Thom Nickels is the author of fifteen books, including: Philadelphia Architecture (2005); Spore (2010); Literary Philadelphia: A History of Prose & Poetry in the City of Brotherly Love (2015); and Philadelphia Mansions: Stories and Characters Behind the Walls (2018). Nickels’ essays on his years as a Vietnam War-era conscientious objector were published by The New Oxford Review and Oklahoma Humanities Magazine. His feature essay on Agnes Repplier, “The Secular Writer as Saint,” was published by the American Catholic Studies journal. Nickels worked as the theater critic for ICON Magazine and as the architecture critic for Metro Philadelphia. He is currently a regular columnist for the Philadelphia Free Press, Philadelphia Irish Edition, and City Journal (New York).