Benj's Videos

The Coming of Age Quartet

by David Benjamin

David Benjamin’s “fictional memoir,” The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked,” introduced a character who captivated readers. The voice of Benjie in The Last Kid Picked and its sequel, Fat Vinny’s Forbidden Love, became the voice of Cribbsy in two subsequent novels, They Shot Kennedy (winner of the 2021 Midwest Book Award for Fiction) and Summer of ’68, illuminate the comedy and tragedy of growing up in a tumultuous mid-century decade. In this brief video, Benjamin talks about his inspiration for a coming-of-age “quartet” that has few parallels in contemporary literature.