William Kent Krueger, author of Lightning Strike: a Novel
Genre Fiction Category, sponsored by Macalester College
Each week leading up to the 34th annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our 36 finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
A long-running series can be daunting for anyone unfamiliar with books but looking for a place to begin. Although it’s the eighteenth novel in the series, Lightning Strike is a prequel to the Cork O’Connor stories, and as such, offers anyone not familiar my work a wonderful introduction to the characters, elements, and narrative style they’ll find in the other books. I think of it as a perfect gateway novel.
What do you hope that your audience learns or takes away from your book?
At heart, this is very much a story of fathers and sons. But it has also allowed me to explore all the early relationships in Cork’s life that were important in shaping him into the man who occupies center stage in all the books. My hope is that readers will have a better understanding of the ethical and emotional foundation given Cork as a young man. Also important is the exploration of the nature of truth and its dependence on the cultural perspective from which we view events.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Read, read, read! Although you should be reading widely, if you’re going to write in the mystery genre, you need to read mystery novels. And then, when you finally sit down to write that mystery, I believe you should write every day, seven days a week, which will do several things for you. It will keep you connected with the work. It will demonstrate to others your commitment. And it will be your own testament to the importance of this work in your life.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
I’m terribly afraid of the dark.
Minnesota enjoys a reputation as a place that values literature and reading. If this sentiment rings true for you, what about our home state makes it such a welcoming and conducive place for writers?
For me, a story rises out of a sense of place, and although I’ve lived many places, not one has spoken to me in the deep way that Minnesota does. The land, the people, the history, the weather, the values here are all ingredients that go into the wonderful cauldron of elements out of which great stories can arise.
Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, virtually everything about our lives has changed in some way. Has COVID-19 (and its fallout) impacted your writing habits and preferences? Has the unique zeitgeist of the past two years influenced your writing output in any other ways that you can pinpoint?
I feel a bit guilty in saying this, but the past two years have been among the most productive for me as a writer. I believe this is because I haven’t been distracted by the demands of travel–for conferences, book festivals, speaking engagements–that typically interrupt my writing routine throughout the year. It will be interesting, as we open up more and more to in-person events, what effect a return to “normal” will have on the work of all artists.
William Kent Krueger is the New York Times bestselling author of two standalone novels and nineteen acclaimed books in the Cork O’Connor mystery series. He is an Edgar Award and five-time Minnesota Book Award-winner.