Welcome back to my Author Spotlight series, where I interview trending authors to get the inside scoop on their work. Today, I bring you Holly Black. Some of you might know her for the infamous The Cruel Prince that was trending on TikTok. Her Folk of the Air series began with The Cruel Prince and has sold over 2.9 million copies. It has been translated into 27 languages, and has been on The New York Times bestsellers list for 22 weeks and counting. She’s also well known for co-penning the Spiderwick Chronicles.
For those who don’t know her, Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of fantasy novels, short stories, and comics. She has been a finalist for an Eisner and a Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honor. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. Feel free to check out her website or Instagram to keep up to date with her.
The Stolen Heir, the first in a duology set to release Jan. 3, takes place in the world of Elfhame and follows Jude’s brother Oak and the changeling queen Suren. It’s a novel filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires. Typical of Black, The Stolen Heir will most likely leave fans with a cliff-hanger, plot twists, and the beautiful world of fae.
If you could describe The Stolen Heir as an aesthetic, what would it be? How would it differ from your Folk of the Air series?
Since The Stolen Heir is somewhat of a road trip story, I think it’s more expansive. We see more of Faerie — two Courts, a market, and various other places — and some of the mortal world too. There are still extravagant gowns and ill-advised dances and sword fighting, so it’s not entirely a different aesthetic, but there’s a bit more forest and a lot more ice. And, since we’re in Wren’s point of view, we get to see what it’s like to have to deal with a schemer from the other side!
You’ve authored over thirty books for children and teens. How would you say your writing and books have changed throughout the years?
I’d like to tell you that it got easier, and that’s partially true. But it’s also true that as some elements of storytelling have become more organic, I’ve been more ambitious about what I want my stories to do, so I don’t think there’s ever an easy book. Mostly what I think is true is that I’ve gotten more used to hitting the parts where I feel stuck or uncertain and finding my way through them. And it always feels like magic when people connect with a novel.
If you had the choice to be any kind of faerie, what would it be and why? Where in Elfhame would you want to live and what would your love life look like?
Most likely I would be a solitary hag. I do love ill-advised fairy bargains and clever, twisty tricks. In fact, I think I am going into 2023 with big hag energy.
BookTok has been helping authors gain recognition since two years ago when it was first introduced. As a BookTok famous author, how would you say this community has helped shape the fandom and the publishing industry?
BookTok is so interesting — The Cruel Prince took off there completely without me. I’ve posted twice to TikTok – once thanking people for their enthusiasm for the Folk of the Air series and another time talking about Book of Night while my hairless cat was chewing on my throat. Other than that, I am merely a viewer, trying dubious recipes and singing whaling songs like everyone else.
What I really love about BookTok is the way it moves the idea of reading away from being difficult and healthy, like running or eating spinach. BookTok reminds people that reading is fun and that books are delicious and weird and surprising. And while BookTok has turned into a place publishers and marketers look to for trends, readers are not on TikTok to talk to me, or publishers, or anyone but one another. It’s just a bunch of people ranting about books that they love, like the world’s best party.
The faerie fantasy genre seems to be a recurring theme throughout your writing. What are some childhood memories that have contributed to your love for the fae that you have never told anyone?
That I’ve never told anyone? That’s a tough one!
Usually what I talk about is how my mother had Brian Froud and Alan Lee’s illustrated book, Faeries, which cemented faeries in my mind as being both terrifying and gorgeous. I also talk sometimes about how my mother made a scavenger hunt for me “from the faeries” and I totally believed. It made me look at knot holes in trees and acorn caps in a new way — as evidence! That feeling is something I’ve tried to capture in my portrait of the “mortal world.” I want to contrast the strip malls and highways with abandoned buildings overgrown with crooked trees or huge flocks of sparrows and other bits of strangeness.
I guess what I talk about less often is how much time I spent on the water as a kid and therefore how much time I spent thinking about mermaids and other undersea creatures. My parents love to sail — and had a sailboat that they would drag my sister and I onto on the weekends. I was never particularly enthusiastic — I get seasick — but I used to stare into the murky water of the sea for hours on end, imagining what was happening in the depths. Someday I’d like to write that book, although I was glad to get to do a bit of it in The Wicked King.
Disney+ is beginning to pick up many TV shows based on middle grade novels such as Percy Jackson & the Olympians and now they have picked up your Spiderwick Chronicles. How would you say book adaptations influence the younger generation’s experience with literature?
Fantasy has become more mainstream since Tony and I first created Spiderwick together. It’s not considered niche anymore, which is incredibly exciting not just as a writer of fantasy but also as a fan. With all the streaming services and the multiple ways that books can be adapted, I think that younger generations have an expectation that they will see the material they love presented in multiple ways.
With the movie in 2008 and now the show, my hope is that it introduces people to older folkloric faeries – forces of nature, as likely to poison you as they are to be helpful — and that can at least partially replace our Victorian-influenced idea of them as little girls with wings. Aron Coleite, the showrunner, is a huge folklore and fantasy enthusiast — he’s organically read and watched so much of the same material that influenced Tony and I — as well as an amazing writer, so I feel that those elements will come through. And of course, I hope the show will encourage everyone to read more!
While I sadly can’t attend Holly’s book tour, I was beyond thrilled and honored to have received a bound manuscript of The Stolen Heir in preparation for this interview. Thank you, as always, to Cassie Malmo from Hachette Book Group for the manuscript and giving me another fantastic opportunity to interview a big name author like I did with Kerri Maniscalco. And of course, thank you so much to Holly for answering my questions! Fantasy intermingled with romance is always a favorite of mine to read.