As your protagonist says, “history is fucking wild.” I’m curious about the fit between history and the thriller genre in this novel.ĪC : I feel like this book was the culmination of several things. A place where northern whites could go to kind of cosplay a whitewashed retcon of slavery. But there are also a lot of points in the novel where you pull events from history.įor example, your novel talks about something called Black America, which was a theme park that opened in Brooklyn around the end of the 19th century. Racism, police brutality and the drug crisis, just off the top of my head. W4W : So, I mentioned gentrification, but that is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the contemporary social issues explored in your novel. So, I tried to make the book, in part, a love letter to Brooklyn, but also addressing all the things that have been kind of scary that have been happening in Brooklyn. I was born in the Bronx and grew up in New York City and Jersey City, which is just across the river. But after I graduated college, I moved to Brooklyn. Right now, I live in Martinique, which is in the French Caribbean, and very different from living in Brooklyn. Do you live in Brooklyn?Īlyssa Cole (AC) : I did live in Brooklyn. Not just the setting but everything going on with gentrification. Your novel “When No One Is Watching” is set in Brooklyn, and I have to say, you nailed it.
Word for Word (W4W) : Alyssa, I have lived for the last thirty years in New York City and the last ten in Brooklyn. The following is an excerpted transcription of Alyssa’s interview, edited for the page: Alyssa’s books have received critical acclaim from the New York Times, Library Journal, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, Booklist, Jezebel, Shondaland, Vulture, Book Riot, Entertainment Weekly and many more. And her contemporary royal rom-com, “A Princess in Theory,” was one of the New York Times’s 100 notable books of 2018. Her Civil War-set espionage romance, “An Extraordinary Union,” was the American Library Association’s RUSA Best Romance for 2018. Her debut thriller, “When No One Is Watching,” won the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original and the Strand Critics’ Award for Best Debut. On Thursday, February 16, 2023, Word for Word, Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) online literary series, proudly welcomed Alyssa Cole, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romantic thrillers and more. Word for Word, Featuring Special Guest Alyssa Cole Mountainview MFA in Fiction or Nonfiction.Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA).
Master of Arts in English & Creative Writing (MA).
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