Kirk Citron, writer
I write contemporary fiction about the life you didn’t plan for.
Coming of age stories are usually about teenagers finding their place in the world. But what if the real growing pains don’t hit until you’re 63?
Edward, a Senior VP at a San Francisco bank, thinks he’s on top of the world. Until the day he gets fired.
Unsure who he is without a career to define him, he spirals into a second adolescence, hides the truth from his wife, and runs away on an ill-advised “nostalgia tour.”
Then his father dies, forcing Edward back to reality. He returns to San Francisco, to face a wife who spent thirty years supporting his ambitions... and adult children who barely know him.
He finally confronts the question he hasn't asked since he was eighteen:
Who does he want to be when he grows up?
About my novel, Coming of Age
For four decades, I made my living in the persuasion business—writing commercials for AT&T and American Express, creating Saturn's tagline (A different kind of company. A different kind of car.). Then I co-founded the agency that became AKQA, working with Sony, Gap, and Powerbar, and winning five Clios along the way.
But I was always more interested in the stories that last. My TED Talk on “The Long News” — the idea that the most important stories unfold over decades, not news cycles — has been viewed over a million times.
I believe the most urgent stories aren’t about brands. They’re about human beings.
I've published essays in Graphis, Marin Magazine, and the Harper Perennial anthology The Moment. A Harvard graduate, I’ve also completed Stanford's Novel Writing program.
I used to build agencies. My novel is about what remains when the business card is gone.
About me