Book Talk - Which authors influenced you?
This week our debut authors answer the question: Who are some writers who have inspired you as an author?
Alexandria Faulkenbury, SOMEWHERE PAST THE END (May 20, 2025)
There are so many authors I admire, and I feel I learn something from almost every book I read. As a kid, I think I read every book Elizabeth George Speare wrote, and THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND remains a favorite for the way Speare pulls back layer upon layer of every character in the book. When I was a little older, I spent a lot of time absorbed in books by Jane Austen and other classic authors, and Austen’s witty dialogue is something I’ll probably always try (and never succeed!) to emulate. More recently, Lauren Groff’s work has definitely been aspirational for me. Her most recent book, THE VASTER WILDS, impressed me on so many levels. Ann Patchett is another writer who I always glean some new skill from reading and I’ve never read a Maggie O’Farrell book that didn’t make me want to buy a new notebook and start scribbling.
Kristin Offiler, THE HOUSEWARMING (July 29, 2025)
Lauren Groff is an author I’ve been hugely inspired by over the years. I’m always transported by her stories and inspired by her sentences. I love her novels, but her short story collection, FLORIDA, altered my brain chemistry. The first short story I published was inspired by the way that collection made me feel, and it’s a book I return to often for more inspiration. Whenever I need “good sentences in my ears” (to quote Jane Kenyon), I read Groff. I also became better-versed in suspense writing while I was revising my debut novel with my agent. Some authors I adore whose work helped me hone my skills are Ella Berman, Chelsea Bieker, Gillian McCallister, Liz Moore, Rebecca Makkai, Megan Miranda, and Emma Cline. I’ve learned so much about writing suspense from reading their books!
Penny Zang, DOLL PARTS (August 26, 2025)
The authors who inspired me have changed depending on the phase of my life, but they all continue to inspire me still. As a child: I used to read every Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley Twins book, but especially loved R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series. In grad school: Raymond Carver, Lorrie Moore, Toni Morrison, Dorothy Allison, and Tim O’Brien. My tastes now range from the literary (Lauren Groff, Jesmyn Ward, Deesha Philyaw), to the suspenseful (Gillian Flynn, Megan Abbott, Kellye Garrett) and quirky/off-kilter worlds (George Saunders, Karen Russell, Kevin Wilson). Carmen Maria Machado is an inspiration, as well as Ocean Vuong. When it came to writing DOLL PARTS, I have to mention Sylvia Plath, but Julie Buntin’s MARLENA, Rachel Yoder’s NIGHTBITCH, and Robin Wasserman’s GIRLS ON FIRE were never far from my desk.
Emily Krempholtz, VIOLET THISTLEWAITE IS NOT A VILLAIN ANYMORE (November 18, 2025)
When I was a kid, some of the authors who inspired me included Tamora Pierce (whose books in hindsight made me fall in love with the idea of writing fantasy within a shared universe), Gail Carson Levine (ELLA ENCHANTED was a way of life, tbh), JRR Tolkien, Brian Jacques, Madeleine L’Engle, L.M. Montgomery, and Robin McKinley. Honestly in hindsight, looking at that list and looking at the types of books I like to write makes perfect sense. As an adult, I’m often drawn to authors who create worlds with such depth and complexity that I can’t stop thinking about them—Maggie Stiefvater, NK Jemisin, Alix Harrow, Naomi Novik, or S.A. Chakraborty, to name a few—and characters that cut right to my core in ways that stick with me long after I’ve closed the pages, like Emily Henry, Casey McQuiston, Katherine Center, Talia Hibbert, Leigh Bardugo, or Katherine Arden. When a book gives me a book hangover, I try and intentionally think about why that is, and ask myself what I loved about that writer and how I can develop a similar effect in my own writing.
Gloria Huang, KAYA OF THE OCEAN (January 7, 2025)
For adult novels, I’ve always loved Jhumpa Lahiri (INTERPRETER OF MALADIES is one of my favorites) and David Mitchell (number9dream is groundbreaking). For young adult, I love Karen Thompson Walker (THE DREAMERS haunts me). For middle grade, I’m so inspired by Tae Keller (HOW TO TRAP A TIGER) and Erin Entrada Kelly (THE FIRST STATE OF BEING). When I was a child, I tended to choose by book instead of author, and three of my favorite books were TUCK EVERLASTING (Natalie Babbitt), THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE (Avi), and Homecoming (Cynthia Voigt). I aspire to all of these literary giants and will forever admire their writing and storytelling talent!
C.I. Jerez, AT THE ISLAND’S EDGE (March 18, 2025)
As a child through elementary school I voraciously read Judy Blume, Francine Pascal, Beverly Cleary, Ann M. Martin, R. L. Stine, and Christopher Pike. As a teenager I fell in love with books by Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts and each time I read them I believed that one day I would grow up and write like them. As an adult I was introduced to David Baldacci, James Patterson, Lisa Gardner, Karen Dionne, and Robert Dugoni, but the writer with the biggest impact on how I wanted to model myself as an author has been Jodi Picoult. I fell in love with Picoult’s intricate prose, commitment to looking at all aspects of a controversy, and her connection with the human spirit in a way I’ve never seen before. Her books taught me about the criticality of character and how reaching deep in the hearts of your cast will create a book that will stay with you for years. If you’re out there somewhere: Thank you, Jodi!
Catalina Margulis, AGAIN, ONLY MORE LIKE YOU (April 29, 2025)
So many of the authors mentioned above were favourites of mine too, growing up: Babysitters Club and Judy Blume, Christopher Pike and Cynthia Voigt (Jackaroo). Stephen King! I also loved Steinbeck and the Beats–Kerouac, Ginsberg, et al. When I write, it’s like a song in my head, there’s a musicality to it, so words and rhythm go hand in hand for me, which is why I think they resonated with me so much. I have older stepsisters and my mom is a big reader so we always had a ton of books lying around that I wasn’t really ready for. I read a ton of books I didn’t quite understand but which I’m sure left an imprint on me somehow. And that includes the Canadian great Margaret Atwood (The Edible Woman, especially, and The Robber Bride–both of which have some things in common with my book Again, Only More Like You, although it probably has more to do with me finally landing in the life stage of those characters and being able to relate to their experiences more now; I really should re-read them). Then there are my Spanish lit reads: Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez–one of them wrote my all-time favourite ending and the moment I aspire to write but I can’t find it or remember which book! I’m a French lit major, so those impacted me as well: Sartre, Stendhal, Flaubert, and in particular Emile Zola (my number one literary hero–he can write something so beautiful, and then completely destroy you at the same time). Kafka, Herman Hesse, Dostoevsky were my best friends in high school. Lord of the Rings might be one of the books that stands out for me most, thematically. Friendship and the ways we hurt and hurt each other, forgiveness, redemption, the courage to be ourselves and stand up for what we believe in. And what is living, really, if not that?
Loved how we had overlap but also some big differences in our author influences!