Q&A with Nightfall author Peter Kujawinski

Author Spotlight

Nightfall is the eerie book that part of you wants to keep the lights on for, but the other part wants to read by candlelight to heighten the experience. It’s a gripping survival story that makes you feel like YOU’RE the one left behind for 14 years of Night because the world building is so absorbing. Here to tell us more about the minds behind the masterpiece are authors Peter Kujawinski and Jake Halpern!

Names: Peter Kujawinski and Jake HalpernNovel:Nightfall

Available: NOW!! The book came out on September 22.

Who’s your favorite author, living or dead?

Peter: Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead and Housekeeping. I love her writing because it’s among the most beautiful prose I’ve ever experienced.

Jake: Philip Pullman.

What’s your favorite thing about your book?

Peter: I love the atmosphere we created, which I hope shines through from the very first page. It’s foreboding but beautiful and mysterious. I want people to read this book and feel the need to get warm and cozy while they read it!

Jake: I love the audio book. Nicholas Guy Smith, the reader, does an amazing job! When I listen in the dark – it spooks me out.

If you could spend one year on a deserted island with one character from literature, who would you choose?

Peter: The nameless main character from Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory. He’s called the “whisky priest” – and he’s the type of incredibly complex, fascinating character that has stayed with me many years since I read the book.

Jake: I would say either Gandalf from “Lord of the Rings” because he is wise and also he could magically conjure us up a great meal and some fine wine; and or Constance Chatterly from Lady Chatterly’s Lover because, well, isn’t it obvious?

Where do you write?

Peter: I’d love to give you a photo of my workspace, but since I don’t have a workspace yet, that’ll have to wait!! I just moved to Chicago and everything is still packed away in boxes. In the meantime, I work anywhere and everywhere – as long as there’s a flat surface and coffee.

Jake: Ideally in Italy. We go there every summer. I’ve included a picture of the view from the room I was writing in there this past summer. But most of the time, I write in my office in New Haven, CT.

Who is your favorite hero or heroine of history?

Peter: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jake: Impossible to say. But I do admire Oskar Schindler, the guy who inspiredShindler’s List.

Do you tweet? What’s the funnies thing you’ve ever tweeted?

Peter: I tweet (@kujawinski) – I’m just starting, so I gotta say, I haven’t quite hit the funny register yet. The one I like the best is a photo of a street sign that says Do Not Enter. The sign freaked out my pre-K twins, which was hilarious but also a proud moment – it means they’re starting to read.

Jake: Don’t really tweet, but you can follow me on Instagram – my handle is jake.halpern.author.

What is your favorite season?

Peter: When I was kid, it was winter. Now, it’s fall because I think it’s such a beautiful season – plus, I think I pull off sweaters fairly well 🙂

Jake: Summer.

If you could teleport anywhere in the universe right now, where would you go?

Peter: The surface of Mars, of course. I gotta check out the recent discovery of flowing water!

Jake: First I would teleport home, grab my wife and kids, then I would teleport to the Kingdom of Bhuttan. I was there with my family two years ago, hiking in the Himalayas and it was amazing. I would love to go back.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Peter: I try ruthlessly tamp down on any writing rituals. Probably the only one that has stayed with me is that I review and edit what I’ve written the day before. It helps prime the writing pump.

Jake: Coffee!

What is your idea of earthly happiness?

Peter: Hiking and camping in the wilderness – with good friends and my family.

Jake: A perfect July day with my wife and two sons – deep in the middle of a long vacation.

What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?

Peter: My wife’s last concert at Joko Cafe in Paris! She’s a singer/songwriter, and that concert hall was my favorite when we lived in Paris. You can check her out here.

Jake: U2. They know how to put on an awesome show. And I got to interview The Edge. (I am a journalist). We were in the front row.

What are you currently working on?

Peter:Edgelands. It’s set in the same world as Nightfall, and I guarantee it’ll be just as atmospheric and suspenseful!

Jake: Peter and I are writing a new novel, tentatively titled Edgelands, and I am working on a nonfiction story for the New Yorker on the refugee crisis.