Each day leading up to the 30th annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony, we’ll be featuring an exclusive interview with one of our 36 finalists. Learn more about these incredible local writers and gear up to see the winners announced live in person April 21.
Interview with Andrew DeYoung, author of The Exo Project
Category: Young Adult Literature, sponsored by Brainfuse
It feels amazing! I followed the MN Book Awards from afar as a reader and aspiring writer, reading the books, admiring the writers, and getting inspired by Minnesota’s amazing literary community to follow my own dreams of being a published novelist. Now, to think that I’m a finalist, and my book is among the 36 being honored – I still can’t believe it. I love this state and its literary community, and to have my work acknowledged in this way is a huge honor.
What does writing mean to you?
Writing is a source of joy for me. Which is not to say that it’s always easy (quite the contrary!), only that it’s when I’m writing that I sometimes enter into that state of flow where I’m making connections, solving problems, pushing past obstacles, discovering what I really think, and occasionally even surprising myself. Even when it’s tough, it’s the good kind of tough, the rewarding kind of tough. I think everyone should have at least one activity in their lives that connects them with this feeling on a regular basis.
Why are stories important for our communities?
Deep engagement with a well-told story is the starting place for a lot of other great qualities that we need more of in our communities: wonder, curiosity, openness, empathy. Humans have a tendency to drift toward being closed, complacent, and certain – but it’s impossible to stay that way when you come in contact with a story that really opens up your mind and your heart. It all starts with imagination, which is essential in our communities as we imagine ways to live and thrive together in a complex world.
Tell us something people might not know about you.
I have a master’s degree in literature from the University of St. Thomas, where I wrote my thesis on the history of Victorian detective fiction, and how the genre of detective fiction developed in tandem with the emergence of detection as a new profession and method of policing in the 19th century. (You might even be able to check out my thesis at the St. Thomas library, if you’re in the mood for some light reading…or a sedative.) Anyway, if you want to know anything about methods of policing in mid-1800s London, how detectives were perceived by the public, and how this all was reflected in, say, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, I’m your guy!
What do you love about libraries?
I’ve always loved libraries, but as a relatively new father, I’m seeing libraries in a new way through the eyes of my daughter (she’s two and a half). We take her there to play, to explore, to listen to storytime – and to get books, of course. She pulls books off the shelves for us to bring home, and we pick some for her too. Then, back home, she asks us about how long we get to keep them, and when we have to bring them back. This is an important part of the whole experience: the idea that we’re sharing these books with other people, and that we’ll return them after we’re done so that other kids can enjoy them too. This makes the library a starting point for imagination, play, education, sharing, and community spirit – all the values we want to instill in our daughter. I’ve always loved libraries, but now I’m loving them in a new way!
More about Andrew DeYoung:
Andrew DeYoung is a writer and editor who has dreamed of being an author ever since his ninth-grade English teacher made him write down his biggest life goal for a class assignment. He studied literature in college and graduate school, writing a thesis on the history of Victorian detective fiction before making the jump from academia to publishing. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he edits children’s books and lives with his wife, daughter, and a feline companion named June Carter Cat. Andrew’s taste in science fiction leans more Star Trek than Star Wars—though only barely. The Exo Project is his debut novel.
See the winners announced live at the 30th annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony!
