Author interviews almost always focus on questions regarding an author’s latest publication (and that’s great because it’s how readers discover new books!) but sometimes it’s fun to ask authors to talk about their lives beyond the book they’ve just written. Authors Answer poses 20 standing questions and asks authors to pick FIVE that they want to write about.
I began Authors Answer in 2020 as a stand alone blog. In 2025 I moved the project into a Substack newsletter. All of the posts that appeared on the original blog are available below. [You can also scroll through the original posts by date.]
Are you an author? Visit the Questions page to pick five of the twenty questions you’d like to answer and have shared in the Authors Answer Substack Newsletter.
Jessica Barksdale Inclán is the author of fifteen novels, including the award-winning The Burning Hour as well as Her Daughter’s Eyes, The Matter of Grace, and When You
Dr. Joan Steinau Lester is an award-winning commentator, columnist, and author of critically acclaimed books, including the novels Mama’s Child and Black, White, Other. Her writing has appeared
X.H. Collins was born in Hechuan, Sichuan Province, China, grew up in Kangding, on the East Tibet Plateau, and now calls Iowa home. Although always wanting to be
Elizabeth Marcus grew up in Manhattan, the only child of a dentist and a Macy’s dress buyer, the Zeus and Hera of Apartment 2B. After escaping to Boston,
Loren Stephens is a widely published essayist and fiction and nonfiction storyteller. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, MacGuffin, The Jewish Women’s Literary
Keith McWalter is the author of When We Were All Still Alive (on sale 5/4/21, SparkPress), writes the essay blog Mortal Coil, and his narrative nonfiction and opinion
Matthew Kerns is a historian, author, and digital archivist from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He grew up traveling in the western United States while listening to Steely Dan, pastimes that
Judith Ruskay Rabinor, PhD, is a clinician, author, writing coach, speaker, and workshop leader. In addition to her New York City private psychotherapy practice, she offers remote consultations
David Hirshberg specializes in writing literary fiction concerning the American Jewish experience. His first novel—My Mother’s Son—was published in 2018 and won nine awards. His second novel—Jacobo’s Rainbow—will
Laurie Buchanan: I write the Sean McPherson novels—fast-paced thrillers set in the Pacific Northwest that feature a trifecta of malice and the pursuit and cost of justice. As