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About Evan

Baltimore County
Evan L. Balkan is the author of three novels, including the PEN/Faulkner nominated Independence, and seven books of nonfiction, including The Wrath of God: Lope de Aguirre, Revolutionary of the Americas, as well as many essays and short stories in an array of publications. His screenplay Spitfire, adapted from his novel of the same name, won the 2016 Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, a Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Fellowship, a Rocaberti scholarship, and was a… more
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Evan Balkan's portfolio

These story excerpts revolve around human relationships and the many ways they are fraught, complicated, maddening, enderaing, humorous, and tragic.
  • Blank Slate_excerpt.pdf
    Story excerpt: "Blank Slate": A recent high school graduate dons his school mascot uniform to go to the end of the year bash at the house of the love of his life. [Story to be published in 2020 in Good Works Review].
  • Locked In_excerpt.pdf
    Story excerpt: "Locked In":A young woman gets an unexpected reunion with her youth soccer coach, leading to questions about what their lives used to be, and what they are now. [Story to be published in Backchannels Literary Magazine, January 2020]
  • Until You Feel at Home_excerpt.pdf
    Story excerpt: "Until You Feel at Home": A middle aged man visits an elderly woman in the hospital; this is Mrs. Flanagan, a woman who he had a summer fling with when he was 19 and she was 46. Now, she is dying and he is navigating his own midlife crisis. [Story published in Temptation Press Anthology (“Intimate Moments”) November, 2018].
  • Winners and Losers_excerpt.pdf
    Story excerpt: "Winners and Losers": A soccer referee makes a misguided attempt at salving a broken family in the only way he can. [Story published in daCunha Literary Magazine, March 2018].

    • Root That Mountain

    Root That Mountain, published in 2021, was my third published novel. 

    Root That Mountain's synopsis:
    Root That Mountain takes place in West Africa, set during the period just after the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Felix Laszlo’s father, a doctor working with Doctors Without Borders in Freetown, has been murdered by Revolutionary United Front rebels. Felix goes to Sierra Leone to retrieve his father’s body. In doing so, he comes to realize he knows less about his father than he thought. Compelled to try and truly understand the man, Felix returns to West Africa to learn about Sierra Leone, the civil war, and the trade in illicit “blood diamonds.” But with Issa Manzo, a renegade soldier from Niger, as his guide, Felix soon discovers that this investigation carries with it dark secrets and is far more than he bargained for.

    "Evan Balkan's writing is transportive. At its heart, Root That Mountain is a story about an everyman, or, rather, an every-son, Felix, who takes on a leading role, traveling to West Africa to retrieve the body of his slain father. Against the backdrop of a war torn Sierra Leone, Balkan's remarkable book stretches across continents and reads as if it was lifted directly from John le Carré. I couldn't put it down." -- Cathy Alter, journalist and author.

    • Root That Mountain
      Root That Mountain
      Root That Mountain Down takes place in West Africa, set during the period just after the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Felix Laszlo’s father, a doctor working with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Freetown, has been murdered by Revolutionary United Front thugs. Felix goes to Sierra Leone to retrieve his father’s body. In doing so, he comes to realize he knows less about his father than he thought. Compelled to try and truly understand the man, Felix returns to West Africa to learn about Sierra Leone, the civil war, and the trade in illicit “blood diamonds.” But with Issa Manzo, a Nigerien renegade soldier, as his guide, Felix soon discovers that this investigation carries with it dark secrets and is far more than he bargained for.
    • Root That Mountain_1st three chapters.pdf
      Root That Mountain Down takes place in West Africa, set during the period just after the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Felix Laszlo’s father, a doctor working with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Freetown, has been murdered by Revolutionary United Front thugs. Felix goes to Sierra Leone to retrieve his father’s body. In doing so, he comes to realize he knows less about his father than he thought. Compelled to try and truly understand the man, Felix returns to West Africa to learn about Sierra Leone, the civil war, and the trade in illicit “blood diamonds.” But with Issa Manzo, a Nigerien renegade soldier, as his guide, Felix soon discovers that this investigation carries with it dark secrets and is far more than he bargained for.