Available for the first time in paperback, How I Became a Human Being is Mark O'Brien's account of his struggles to lead an independent life despite a lifelong disability. In 1955 he contracted polio and became permanently paralyzed from the neck down. O'Brien describes growing up without the use of his limbs, his adolescence struggling with physical rehabilitation and suffering the bureaucracy of hospitals and institutions, and his adult life as an independent student and writer. Despite his physical limitations, O'Brien crafts a narrative that is as rich and vivid as the life he led. 

The Sessions, starring John Hawkes and Academy Award-nominated Helen Hunt, is based on the fascinating life of Mark O'Brien. In 1997, O'Brien was the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary, Breathing Lessons.

About the Gillian Kendall

Co-author and long-time friend of Mark O'Brien, Gillian Kendall is author of Mr. Ding's Chicken Feet: On a Slow Boat from Shanghai to Texas and editor of Something to Declare: Good Lesbian Travel Writing, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press.