Canisius English teacher and Head of Arrupe House Paul Cumbo ’97 is an independently published author. He has been busy on the book club and guest lecture circuit over the past several months. His second novel, Wilderness Therapy, won First Place in the Young Adult Fiction category of the 28th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.
Cumbo was featured this summer in the On Boys podcast, whose national and international audience includes thousands of parents, teachers, and coaches. Wilderness Therapy was the October Book of the Month for the Burchfield-Penney Art Center’s Book Club. The book has also been featured by book clubs ranging from parents in Western New York to a group of Jesuit School educators in Southern California.
In November, he was a guest lecturer at Fordham Preparatory School’s senior elective course entitled “Men and Masculinity,” taught by Dr. David Gelpi. Dr. Gelpi chose to include Wilderness Therapy in the “Hero’s Cycle” unit, which explores Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and Carl Jung’s archetypes. Discussion in the course is oriented around masculine identity and its healthy development.
During February break, Cumbo made a virtual trip across the pond to his old stomping grounds in Scotland for a “Meet the Author” event hosted by his postgraduate alma mater, St. Andrews.