“It's Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, which means it's a perfect time to pick up a copy of Ed Tracy's memoir, Gorilla in the Room, a moving account of his battle with the deadly disease.”

—Katie Couric/Wake-Up Call March 2, 2022

“a moving testament to life, resilience, creativity, and iron determination.”

—Frank Sesno/Author of Ask More and Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University

“a wonderful, rollicking, triumphal book…filled with sangfroid.”

—Ron Powers, journalist, author and Pulitzer Prize winner

“An exceptional, extraordinary, entertaining, thought-provoking, and inherently memorable work of true-life storytelling, “Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories” is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college and university library memoir collections.”

—Midwest Book Review

“…a highly original memoir of Tracy’s time with cancer. …very entertaining and deeply touching. …the joy of writing can be felt in every word.”

—Jim Lowe/Arts Editor of The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus and Rutland Herald

ON SALE now

Ed Tracy was the perfect candidate for cancer. Intensely motivated and a tireless innovator, the non-stop pace led to high anxiety, erratic sleep patterns and a life-altering medical diagnosis unlike that of anybody else. Rule No.1: Nobody’s cancer journey is the same. 

Growing impatient and irritable, he began to imagine an oncology ward on a Broadway stage with costumes and music and patients and hope. When he needed to check out of chemotherapy, he checked into imaginary rehearsals of a musical comedy.

Along the way, he realized the treatments made his memories sharp. He began to periodically track his cancer journey and encouraged friends to get cancer screenings. Soon he was delving into his past—growing up in farm country, acting in college theatre and remembrances of inspirational friends and mentors. Each scene found its place in an act of the musical, and the result is “Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories.”

These wide-ranging, homespun stories, mixed with family drama and the humor of a skilled storyteller, will appeal to lovers of nature, theater fans, and military enthusiasts and honors the courageous patients, family members and service providers facing life-threatening challenges, aging and a future where they are themselves becoming mentors for the next generation.

Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories
By Ed Tracy
Foreword by Frank Sesno
Edited by Kelly Kennedy
Cover Art by James Dietz

Publisher: Koehler Books
Distributor: Ingram
Release Date: February 23, 2021
Softcover: 978-1-64663-305-0
Hardcover: 978-1-64663-307-4
Ebook: 978-1-64663-306-7
6”x9”, 340 pages

GORILLA IN THE NEWS

FEATURED INTERVIEWS

WDEV AM & FM - Waterbury, Vermont
Vermont Viewpoint with Pat McDonald
April 4, 2023

INTERVIEWS

LISTEN: WBBM Chicago - Lisa Fielding

WBEN Buffalo - David Bellavia

WBEN Buffalo - Medal of Honor Day with David Bellavia

WPLR FM - New Haven - The Local Bands Show

WDEV Vermont Viewpoint with Ric Cengeri

Health Professional Radio - Neil Howard

KAHI-FM The Poppoff Show - Mary Jane Popp

PRINT FEATURES | REVIEWS

READ: Book Review - Jane Ammeson - NW Indiana Times - January 21, 2024

READ: Katie Couric’s Wake-Up Call - Katie Couric - March 2, 2022

READ: National Colorectal Cancer Awareness - Featured Author Interview Koehler Books - March 2022 | Tyler Smiley

READ: “WERNER KLEMPERER: Rare Tuna” Norwich University Record - Fall 2021 | Ed Tracy

READ: ‘GORILLA IN THE ROOM’: Ed Tracy takes cancer to the musical theater stage - Times Argus | Jim Lowe

READ: “The Importance of a Cancer Care Quarterback” Colorectal Cancer Alliance - Ally Update | Ed Tracy

READ: "Take Ed Tracy’s Harrowing Yet Clarifying Experience to Heart: Get Screened for Colon Cancer” Chicago Now | Sandra Guy

READ: "Going Ape Over Gorilla in the Room" Skyline | Felicia Dechter

READ: "Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories" Around The Town Chicago | Alan Bresloff

ED TRACY is an award-winning broadcast veteran, writer, editor, and host of Conversations with Ed Tracy, a Chicago-based cultural series of thoughtful and engaging discussions with authors, performing artists and other arts-based leaders. Tracy was the founding executive director, and later president and CEO, of the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago that received the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Services and was recognized five times by the Webby Awards for outstanding programming, including Pritzker Military Presents and Medal of Honor with Ed Tracy. A recipient of a Chicago Midwest Regional Emmy Award and the Norwich University Board of Fellows Service Medallion, Tracy is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a bachelor of arts degree in theater and communications, and a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the National Press Club, and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories is his first book.

Reviews: PicksInSix®
Contact: etchicago@gmail.com