Emily Austin
Author Interview - Emily Austin
Author of Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead
A morbidly anxious young woman stumbles into a job at a Catholic church, where she hides her atheist lesbian identity and becomes obsessed with her predecessor's mysterious death.
Author Interview - Emily Austin
Author I draw inspiration from: I have been reading a lot of Ottessa Moshfegh lately. I think she is a fantastic writer. I also loved T Kira Madden and Kristen Arnett’s recent books. Outside of current lit, I am a big fan of Sylvia Plath and Leonard Cohen.
Author Interview - Emily Austin
Favorite place to read a book: I like to walk and read. Having my face in a book while risking my life to cross the street helps me balance my clerkliness with a touch of danger.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: I am hesitant to subject a character I like to me, panicking, inside of a contained metal box; however, if I were forced, I would choose either Frog or Toad, from Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel, because they are small and wouldn’t take up much space or oxygen. Also, because this would likely be my only opportunity to meet an anthropomorphic, presumably gay, amphibian. Lastly, I find them calming—which would be a critical characteristic required of the individual trapped with me.
Author Interview - Emily Austin
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: When I was about thirteen, I got my first ever good grade on an English assignment. Prior to that, I had always done poorly in English. I was not a strong student in any subject besides art until I was in high school. In my first English class in high school, my teacher gave me an A+ on a short story I wrote and moved me to a higher level class. I was really surprised by that because I had always thought I was a terrible writer. I don’t remember a specific moment when I knew I wanted to be a writer, but it must have been around then.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: I have never met a book format I didn’t like. I keep ebooks and audiobooks on my phone. I keep a paperback by my bed. I love a hard cover.
The last book I read: Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin and I highly recommend it.
Author Interview - Emily Austin
Pen & paper or computer: It sounds pretty romantic to write by hand, but I am a brutal speller. I wouldn’t get far without spellcheck. I also edit as I write and would really struggle to commit to a hand-written sentence without scribbling over it a lot.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: This is actually a difficult question for me. I think it’s hard partly because I often read books with unlikable characters. One of my favourite characters is Ignatius J. Reilly from John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. I also loved Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh. Both of these characters aren’t people I would want to be close friend with.
When I think of my best friends, they are people who are authentically themselves and are funny. Because of that, I think maybe if Gail Honeyman’s character Eleanor Oliphant and I managed to find each other, we could be friends.
Author Interview - Emily Austin
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: I wish I could answer something like an astronaut, but the truth is I have a couple day jobs, and I am sure I would just be doing them. I work in information management and teach future library technicians at a local college.
Favorite decade in fashion history: I think this last decade was actually pretty good. I loved Harry Styles in Vogue. I like the artist Soko, and she has done some Gucci campaigns that I think deserve a chef’s kiss.
Place I’d most like to travel: I would love to go to Galway Bay. There is a song about Galway Bay that my grandma asked us to play at her funeral that suggests that’s where heaven is.
My signature drink: Smirnoff Ice by surprise.
Favorite artist: I like Prudence Heward. She’s a Canadian painter known for painting defiant looking women. I love a painting of a grumpy looking lady.
Number one on my bucket list: The only item on my bucket list was to write a book so I am living on borrowed time.
Anything else you'd like to add: Thank you so much for your time Ashley! I really appreciate it.
Find more from the author:
On Instagram I am emilyraustinauthor and on Twitter I am @eraustinauthor.
