Interview with Author Jandy Nelson

Photo sourced from author's website

I was lucky enough to catch up with author Jandy Nelson in regards to her book The Sky is Everywhere, and her thoughts on writing as well being shortlisted for the 2010 Inky Awards. I loved the book, and must say that it has inspired me to scatter my own poetry all over town. And, quite frankly, a new word needs to be coined for such a person (maybe a cross between a graffiti artist and a poet?) Also, Jandy was really warm and approachable - something that I love finding in writers because it shows that, beyond the printed words, they are people to. Thanks Jandy! Authors like you make me so proud to be a writer, and I hope that one day you hold a copy of my book in your hands (but then I think I would lose a substantial amount of sleep). Best wishes for the future Jandy, and good luck!

You can visit Jandy's website here.

BC: Hi Jandy. Firstly, could you sum up your feelings of being shortlisted for the 2010 Silver Inky Award?
JN: To sum it up in one word: ecstatic! I’m just so honored. When I found out, I wanted to tell everyone I came into contact with: strangers on the bus, people in line at the café, drivers with their windows down. For one, what company! I keep having to pinch myself that I’m on the list with the four other finalists. Also, I’m crazy about so many Australian YA writers like Melina Marchetta, Simmone Howell and Marcus Zusak (and so many more—what’s in the water over there?) so I’m kind of beside myself that SKY is being welcomed like this by Australian readers. And lastly, I love the Inky! Love that it is a teen choice award. So you see, all in all—ecstatic!

BC: One thing that I loved immensely about The Sky is Everywhere were the snippets of Lennie's poetry. Were these included in the original manuscript, or something that was added to the book during the editing process?
JN: Thank you so much. Actually it all began with Lennie’s poems. When I first started writing SKY, I thought it was going to be a novel in verse. I had this picture in my mind of a grief-stricken girl scattering her poems all over a town, but very early on, like after a couple weeks or so of writing, I realized the story needed to be told primarily in prose. After that, I wrote both the prose and poems simultaneously, weaving the poems in as I went along. I liked that I could reveal things about Lennie, things about her relationship w/Bailey, w/the boys in this way—it allowed me an extra layer of expression/meaning for her.

BC: Australian readers have been blown away by your writing, which I would describe as amazingly insightful yet distinctly refreshing. I know it's always hard for a writer to pinpoint, but what was your primary inspiration for The Sky is Everywhere?
JN: Ouuu, thank you again! My head’s exploding. This means the world to me! Lennie was the inspiration really—she just kind of crashed into my psyche one day with her clarinet and worn copy of Wuthering Heights. That image of her scattering poems was incredibly persistent, chasing me everywhere. I knew/imagined somehow that her sister had died and that she was going to fall wildly in love, but I knew it wouldn’t be an easy love story, that there would be another boy who would complicate things for her, a boy who shared her grief. So I guess the primary inspiration was the image of this very grief-stricken girl scattering poems. I had lost someone very close to me years earlier and I wanted to write about that kind of catastrophic, tectonic, transformational life event. I wanted to explore the intricacies and complexities of grief, but I wanted to explore them through a love story—or two really. I imagined a story where joy and sorrow cohabitated in really close quarters, where love could be almost as unwieldy as grief.

BC: I've read that you're also a literary agent. Could you tell me how this came about?
JN: Though I’m currently on sabbatical, I’ve been a literary agent for the last thirteen years representing authors of literature for adults, not for teens or children. I was really drawn to it because I love working with writers, love developing projects, love championing work I really believe in. It’s been so interesting being on the other side of it with SKY as an author. My favorite part about being an agent is making the call to a writer saying that I’m madly in love with his or her book and want to represent it—that’s such a joyful moment, as is making the call to an author that there is an offer or offers from publishing houses—it’s just crazy gleeful. But I have to say getting those calls is perhaps even more incredible than making them! It’s funny, but sometimes it was hard for me to remember throughout it all that it was actually my book and not someone else’s that was being published! I pinched myself A LOT over the last year!

BC: Lastly, what can readers and the international literary community at large expect next from Jandy Nelson? World domination through scattered poetry in one hand and paintings of green ladies in the other? Or another book? *hopeful intake of breath*
JN: Yes, what a fantastic thought! Let’s get that going on both our continents, shall we? Everyone scattering poems absolutely everywhere! But alas, yes. I am currently hard at work on a new YA novel about twins Noah and Jude. It’s really two novels in one and it alternates between Noah’s story which takes place when the twins are fourteen and Jude’s when they’re eighteen. It’s full of secrets and lies and heartbreak and romance and love and very strong passions. Both narratives revolve around a very charismatic and mysterious sculptor who changes both the twins’ lives, and they, his. I’m excited about it—fingers crossed!

BC: Thanks Jandy, and good luck!

JN: Thank you so much for the great questions! I’m so excited about the Inky—being on the shortlist is such a tremendous honor!