Requiem for the Living

After nine years of keeping his prostate cancer at bay, the clinical trials and cancer drugs lost their effectiveness. Instead of withdrawing from the world, Jeff Metcalf chose to dive deeper into writing, challenging himself to write one essay each week for a year. That collection of fifty-two essays was chosen by the Utah Division of Arts and Museums as the winner of their 2012 Original Writing Competition. Requiem for the Living contains the best of these essays, selected and reworked by the author, who continues to defy his earlier diagnosis. The essays form a unique memoir, painting a rich portrait of a man who has had a full and engaging life. Funny, moving and profoundly personal, they celebrate living and serve as a reminder to us all. He does not describe a life defined by cancer but rather writes to discover what his life has been, who he has become, and what he has learned along the way.

Recipient of the Mayor's Award in Literary Arts at the Utah Arts Festival in 2015.