In the Room at the Top of the World

FINALIST, Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award, Wisconsin Writers Awards (2025)Most know people from Milwaukee because they left: Oprah, Gene Wilder, Liberace. Milwaukee is too small to be a global hub, yet it's too big to be idyllic. Good things happen there-great things don't. Ben McCormick left it full of promise for writing grad school and in 2021 sulked to Oregon with no great novel or acclaim. And in the first six weeks his live-in relationship imploded, his first niece was born back home, and he witnessed Milwaukee's great thing: the Milwaukee Bucks's NBA title. Told through each playoff game, McCormick's sprint of a lyrical memoir is about the alchemy of emotions and fandom, aging into someone we didn't plan to be, and returning to a Midwest that makes us, breaks us, and makes us all over again.