Katy Hays
The Cloisters
DOSSIER: If you were forced to give up skiing, cycling, trail running, or cake … which activity would you no longer be doing because you were still eating cake?
HAYS: I didn’t realize this was a Sophie’s Choice situation! Knowing full well that I’d never give any of these up, I guess I’d sacrifice cycling, because technically I could still go to spin class under these rules. And an indoor bike is better than no bike!
DOSSIER: With THE CLOISTERS reaching epic heights on the NY Times bestseller list, did that change the way you approached the pacing of your next book? It moves pretty fast, doesn’t it?
HAYS: I don’t know if THE CLOISTERS is considered that fast paced! Maybe it is? But to be honest, I think each book dictates its own pacing, rather than the other way around. To that end, I’ve tried to listen to what my next book is telling me it needs and respond accordingly.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Music/silence/a museum sub-basement at night?)
HAYS: I’m not a precious writer. I write whenever and wherever I can squeeze it in. I have an office, but I often work at the kitchen table. I’ve been known to squeeze in fifteen minutes of writing in my car or in my dentist’s waiting room. I still teach full-time so I can’t always set aside a big chunk of time at a certain hour, it just has to get done. And by hook or by crook, it always does!
DOSSIER: After you put down your cake, what were your next 24 hours like after you found out that you were a Read With Jenna pick on the TODAY Show?
HAYS: I will always be grateful to my agent and my editor for keeping from me that I was even being considered for one of the big book clubs (and, of course, to my wonderful team at Atria who put me up for it in the first place!). Truly, a book club nod is like winning the lottery for a debut author and I’ve been obsessed with Jenna’s picks for years so the entire experience was surreal. These days my goal is just to pay forward that good luck as much as I can!
DOSSIER: Having spent so much time in museums as an art historian must have helped you set your scenes in THE CLOISTERS, right? How does that experience transfer to the setting of your next book being in Capri? Are you racking up the frequent flier miles and getting a dogsitter for Queso?
HAYS: Ha. I wish! I think, in general, I’m a writer who is very interested in place. And, as a reader, I’d much rather spend time with a book that takes me somewhere fun/interesting/new/unusual. If you’re going to spend 6-8 hours in the world of a novel, you want it to be someplace you’re excited to visit! I carry that feeling into my own writing—whether the setting is a museum or Capri—and let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to spend a couple hours on a beautiful island in the Med?
DOSSIER: The story behind your protagonist in THE CLOISTERS finding something in the museum is pretty cool! The folks here at the Dossier happen to be very familiar with museum security and may have spent time looking for things that “may have been forgotten” in a basement storage somewhere. Do you have any stories about any pieces that were “lost” and then later discovered?
I think stories like this exist in every museum, but not in a way that might seem obvious. With the rise of x-rays in conservation labs museum professionals are constantly making discoveries of “forgotten” things whether it’s an underpainting or a modification or a mistake! To that end, I think museums still offer countless mysteries to viewers and curators. Although I’ve yet to discover an antique tarot card deck!
Website: KatyHays.com
Jeff Circle 