Creative Non-fiction

In these epistolary essays, paulo da costa meditates on fatherhood, place, and memory during a trip to his childhood home in Northern Portugal. During his extended stay the author distills the wide-eyed innocence, joy, and curiosity of his four-year-old son as he meets his aging grandparents and explores an unfamiliar country and culture into a beautiful, tender, and poetic portrait of father-son relationships.

Evocative and heartwarming, Trust the Bluer Skies is a literary time capsule—a father’s vivid account of his son’s early years, a sensory-rich journey through rural Portugal, and a poignant exploration of masculinities that is positive, compassionate, and nurturing.

Two of the essays in this book already received the WGA's James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction in 2023 and 2020.