W. A. Polf
Fifteen stories about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.
W. A. Polf
Fifteen stories about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.
About the book
These stories involve ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. A paperboy’s favor for an elderly man on his route confronts him with a profound ethical dilemma. After watching boys playing nearby, a man awakes from a dream while napping and then struggles to prevent a catastrophe from happening.
The central theme these characters face is timeless: Do we shape the future, or does it shape us? On a mountaintop encounter, a hiker meets a mysterious stranger and must decide whether to follow the stranger’s guidance. A woman hires a male nurse’s aide for her mother with dementia, forcing the woman to face the complexities and contradictions of his caregiving.
The stories are set in diverse places, from the vibrant streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s to the serene landscapes of the Scottish Highlands. Other tales unfold on an Iowa farm struck by a tornado and within a museum teetering on the brink of closure on New York’s Madison Avenue.
W. A. Polf was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Northern California. He spent the 1960s in San Francisco, earning a BA at San Francisco State University, working in the wine and liquor industry, and driving the tour train at the San Francisco Zoo. He earned his PhD in American history at Syracuse University, and then worked in the state capital, Albany, for the New York State American Revolution Bicentennial commission, where he directed the publications program. He next worked for the Speaker of the New York State legislature, analyzing legislation in real property taxation, school finance, and municipal debt burdens. While at the Bicentennial Commission, he authored publications about the British occupation of New York City during the Revolution and the writing of the first New York State Constitution in 1777.
He moved to New York City to work for Columbia University, later transferring to the Columbia University Medical Center. Among other responsibilities, he directed strategic initiatives to finance and construct the Schapiro Engineering Building, constructed on the last building site within the historic 1896 master plan for the Columbia campus, and the Berrie Biomedical Research facility on the medical center campus. He oversaw and directed the Audubon Biotechnology research building, the first facility in New York devoted to technology transfer between academic and commercial research, and the development of innovative new medical treatments and diagnostic technologies. He co-led the effort leading to the construction of a new New York State Psychiatric Institute at the medical center, and the conversion of the former Psychiatric Institute facility into the home of the Columbia School of Public Health.
He was recruited by New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia’s teaching and research hospital affiliate, to direct public affairs, public relations, media, government relations, marketing, and community affairs. He also co-directed the Hospital’s clinical trials program with Columbia. In total, he spent more than thirty years in the Columbia University – New York-Presbyterian Hospital system. He retired as Senior Vice President in 2013 and moved to North Carolina with his wife Robin Eisner, an artist and retired journalist.
His second collection of stories, “Not the Same River,” won a “BEST BOOK OF 2024” award by Independent Book Review. In 2018, he won second place in the Doris Betts Award, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers Network, and published by the North Carolina Literary Review Online. His story was nominated for a Pushcart and for the Best Stories Online of 2018. It also was one of the top three winners for a Short Story America award and is reprinted in the 2018 edition. Another of his stories was praised by the editors of the New Yorker, who said there was “much to admire” in the story. He published his first book, Magical Ballyglass and Other Stories, a collection of seven stories, in 2012.
My Writing Principles
First, take the story out of the words,
Then take the words out of the story.
