Henry Wise
Holy City
Holy City is the captivating debut from Henry Wise about a deputy sheriff who must work alongside an unpredictable private detective after he finds himself on the outs from his sheriff’s department over his unwillingness to look the other way when an innocent man is arrested for murder.
Congratulations to Henry Wise for being the 2025 Edgar Award winner for Best First Novel.
The Writer’s Dossier 5/14/2024 – The Henry Wise Interview
DOSSIER: Given that you’ve sold poetry in multiple publications, have had non-fiction and photography work appear in Southern Cultures, and you’re publishing a highly-anticipated crime novel set in rural Virginia, where would you put yourself in the grouping of today’s southern writers (or do you see yourself as a southern writer at all)?
WISE: My foundation as a poet has a lot to do with the voice, structure, and style that drive HOLY CITY. Something I like about poetry is the effect of blank spaces on the reading experience; they serve as islands, moments to process and experience what’s going on. I was interested in utilizing this in the structure of HOLY CITY, which is why there are no chapter numbers, and most of the chapters are brief. The gaps in a narrative give it a buoyancy, an athleticism, even a confidence in not needing to tell everything. Nobody likes someone who’s too long winded anyway.
Yes, I would consider myself a Southern writer, but I don’t want to place myself among other writers. It would feel like pulling a Walt Whitman and writing a review of my own work. (I do love Whitman though.)
The amazing reviews
DOSSIER: Fellow Dossier member S.A. Cosby calls Holy City “an amazing piece of work,” among many other complimentary things. Have you always expected your writing to be so well accepted or is such high praise from one of the hottest writers of our time just completely mind-blowing to you?
WISE: For a long time, I didn’t think HOLY CITY would ever be published, so the fact that it’s resonating with people, especially icons like Shawn, Megan, Ace, and Eli, is wonderfully unexpected.
Writing outside
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Absolute silence/music playing/a library somewhere surrounded by other MFA students?)
WISE: I prefer working early, going with the creativity that seems to align with the beginning of a new day. If it’s nice out, I write on my porch, where I’m reminded how much yard work I am neglecting. I think that guilt is probably something of a motivation. If it’s cold, I write in the basement, or standing up at a dresser in my bedroom.
I tend to write longhand, cursive, which I then transcribe and modify using a Royal typewriter from 1920 that I inherited. The typewriter has become one of the most useful tools for me, because there’s a physical rhythm to it and I come away with a hard copy immediately. It forces me not to worry about revision too early in the writing process. The most important thing to me is getting away from screens.
At the end of the day, you have to do what works for you. There really are no rules, but there are no shortcuts, either.
Attending VMI
DOSSIER: Did attending the Virginia Military Academy have any kind of influence on your writing—either your style or subject matter? (Folks at the Citadel probably think it’s just amazing you don’t still write with a crayon, but that’s an inside rivalry joke for a future Dossier interview.)
WISE: First off, it’s the Virginia Military Institute. It’s not an academy. Like the Citadel, it’s a Southern, public, state military college. Unlike the Citadel, VMI graduates can read and write. (I know, I know. Pat Conroy.)
For one reason or another, VMI was where I became a serious writer. A lot of people assume that a military environment is synonymous with a lack of creativity, but I found the opposite to be true. I earned penalties—often for bizarre and innovative offenses—and I think the more I suffered, the more material I gave myself. Not that suffering was in short supply. VMI is essentially a small, isolated town, filled with characters. You see the people around you at their best and their worst. You observe people under pressure all the time, and so you learn a lot about what they’re capable of. VMI may be a small slice of hell, but, in a way, it is also a writer’s paradise.
Big name support
DOSSIER: What’s it been like working with a legendary literary agent like John Talbot and Joe Brosnan at Grove Atlantic for your debut?
WISE: I don’t have anything to compare to, but I have only praise and gratitude for those two.
It took me a long time to get an agent. John was the 85th agent I queried for HOLY CITY. From the beginning, he was enthusiastic about my work, and we’ve had the best working relationship. I cannot imagine a better agent.
Joe has been the ideal editor. He’s sharp, doesn’t crowd me but isn’t afraid to challenge me, and he gets what I’m doing in my writing. He’s not trying to change me; he wants me to keep doing what I’m doing. Beyond that, being with Grove Atlantic has been a perfect marriage. It’s an independent publisher with a ton of street credit for bringing innovative, different books into the world, and yet it feels like a family, like I really have a say in every aspect of my book. It’s both personal and professional, and I think that’s rare. One example of this is that a photograph I took became the central image on the cover of HOLY CITY. The photo is authentic—not some image from the internet that has nothing to do with the setting of the book—and it also incorporates another expression of mine, photography. Thanks to Daniel Rembert for incorporating that photograph into an incredible cover.
I’m in the right places, and with the right people. I’m very lucky in that regard. Both John and Joe have the art—not just book sales—at heart, and they want to bring good literature into the world. I think, when you put quality first, you can build a relationship around that common goal, and everything is organic.
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