5 Questions for author Steven Rowley

THE EDITOR, by Steven Rowley, hits bookshelves in April 2019. It’s Steven’s sophomore book and tells the story of James Smale, an author in New York in the 1990s, who lands Jackie Kennedy Onassis as his editor. Jackie pushes James to give his book a proper ending, but to do that, he’ll have to resolve some real-life family conflicts.

It’s a beautiful book that gives us a fictional glimpse into Jackie’s everyday struggle to “fit in” as a book editor long after her First Lady position, and following James on his journey to meet his deadline is both humorous and heartfelt. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advanced copy and can’t wait to see how great THE EDITOR does when it hits shelves. It’s already been optioned for a movie!

While in New York preparing for the book’s launch, Steven took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for me.

I’m always intrigued when writers put real historical characters into fictional settings. So tell me why Jackie?

THE EDITOR was inspired by my having written a deeply personal autobiographical novel (LILY AND THE OCTOPUS) and having it debut with a bigger splash than I had ever imagined. I was motivated to explore the accompanying emotions through another story — this time highly fictional — about a young writer whose small family novel suddenly…