Alan Kessler

K - S

Feb 5

Alan S. Kessler was born in Columbus, Ohio. He is a lifelong Ohio State Buckeye fan (mostly football and basketball), and also a fan of the Cleveland Browns who have been rebuilding since 1964, the year the team last won a league championship. The darkness in his writing is partly

caused by the pain the Browns have caused him over the years (smile). Kessler is married, has four children, three grandchildren, and a dog, Brownie. He is a vegetarian but if available, will gladly eat a few White Castle burgers, the thin patty with 5 holes drilled through it making the meat almost nonexistent.

In addition to his novels and short stories, Kessler is a published poet, playwright, soccer coach, and 6th degree black belt. In his novels and short stories, Kessler creates complex, marginalized, and often flawed characters in stories exploring the nature of good and evil and the corrosive effect of racism, abuse, and social injustice. His writing is influenced by childhood pain. As he stated in a blurb about his most personal novel, Shadowlands: “I was born in a small town in Ohio. The Midwest is associated with wholesomeness and family values. I know from personal experience this isn’t always the case. Those corn fields often hide more within them than the sound of the wind.” The past can cripple, but for Kessler it created a writer; one who has empathy for even his imperfect characters who are neither good nor bad but inhabit the gray area in-between. His writing is both dark and hopeful with forgiveness and understanding woven into the worlds he creates. No one is judged...Except the truly evil.

Alan S. Kessler believes in social justice and retribution toward those who oppress the powerless and harm the innocent.