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Austin Coats is an American writer from Fort Smith, AR. He graduated from Greenwood High School in 2003 and attended the University of Arkansas.
His debut memoir, Spoons Are For Stirring Coffee, is a firsthand account of his recovery from substance abuse and addiction. He wrote the first chapter of this memoir while homeless in Delray Beach, FL in 2008. Knowing he wasn't ready to turn his life around, and knowing there was more destruction ahead, Austin put the pen down while his story played out. Three years later, after getting clean and sober, he picked the pen back up and finished the final 14 chapters of Spoons Are For Stirring Coffee.
Coats has been acclaimed for his unique, detail-driven writing style, his brilliant and hilarious metaphorical use, and an unfailing ability to make the reader feel visually and emotionally present in the story.
He now lives in Rogers, AR and is working on a second book.
Reviewed by Bil Howard for Readers' Favorite
While enjoying a view of the frosted tips of the Colorado Rockies and feeling the crisp air of spring, Spoons Are for Stirring Coffee looks backward into the life of Austin Coats and his struggle with addiction. The journey to that point was one of restoration, a comeback which began with insurmountable odds. It was a trip which began in small town Arkansas as the dreams of an athletic teen came to a screeching halt one Friday night under the lights of a football field. The result was emptiness and a hole which had to be filled. Austin had been so satiated by his dream and the fulfillment of it that when it was suddenly ripped from him he had to have something more. So he continued striving to get more, much more. The new drive and motivation took him from prescription drugs to illegal drugs in a spiraling addiction that carried him from a well-to-do family with plenty of promise for the future to the streets of South Florida and homelessness. It was on the plains of Africa where three little Kenyan boys taught him a remarkable truth without speaking a word; from that lesson, the seed of his comeback was planted. The seed took root in Colorado and Austin became a new man.
The comeback of Austin Coats, in Spoons Are for Stirring Coffee, is a story which will take the reader through the entire cycle of emotions countless times. From pain to laughter, from tears of heartache to tears of joy, from uncontrollable anger and fear to quiet tranquility; with the turning of each page the reader will find a new emotion stirring and at times will want to scream at Austin for the decisions he made. Ultimately, however, all of the emotions will transform into one of joy at the love and redemption that Austin found and the unshakable faith which delivered him back to God and back to his family. Honest, gut-wrenching and triumphant; Spoons Are for Stirring Coffee is a roller coaster ride on every possible emotion which ends in triumph and joy.
