Mother of Columbine Shooter To Publish a Memoir

16 years ago, Sue Klebold’s son Dylan walked into Columbine High School, killed thirteen people and then himself. She’s now publishing a memoir about her ordeal and the last decade and a half she has spent trying to come to terms with the tragedy.

In the years after the shooting, Klebold has become an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention, so her book, A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy, will share insights from her experience with her son as well as warning signs for other parents. Profits from the book will be donated to charities focused on mental health issues.

The idea of a school shooter’s mother writing a memoir was explored in Lionel Shriver’s 2003 novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, a tale of a fictional school massacre from the perspective of the killer’s mom.

On April 20, 1999, Dylan Klebold and his friend Eric Harris murdered twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado and wounded 24 others before they killed themselves.

A Mother’s Reckoning will be published on February 16, 2016.