Christopher Lukas
Christopher Lukas has worked as an Emmy Award-winning writer-producer-director in commercial television, as well as in public television where he worked on The World of Abnormal Psychology, Music From Aspen, Moyers: Report from Philadelphia, The Do It Yourself Messiah, and The Talking Walls of Pompeii. He is the author of four books, including Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss & Survival, Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide, Staying in Charge: Practical Plans for the End of Your Life and The First Year: Prostate Cancer. Lukas currently makes films, write books and short stories, and works regularly as a film and stage actor.
Blue Genes
This is the intimate story of a famous writer who couldn’t outrun his despair and his talented younger brother who stood, fought and overcame the same family demons.
When Christopher (Kit) Lukas’ mother died by her own hand when he was a small boy, she left him and his brother Tony to be raised by a doting grandmother and a confused and absent father. For many years the boys had no idea that her death had been a suicide; each member of this fractured family coped separately with the memories and the guilt, and no one spoke of the family’s history of depression and bipolar disorder. The brothers grew up to achieve remarkable success; Tony as a gifted journalist (and author of the Pulitzer and National Book Award winning book, Common Ground), Kit as an accomplished television producer and director. After suffering bouts of depression, Kit was able to confront his family’s troubled past, but Tony never seemed to find the same contentment and he killed himself in 1997. For anyone who’s ever feared that personal history ultimately dictates life’s trajectory, Kit Lukas’s story of self-determination in the face of the most troubling genetic odds gives the gift of hope. You will finish this book grieving Tony’s early demise, but admiring and honoring Kit’s gentle fortitude.