Media Kit

I'd be so grateful and excited if you decided to write about my novel Dad Camp!

Hopefully, some of the below will help.

If you can't find what you need, please reach out to me at esporter113 at gmail dot com.

Short author bio

Evan S. Porter is a dad to two girls (8 and 3), a blogger, and a freelance writer. He runs the parenting blog Dad Fixes Everything and has contributed to Parents Magazine, The Onion News Network, AskMen, The Good Men Project, Upworthy, and more. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, two girls, two dogs, and not much in the way of elbow room. Dad Camp is his first novel.

Socials: Twitter / Instagram / Threads

Fun facts about Evan

  • Born and raised in Baltimore, MD
  • Lifelong Baltimore Ravens fan & NFL enthusiast
  • Pop-punk connoisseur, currently loving the Blink 182 renaissance
  • I have two mildly-webbed toes on each foot. Sadly it does not make me a great swimmer.
  • Exercise is sometimes the only thing holding my mental state together. Love the gym and my Peloton.
  • Favorite books: Us by David Nicholls, Kindred by Octavia Butler, Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  • Favorite films: Gladiator, Inception, Big Trouble in Little China, Inside Out, all the Avengers
  • Favorite TV: Scrubs, Parenthood

Dad Camp Short Blurb

A heartwarming novel about a loving dad who drags his eleven-year-old daughter to “father-daughter week” at a remote summer camp—their last chance to bond before he loses her to teenage girlhood entirely.

Dad Camp Long Blurb

After his daughter, Avery, was born, John gave it all up—hobbies, friends, a dream job—to be something more: a super dad. Since then, he’s spent nearly every waking second with Avery, who’s his absolute best bud. Or, at least, she was.

When now eleven-year-old Avery begins transforming into an eye-rolling zombie of a preteen who dreads spending time with him, a desperate John whisks her away for a weeklong father-daughter retreat to get their relationship back on track before she starts middle school.

But John’s attempts to bond only seem to drive his daughter further away, and his instincts tell him Avery’s hiding something more than just preteen angst. Even worse, the camp is far from the idyllic getaway he had in mind. John finds himself navigating a group of toxic dads that can’t seem to get along, cringe-worthy forced bonding activities, and a camp director that has it out for him. With camp and summer break slipping away fast, John’s determined to conquer it all for a chance to become Avery’s hero again.

This brilliant and deeply funny father-daughter story is perfect for fans of poignant and hilarious books like The Guncle by Steven Rowley, Steve Martin’s family classic Cheaper by the Dozen, and Judd Apatow’s bighearted comedies.

Dad Camp Book Meta Data

Title: Dad Camp

Author: Evan S. Porter

Publish date: June 11, 2024

Publisher: Dutton

Hardcover ISBN: 9780593474402

Book cover:

Sample Q&A

Try asking me about:

What are some of the big themes in the book?

Loss of identity as a parent. When you have young kids, it sort of takes over your whole world. You might leave friends behind, drop hobbies, drastically change your diet/exercise/sleep patterns, start dressing differently, change your career priorities, and more. All of these things that make up who you think you are can do a 180 or disappear entirely. It leaves you wondering at some point what's left, who you really are, and I think the book is about John's attempt to answer that question.

Toxic masculinity. I love the main cast of dads in the book. Four dudes who are really doing their best but toxic expectations of manliness are affecting them all in different ways, to the detriment of their relationships with their kids.

But it's not all toxic! I hope the book celebrates some of the good stuff about men and male friendship, too.

Inspirations behind Dad Camp?

I got the initial idea shortly after rewatching Hook as an adult. It made me think a lot about the role reversal that happens where young kids are always chasing their parents around for their attention — and how that inevitably seems to flip eventually when kids start defining themselves more by how they fit in with friends, and their parents become an afterthought. I became really interested in that inflexion point.

I wanted to write something similar to the big-hearted Judd Apatow-style comedies I grew up loving. Not the crude stuff, but films like I Love You, Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc.

Literary inspirations were books by David Nicholls, Richard Roper, Jonathan Tropper, Matthew Norman and others. They all write beautifully and are so good with male protagonists, male friendships, and parent/kid dynamics.

Author Photos & Headshots

Photos available on Google Drive here.

Please credit Jacey Verhoef Photography