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Jeffrey Schnader

 

Member profile details

First name
Jeffrey
Last name
Schnader
Organization
Chesapeake Bay Writers
 

Personal information (200 word limit for Bio, please)

Pen Name
Jeff Schnader
Personal photo
Bio
Jeff Schnader is the author of the novel, The Serpent Papers (The Permanent Press, March 2022), which has been reviewed in major newspapers & magazines and on radio. He was at Columbia University in 1972 where he participated in sit-ins, marches and protests against the Vietnam War. He took part in marches and demonstrations, including a protest in front of Hamilton Hall where students were beaten by the New York Tactical Police, who were in full battle regalia. Scenes in his novel are authentic because he was there.

His novel, The Serpent Papers, is a current Finalist in the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards; it was also short-listed Finalist in the 2021 Blue Moon Novel Competition. His short story, “The Champion,” published in the October, 2022, issue of the Arlington Literary Journal (see: https://www.arlijo.com/post/issue-165), won first prize in the 2020 Annual Quills Contest. Chapters of The Serpent Papers and, more recently, his short stories, The Oma and Durango, have been published in THE WRITE LAUNCH literary journal (see: https://thewritelaunch.com/author/j-schnader/)

His essays have been published in the literary magazines: Audere Magazine, Bookscover2cover, Perfidy Press, and The Write Launch. He has been interviewed on radio across America and in Europe, including major stations in New York, San Francisco and London.

After graduating from Columbia with a BA in physics, he received his medical degree (MD, CM) from McGill University with further work at Johns Hopkins. He recently retired as full Professor of Medicine after authoring over 50 scientific publications and chairing & speaking at over 130 national medical conferences. He was a frequent guest on NPR's “Sound Health” and has been awarded for teaching and for editing a medical journal. He worked full-time in the Department of Veteran’s Affairs for 22 years, serving American war veterans, including those of The Vietnam War.
 

Website and social media (please include "http://")

 

Chapter Information

VWC Chapter (if any)
Chesapeake Bay Writers
 

Speakers' Bureau

Speaker Area(s) of Writing Expertise
  • Fiction (long form)
  • Non-fiction (creative non-fiction)
  • Platform Building/Marketing
  • Publishing
Other Topic(s) of Expertise
Believable, Authentic Medical Writing in Fiction; I am a Professor of Medicine
 

Poems, Novels, Plays, or other Works

Work 1 - Title
The Serpent Papers
Work 1 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Historical Fiction
Work 1 - Cover
Work 1 - Description
FROM THE SERPENT PAPERS PRESS RELEASE:

Columbia University alumnus, Jeff Schnader’s debut novel, The Serpent Papers (The Permanent Press: March 1, 2022), a work of historical fiction, will be released just in time to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the April 1972 marches, building take-overs, riots at Columbia University that suspended classes after the University summoned the police to remove the protesting students. Set on the tumultuous 1972 Columbia University campus during the time of nationwide demonstrations against the Vietnam War, The Serpent Papers is the first book of any kind written about the protests and is based on the real-life experiences of a participant and witness to the events of the era.

The Serpent Papers is the story of J-Bee, raised in the violent world of the 1960s, who chooses to matriculate at Columbia in 1971 rather than join the military. A Southern boy who comes from a conservative Catholic military family, J-Bee exemplifies the struggles of his generation and the challenges they faced balancing patriotism with a rejection of the war.

When he arrives at university, he is immediately thrust into the anti-war atmosphere and becomes ideologically trapped between supporting his best friend, who is fighting overseas in Vietnam, and the anti-war cauldron of culture and protest at Columbia. When the moral quandary of an escalating war comes to a head and with his own conscience and the conscience of the nation on his mind, ratcheting tensions and bullhorns incite students to protest, and pro-war and anti-war factions collide in campus riots forcing J-Bee to make the decision that defines his life.

The mysterious “Serpent” is an invisible voice that emerges from behind a screen in a basement café in the crypt of an on-campus chapel. Labeled the “patron saint of The Apocalypse,” the Serpent urges the students to act on their consciences. In this coming-of-age story, the Serpent is the personification of the political ideals of the age.

Schnader, a graduate of the Columbia College class of 1975 and retired full professor from Eastern Virginia Medical College, participated in sit-ins, marches and protests, including the April 25, 1972 riot in front of Hamilton Hall where 1000 students were beaten by hundreds New York City Tactical Police in full battle regalia. J-Bee’s story mirrors Schnader’s life and follows the events of the time by telling the authentic story of what students lived through.

For the Vietnam War generation, the war is still the defining event of their lives and rivets their interest; it created a generational rift between those who fought and those who protested, a rift which this novel aims to heal. The book also features three murders along with a vividly accurate portrayal of 1970s counterculture.

Although not a true memoir, The Serpent Papers reads like one.
Work 2 - Title
Durango
Work 2 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Short stories/Anthologies
Work 2 - Genre (Other)
Creative Nonfiction short story
Work 2 - Cover
Work 2 - Description
Creative nonfictional account of protagonist, J-Bee, as he hitchhikes through an adventure from New York to San Francisco in 1974.
Work 3 - Title
The Oma
Work 3 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Short stories/Anthologies
Work 3 - Genre (Other)
Short story- Terror
Work 3 - Cover
Work 3 - Description
The death of a boy's mother leads to psychological trauma.
Work 4 - Title
50 Original Scientific Papers in peer review medical journals
Work 4 - Genre
(Nonfiction) Science & Nature
Work 4 - Genre (Other)
50 titles
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