Lee Gutkind celebrates book, life as a fat kid

Captivating the crowd with compelling banter and humorous commentary, Lee Gutkind launched his… Captivating the crowd with compelling banter and humorous commentary, Lee Gutkind launched his most recent lament, which examines the life of a literary luminary – namely himself. He looked back on the career that compelled Vanity Fair’s James Wolcott to declare Gutkind the “godfather behind creative nonfiction.”

Gutkind, the former director of Pitt’s writing program and a nationally acclaimed author, held a release party Monday night for his newest book, “Forever Fat: Essays by the Godfather.” The event in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium kicked off an international tour that will include Seattle, Dublin and London.

In the book, Gutkind recalled some of the more colorful elements of his childhood, including growing up as a “fat kid” in Greenfield and Squirrel Hill.

“For my bar mitzvah, I had to get a size-44 wool suit,” Gutkind recalled. “I realized I was bigger than all of the elders, and they were five times my age.”

Gutkind’s series of readings put his audience on an emotional roller coaster as they traveled from his somber stories about organ transplants, read from his book, “Many Sleepless Nights,” to hilarious tales of flying on a plane with his family, from “Forever Fat.”

Gutkind is the founder of the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, the “first, and now most distinguished, literary magazine devoted to creative nonfiction,” according to the CNF.

Gutkind left for the National Guard in Atlantic City not long after he finished high school, which he left weighing 230 pounds. He recalled the abuse one black compatriot received from a racist drill sergeant, and how that inspired him to overcome his own struggles.

“I became slim, with a flat-top haircut,” Gutkind said. “I could never get my hair to stick up before. I was a new man.”

After his term of service, Gutkind chose to follow his dream of riding around the country on a motorcycle, which he described in great detail in another excerpt from his book.

Gutkind received his bachelor’s degree in general studies from Pitt and has been a teacher here since 1970. During his time at Pitt, he has written several books, including “Bike Fever,” “The Best Seat in Baseball,” and “The People of Penn’s Woods West.” He also maintains a Web site at www.leegutkind.com.