WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT

SAYONARA COWBOY

“For anyone who’s ever struggled to find their place in the world, Bill Fellenberg’s coming-of-age memoir offers the literary equivalent of a warm hug. Pulled between two cultures, two countries and two parents, he navigates his childhood with wry self-deprecation and gentle insight. Sayonara Cowboy is, at its heart, about the wars we fight—across oceans, in our own homes, within ourselves—and the love that is the only path to peace.

— BIZZY COY, The New Yorker, Vulture

In Sayonara Cowboy, Bill Fellenberg looks back in rueful amusement at his troubled youth as a boy with a complicated ethnic background and no parents in sight. After stumbles ranging from the embarrassing to the hilarious, Bill finds his equilibrium as a writer, a lover, and an adult. Written with skill and wit, Sayonara Cowboy is an enjoyable lesson for us all in how to forgive.

— RAYMOND P. SCHEINDLIN,

professor emeritus of Hebrew literature, author ofThe Book of Job and other works of literary translation

Sayonara Cowboy explores the wild frontier of time and geography, of youth and love, of destiny and freedom. Fellenberg’s recollections are spun into a personal tale stretched between a war-torn Japan and 20th century Americana, cross-stitched with the colorful fibers of finding identity, purpose, and artistic voice, a voice that is in turns innocent, honest and searching, and always humorous and poetic.

— TOBY POSER, film maker,

Where the Devil Roams, Hellbender, The Deeper You Dig

About William Yukikazu Fellenberg

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Bill immigrated to America when he was four. He resided in New Jersey most of his life. After enjoying a career in marketing and communications, primarily in the arts and in higher education, Bill pursued his long-held dream to write full-time. Sayonara Cowboy is his memoir about his childhood in Post-War Japan and transition to life in the USA.

Bill frequently presents his work with Yarnslingers, the writers cooperative of memoirists in the Upper Delaware River Valley. He has also been featured at readings with the Hudson River Poets of Upstate New York. His poems and short stories have appeared in Clementine Unbound, The Tower Journal, The Narrowsburg Literary Gazette, and other literary magazines.

He retired as vice president of university advancement at New Jersey City University in 2014, where he headed a division responsible for fundraising, alumni relations, marketing and advertising, and public relations. Before joining NJCU, Bill was executive director of the International Institute of New Jersey, a service and advocacy organization for refugees and immigrants. His career in the arts and cultural institutions was highlighted by appointments as director of membership at the Museum of Modern Art; deputy director of The Montclair Art Museum; and director of communications at the American Society of Interior Designers. He has an MBA from Rutgers University and a BA in English from Montclair State College.

Bill lives in Pennsylvania—near a lake, deep in the woods—under the collective spell of his wife, Donna, a retired psychoanalyst, and his two tuxedo cats, Bella and Carmine. When he hears music in those woods, it comes from his son Miles, and daughter-in-law Alice, playing four hands on the piano —the music of Ravel and many other magicians.