Author Justin Catanoso Shares His Book, My Cousin the Saint
on North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, July 12, at 5 PM

Author Justin Catanoso, born and raised in New Jersey, knew little of his family beyond the Garden State. That changed in 2001 when he discovered that his grandfather's cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, was a Vatican-certified miracle worker. A typically lapsed American Catholic, Justin embarked on a quest to connect with his extended family in southern Italy and, ultimately, to awaken his slumbering faith.

In an all-new episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin, premiering Sunday, July 12, at 5 PM, Justin Catanoso shares the product of that quest: My Cousin the Saint: The Search for Faith, Family and Miracles, a compelling narrative and testament to the challenge of being Catholic in twenty-first-century America.

“This was the time that I realized for the first time that my own history goes back farther than my father, and my grandfather.  I wanted to know about that and I wanted to meet these relatives,” says Catanoso. “And it wasn’t with the idea of doing a book, but the book idea was luck and maybe a miracle as well.”

More than a biography, more than an immigrant memoir, more than a chronicle of renewed faith, it is a love letter to a family now reunited across oceans and years.

“When my family landed in Italy in 2003 was the first time I learned [the saint] was real,” says Catanosa. “Italy was remarkable. I spent most of my life as a kid being reticent, and almost embarrassed about my Italian culture—with all of the mafia jokes, and The Godfather, and all of those things that you get ridiculed about as an Italian-American. But, when I landed in Italy, I realized that all the things we hold dear in this country have roots in that beautiful place: the art, and the architecture, the fashion and the food, the warm generosity 0f the people, la dolce vita, and the sweet life that they live. And I fell in love with that place. And then we met these relatives. And they were extraordinary.”

Justin Catanoso has degrees from Penn State and Wake Forest University, where he has taught reporting, writing, and editing as a visiting lecturer since 1993. His wife Laurelyn is an award-winning songwriter and cofounder of the Americana music band Polecat Creek. They live in Greensboro, NC, with their daughters Emilia, Rosalie, and Sophia. This is his first book.

Don’t miss DG Martin’s all-new interview with Justin Catanoso on North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, July 12, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During the 26-week season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests will also include:  John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed (Holy Smoke), Todd Johnson (The Sweet By and By), Michael Walden (North Carolina in the Connected Age), Barbara Fredrickson (Positivity), Michael Davis (Street Gang), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), Howard Lee (The Courage to Lead), Marianne Gingher (Adventures in Pen Land), and Dan Barefoot (Hark the Sound of Tar Heel Voices).

For additional information about series guests and airdates, plus links to the Bookwatch blog and online book club, please visit: www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh’s independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV’s ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV’s other original productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.