library, or for purchase at the Fairfield University Bookstore. “One Book One Town” and its attendant programs are made possible through the sponsorship of The Friends of the Fairfield Public Library.
This is the first time in the Library’s One Book One Town history that a book by a Fairfield author has been selected.
Ivan Maisel is vice president, editorial, and a senior writer for on3.com. He has covered college football for nearly four decades, from 2002-2021 at ESPN, where he wrote for ESPN.com and appeared on television, ESPN Radio, and podcasts. Prior to ESPN, Maisel covered national college football for Sports Illustrated, Newsday, and The Dallas Morning News.
He has been honored eight times for Best Story by the Football Writers Association of America, and twice by The Associated Press Sports Editors, which in 2019 named him one of the ten best sports columnists.
Book Summary from the Publisher, Hachette Books
“In February 2015, Ivan Maisel received a call that would alter his life forever: his son Max’s car was found abandoned in a parking next to Lake Ontario. Two months later, Max’s body would be found in the lake.
“’I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye’ is the story of Maisel’s love for a son who was so different from him, but who he loved so deeply, and how he came to learn that grief for Max was nothing more than a last, ultimate expression of love.
“Navigating the moments of their complicated relationship, as well as their love for each other, Maisel explores the bridges he tried to build to his son and the grief that engulfed him and his family after Max’s death by suicide.
“Taking its title from Max’s love of photography — and his tendency to only love the camera when he was behind it, looking away whenever his picture was taken – “I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye” delves into the tragically transformative reality of losing a child, all with grace, depth, and refinement. But by humanizing Max and humanizing his grief, Maisel evokes understanding instead of sorrow, appreciation instead of anxiety — and love instead of fear.”