Author News & Interviews

Interview: Lauren Willig, author of That Summer

Jun 5, 2014

The award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Pink Carnation series, Lauren Willig is no stranger to historical fiction. Her latest novel, THAT SUMMER, is set in both present-day England and the 1800s --- the early days of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, as well as a century she never planned on visiting. Lucky for us that she did, because it’s a story that takes readers on a fascinating journey through a mysterious old house, a hidden love affair, and one woman’s search for the truth about her past --- and herself.

In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Bronwyn Miller, Willig talks about what drew her to the radical Pre-Raphaelites and their movement (which she feels isn’t taken as seriously as it should be), finally yielding to her longtime obsession with “house books,” and which novels influenced THAT SUMMER. On a more personal note, she opens up about how her then-impending motherhood seeped into the story and how she manages to keep track of her many simultaneous projects and her own name (or not!).

Interview: Camilla Läckberg, author of The Hidden Child

May 15, 2014

Camilla Läckberg is a #1 bestselling author in Sweden, as well as the #1 bestselling female author in Europe last year. Her latest novel is THE HIDDEN CHILD, the fifth installment in her Fjällbacka series, featuring the husband and wife team of Detective Patrik Hedström and crime writer Erica Falck. In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Joe Hartlaub, Läckberg discusses the powerful image that inspired THE HIDDEN CHILD: a gravestone marked "Tyskungen" (“The German Child”). She also talks about writing the endings of her books first, her method for keeping track of all the complicated storylines in her novels, and how she finds time to continue writing international bestsellers while balancing countless personal and professional obligations.

Interview: John F. Ross, author of Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed

May 15, 2014

John F. Ross is the award-winning author of WAR ON THE RUN: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier, and has served as the Executive Editor of American Heritage and on the Board of Editors at Smithsonian magazine. His latest book, ENDURING COURAGE: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed, is the electrifying true story of the beginning of America’s love affair with speed, and how one man --- Eddie Rickenbacker --- showed a nation the way forward.

In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Greg Fitzgerald, Ross discusses what exactly drove “Fast Eddie” to pioneer a previously unexplored area of air transportation, and how crucial timing --- as well as the country’s overall “can-do” attitude --- was to his advancements. He also talks about the issue of “hero worship” when it comes to writing the biographies of national heroes, and why he feels so drawn to the theme of “courage at pivotal moments in American history.”

Interview: Lauren Francis-Sharma, author of 'Til the Well Runs Dry

May 15, 2014

Lauren Francis-Sharma, a child of Trinidadian immigrants, was born in New York City and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Her debut novel, 'TIL THE WELL RUNS DRY, tells the twinned stories of a spirited woman’s love for one man, her bottomless devotion to her children, and the family secret she must keep to protect them all. In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Jana Siciliano, Francis-Sharma talks about the real-life inspiration for the story: her grandmother, and the regret she felt for not seizing the opportunity to get to know her grandmother’s history better. She also shares her sunny life philosophy, which is rooted in Trinidadian culture, what she learned from being a lawyer at a high-profile firm, and a little hint at what she’s working on next.

Interview: Francesco Durante, author of Italoamericana: The Literature of the Great Migration, 1880-1943

May 14, 2014

Francesco Durante is a journalist and Professor of Literature at the University of Suor Orsola Benincasa. Robert Viscusi, Ph.D., is Professor of English and executive officer of the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities at Brooklyn College, president of the Italian American Writers Association, novelist, critic and scholar. Between the two of them, they have quite a firm handle on Italian-American literature and culture. Durante curated and edited ITALOAMERICANA, a definitive collection of classic writings on, about and from the formative years of the Italian-American experience; Viscusi edited the American edition, which is now available. In this interview with Bookreporter.com, the two men discuss the limitations of Gay Talese’s 1993 essay “Where are the Italian-American Writers?”, why newspapers were vital to literary culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and how sometimes vital pieces of history can get lost.