The Squat Book Promotional Movie has been awarded a Bronze 2007 Telly Award in the category of Non-Broadcast Production- Religion/Spirituality. The Telly Awards received over 13,000 entries from ad agencies, production companies, and TV stations worldwide.  

The Squat Movie was videod on location in the East Village of New York City and features Squat author Taylor Field discussing the various aspects of the book including how the plotline of Squat intersects his own life’s story. The Squat Movie was directed and edited by David Woodard. 

Please view the award-winning feature below.

A short promotional movie for the novel Squat by Taylor Field.

Kathleen Popa has posted the concluding Part 5 of the discussion on issues of homelessness between Squat author Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux. This discussion began after Kathleen, who posted a favorable review of Squaton her blog, interviewed Kevin, a homeless blogger from Nashville, about his perspective of Squat. Taylor was intrigued by some of Kevin’s criticism of the novel and initiated contact with Kevin which as resulted in this dialogue.

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 5

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 4

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 3

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 2

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 1

Original review of Squatby Kathleen Popa and critique by “The Homeless Guy”

From Taylor:

Winter is the best time to remember summer. I wrote the novel Squat on cold Saturday mornings, when no one else was in the office, when silence would put its arms out and eak in its own thin way. I wanted to be quiet enough for the buildings themselves to speak. With a little attentiveness, the bricks, the tenements, the “squats” on my block would remember the sweating hopes and fears of those who once slept there. Many of those who slumbered in these once-humid rooms in abandoned buildings have already died. They seem to be almost completely forgotten now. Somehow it is easier for me to remember their voices when it is snowing outside my window. “When things are taking their ordinary course, it is hard to remember what matters,” the pastor in Marilynne Robinson’s recent novel writes. When I am at my job as a pastor in the city, and I am dealing with the bric-a-brac of doing “community service,” it is sometimes more difficult to remember the larger story. In a sense, the main character, Squid, a squatter, is listening for some story that will give meaning to his compulsive, lonely life.The novel, Squat, takes place within twenty-four hours. At one point, an older alcoholic named Unc proclaims Miles Davis, musical improviser and occasional boxer, to be the patron saint of the day. Squid’s day is not like a symphony. It is like jazz. The day is not a pre-planned march. It is a sparring match. Anything could happen.

The novel is a specific retelling of a biblical story, perhaps my favorite story in the Bible. It is not an exact retelling. It is more like a piece of music, where a musical idea is taken up and developed, but every note is not the same as the notes in the original tune. Of course one wonders if Squid will make it through the day and survive the rancor of a small-time drug dealer. But on another level, the book is a question about Squid himself. Will he remain a bundle of squalid randomness, or become a part of some wider, truer story?

Squid’s dilemma is my dilemma. Will I get trapped in my own sordid little story of may own making, or will I find myself swept up in a grander drama, a real drama, beyond my imagining? The answer lies in Squid’s name.

Congratulations to Taylor Field, Squat, and B&H Publishing Group!Squat has been chosen as a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award finalist in the Religious Fiction category!

Kathleen Popa has posted Part 3 and Part 4 of the discussion on issues of homelessness between Squat author Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux. This discussion began after Kathleen, who posted a favorable review of Squaton her blog, interviewed Kevin, a homeless blogger from Nashville, about his perspective of Squat. Taylor was intrigued by some of Kevin’s criticism of the novel and initiated contact with Kevin which as resulted in this dialogue.

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 4

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 3

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 2

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 1

Original review of Squatby Kathleen Popa and critique by “The Homeless Guy”

Kathleen Popa has posted Part 2 of the discussion on issues of homelessness between Squat author Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux. This discussion began after Kathleen, who posted a favorable review of Squaton her blog, interviewed Kevin, a homeless blogger from Nashville, about his perspective of Squat. Taylor was intrigued by some of Kevin’s criticism of the novel and initiated contact with Kevin which as resulted in this dialogue.

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 2

Dialogue with Taylor Field and “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux Part 1

Original review of Squatby Kathleen Popa and critique by “The Homeless Guy”

On September 14th, blogger Kathleen Popa posted a favoravle review of Squat saying she found the book “an engaging novel that asks important questions about homelessness.” However, Kathleen wanted to see what a different perspective might be coming from someone who has experienced homeless so she interviewed “The Homeless Guy” Kevin Barbieux about his view of Squat.

Well, Kevin was much more critical of Squat. This has prompted Taylor to seek further dialog with Kevin about the issues he raised in his critique of Squat. This continued dialog is being sponsored by Kathleen at her blog. The first installment appreared today.

Check it out.

“. . . where Rent meets The Passion . . .” 

An article about the novel Squat featuring an interview with Taylor Field are featured in the current issue (Nov. 22-28, 2006) of The Villager, a newspaper that serves the “West and East Village, Chelsea, SoHo, NoSo, Little Italry, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side” of New York City’s Manhattan.

Click to read the fantastic article.

It is fast paced and full of both heart-wrenching and uplifting moments which capture a day in the Lower East Side with historical precision and human emotion.

Squat is featured this week on the front page of Lifeway.com, linking to the article “NYC Pastor Uses Fiction To Share Truth About Homelessness.”

Recently, the website Challies.com featured a favorable review of Squat.

Fields crafts interesting characters and characters you’ll find that you care about. While the characters are a far cry from ones I’d be likely to bump into in my life circumstances, they are intriguing and interesting. Squat was an enjoyable read and one I’d be happy to recommend to others.

Did you know that during the week of September 11 through September 15, Taylor Field’s first novel Squat became the second most talked about book among internet bloggers?