Local author J Dominic reads from and discusses his recently-released novel Reaching Montaup.
J Dominic was born John De Pasquale on New York’s Long Island. When John was five, his family moved to Rhode Island. While enrolled at Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri, John worked extensively in the theater department and in 1976, he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts. He went on to stage-manage and floor-direct television studio shows at the NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Providence and Boston.
In 1982, John moved to Ketchum, Idaho and the Sun Valley ski resort. He worked trail crew, washed dishes, performed and directed local theater, was a food-purchasing agent, a restaurant manager, a lift attendant, and the last, officially posted, U.S. Forest Service fire lookout atop Ketchum-Sun Valley’s, Bald Mountain.
John earned his second bachelor’s degree in 1989 and taught drama and English in several Idaho public schools.
At a Ketchum Community Library event in 1993, John met the award-winning novelist Tom Spanbauer who encouraged John to study “Dangerous Writing” in Portland State University. After two summers in the University program, John was then invited into Spanbauer’s distinguished Dangerous Writing workshop.
With accomplished authors and novices alike, Spanbauer kept expectations high, challenges daring, and humanity central. John credits his own author’s identity to a love of cinematic & theatre arts, the unwavering support of a beneficent friend, years of cross-country travel, and the Dangerous Writing workshops.
More about the novel can be found here.
