Main Line teacher/author Jim Zervanos charms with ‘American Gyro’
Ask Bala Cynwyd’s Jim Zervanos if his latest book – a sweet, funny, coming-of-age novel about a Greek American growing up outside Philly – is autobiographical and you receive a resounding, er, not really: “The literal story is entirely made up but it’s more personal to me than anything I’ve written.”
Indeed, Zervanos calls Gyro’s protagonist, Johnny Demos, his “surrogate.”
Philly Author Jim Zervanos Releases New Novel “American Gyro”, A Greek-American Coming-of-Age Story
There is something familiar about Johnny Demos, the young protagonist at the center of American Gyro, the new novel from Philadelphia writer Jim Zervanos. Maybe it is the small-town diner run by a Greek immigrant Papou. It could be the push and pull between family obligation and the dream of something bigger. Or maybe it is simply that Johnny feels like someone we have all known in our own Greek-American circles.