Obama praises Klay’s latest book
Like so many authors who have released books during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine, Phil Klay is disappointed that he hasn’t gotten to interact personally with his readers.
Learning firsthand what his readers think is “one of the really delightful things” about writing books, says Klay, an associate professor in Fairfield University’s master of the fine arts in creative writing program.
However, Klay’s debut novel, “Missionaries,” released in October, received some positive feedback from a very special reader.
“Missionaries” — which uses interlocking stories of four characters to tell a story of civil war in Colombia — was chosen by former President Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of 2020. It’s the second time Obama has picked one of Klay’s books for his personal top 10, but the experience doesn’t get old.
“It’s an amazing feeling, but it’s strange,” says Klay, 37, of Queens, N.Y. “One of the reasons that it’s strange is that I’ve been critical of the president and his foreign policy. At the same time, I’m deeply appreciative that he’s interested in what I have to say.”
Klay is a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War. Both “Missionaries” and Klay’s previous book — the short story collection “Redeployment” — focus on war and its aftermath. Though Klay has been interested in writing since he was in college, his need to express himself through books grew even deeper after his service in Iraq.
“(It) left me with a sense of urgency around the topic of war,” Klay says. “I don’t feel as though we have adequately come to terms as a society with war.”
Writing, he says, is one of the ways he tries to make sense, not just of war, but of the world around him. That’s why he’s been disappointed that he hasn’t been able to personally connect with readers at book signings and other events during the promotion of “Missionaries.”
“I didn’t get a chance to see what readers made of it,” Klay says.
But he has gotten positive feedback, not just from Obama, but also from the Wall Street Journal, which also put “Missionaries” on its list of 2020’s best books.
“Redeployment” also was critically lauded, receiving the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction, the National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Award for best debut work in any genre, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s James Webb Award and several other notable awards.
That Obama was a fan of his work, Klay learned through friends who saw the then-president speaking favorably about “Redeployment” on cable news.
“All of my friends who watch Fareed Zakaria were like ‘Phil!’” Klay recalls, laughing.
Klay is now at work editing a collection of his essays, which he hopes to publish some time next year. Hopefully, by the time that book comes out, the pandemic will have loosened enough for Klay to get the thoughts and feelings of his readers who haven’t held the highest office in the country.
“It’s a very odd thing to put a book out there now,” Klay says.