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| photo: Joseph Sebastia Photography | |
Elise Bryant is the NAACP Image Award-nominated author of Happily Ever Afters, One True Loves, and Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling. For many years, Bryant had the joy of working as a special education teacher. It's Elementary (Berkley, July 9, 2024), a delightful cozy mystery romp, is her first novel for adults.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
PTA MOM MURDER (?) MYSTERY!
On your nightstand now:
I read the first few chapters of All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby before my alarm this morning and my heartrate still hasn't returned to normal. I'll probably ignore all my other responsibilities and finish it this afternoon because I can't think about anything else.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I used to play Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) with my friends at recess in third grade. We'd all fight over who got to be Jo, and the worst was getting Beth because then you'd just have to lie down on the grass all lunch recess.
Your top five authors:
My answer to this question changes constantly because I'm always finding new favorite authors, but currently Emily Henry, Tia Williams, Becky Albertalli, Richard Osman, and Attica Locke.
Book you've faked reading:
All the Shakespeare my teachers assigned.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon. This book was a totally bonkers delight that had me alternating between gasps and giggles. I suggested it to everyone for months just so I could hear their reactions to that perfect first chapter.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Big by Vashti Harrison. It's my eight-year-old's favorite book, and I try not to cry too much when I read it to her.
Book you hid from your parents:
Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. My mom said it would give me nightmares, but I was 16 and resented her assumption that she knew anything about my psyche. (Also I started sneaking her Faye Kellerman novels at a very young age! I was tough!) So, I read it late at night after she went to sleep... and still have nightmares about it to this day.
Book that changed your life:
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. I was in sixth grade when I read this book for the first time, and I remember thinking, you're allowed to write like this? And it'll be published? It was so voice-y and snarky and fun and completely unlike all the books people were always telling me were important--but it became the most important book to me. I found my own writing voice through reading Mia Thermopolis's.
Favorite line from a book:
This is impossible for me to answer. I can't even remember any lines from the books I have written. Seriously, I'll get tagged in quotes that are apparently from my novels, and I'm like, I wrote that? Are you sure?
Five books you'll never part with:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones--I don't think any other book has ever made me feel this much.
Kindred by Octavia Butler--I read this in college and it opened up my mind to a whole 'nother dimension of possibilities for Black stories.
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed--After reading this book, I made Christina become my best friend because it was immediately clear how freakishly aligned our brains and upbringings were.
1000 Words by Jami Attenberg--Jami's #1000wordsofsummer movement has become an essential part of my writing practice, and I don't think I've underlined so many lines in any book, ever.
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli--I picked this book up when I was teaching high school, and it brought me back to YA after a long time away. It was so authentic and earnest and swoony, and it made me want to start writing again, too. The next year, I started drafting my own YA novel, which would become my debut, Happily Ever Afters. When my editor sent me a blurb from Becky, I cried for days.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton--all I really remember about this book is the feeling it left me with: total awe. I rarely reread books, but I want to experience that again.