Kevin Scott Hall – A Quarter Inch from My Heart A Reading, Discussion, and Q&A about the Book

Kevin Scott Hall’s second book, the stunningly candid memoir A Quarter Inch from My Heart, has been getting some buzz since its June release. Hall has appeared on about ten blog radio shows (hear the best ones one his website, www.kevinscotthall.com). Hall will give a reading and Q&A with award-winning writer/actor Ben Rimalower (Patti Issues, Bad With Money) at the Bureau on October 8th at 7:00 p.m. That date coincides with the 20th anniversary of his highly-publicized stabbing in October 1994—a compelling backstory in the memoir, and from which the title comes. Hall officially goes national in September with an appearance on “Seth Speaks,” a talk show on Sirius XM Radio, Wednesday, September 17th, 4:30-6:00 p.m. Although Hall comes out in many ways with this book, his story of what happened when he took in and cared for a mysterious stranger for two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 defies categorization. In fact, in interviews so far, hosts have seen the complex and universal human story around issues of trust, spirituality, homelessness, crime, AIDS, caregiving, and race—and how love ultimately has the power to heal all wounds. As author Jocelyn Lieu says, “I’ve never read a memoir like this before.” Kevin Scott Hall Kevin Scott Hall is a writer, performer, producer, and master teacher. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York. His vocal recordings include “New Light Dawning,” and he published the novel Off the Charts! in 2010 and his memoir, A Quarter Inch from My Heart, in 2014. Hall writes a music column and entertainment features for Edge Media Network, and freelances for other publications. He is an adjunct lecturer in writing, speech, and literature at two City University of New York campuses, and teaches the art of cabaret singing on his own. Hall is a member of ASCAP, the Bistro Awards Committee, and Toastmasters International. He resides in Brooklyn, New York. www.kevinscotthall.com To find out more about the author, go to www.kevinscotthall.com. For press inquiries, please contact Boice-Terrel Allen at 412-606-6709 or rattlecat@yahoo.com. Early praise for A Quarter Inch from My Heart: A Quarter Inch From My Heart is a harrowing account of love and loss. Kevin Scott Hall writes about being young in New York City and reckoning with how we all must grow up by taking care of each other and ourselves. His memoir is not only about one life or even the defining, complicated friendship at its center, but about the universal project of being decent, thoughtful citizens of the world. It is at once deeply introspective and outward reaching. – Rachel DeWoskin, author of Foreign Babes in Beijing, Repeat After Me, and Blind! Kevin Scott Hall’s book is more than a book; it is an intimate letter of a young artist struggling with the peradventure of chance meetings and a relationship that would lead him to grow as an individual psychologically and spiritually. Like all such letters the reader is drawn into the pathos of the naked emotion of life and love: A growth from eros to phillios and further to the undeniable agape. If you have ever cared for a friend and come to see the holy in the other then this is a work that is a must read. -- Fr Jeffrey L. Hamblin, MD, Bay Ridge Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, NY In A Quarter Inch from My Heart Kevin Scott Hall explores his amazing love for a dazzling drifter, Maurice, the man who became his “prodigal brother”--and who leaves an indelible mark on Hall's heart and the hearts of all who read this luminous, unforgettable memoir about agape, recovery, and faith. --Jocelyn Lieu (author of Potential Weapons and What Isn’t There) Kevin Scott Hall’s memoir of an offbeat life and an inexplicable love offers consistently readable ups, downs, and—especially—curves that, in the end, offer life lessons in generosity, persistence and redemption. --Robert Windeler, noted critic, and biographer (Shirley Temple, Julie Andrews: A Life on Stage and Screen, and Sweetheart: The Story of Mary Pickford, among others) “...gritty, sometimes horrifying, but also absolutely triumphant after all is said and done. Where Hall's genius for narrative lies, as he equally proved in his novel Off the Charts!, is in his character depictions...” Andrew Martin, NiteLife Exchange “While the events of Kevin’s memoir are tragic, the real draw is in his reactions to them, presented in naked introspection. There’s a lack of pretense at internal continuity that makes this such an honest memoir. . . . He embraces his emotional fickle nature and lays it bare on the page . . . the raw emotions that guide his choices make him a deeply sympathetic narrator of his own life. . . . This is a book that made me feel as though I knew a person. . . . Worth reading to the end.” Andrew Clunn, Applause Applause