KILEY REID

The author of Booker Prize long-listed debut Such a Fun Age publishes her second novel

What is Come and Get It about?

Come and Get It is about three very different women who come to Arkansas to get very different things. Agatha is a visiting professor looking to get over a break up. Millia is a senior residential assistant, looking to buy a house. And Kennedy is a transfer student with a secret, looking to start over. In a nutshell, Come and Get It is about reckless abandon, consumption, and all the ways we navigate money.

Is there a book that made you love writing?

I remember being 10 years old and reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. It captivated me and it scared me too. I wanted to find those chilling moments of my own and make readers forget themselves in the very best ways.

What’s the best book you’ve read?

The answer to this changes daily, but today, the answer is The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

A book that had a pivotal impact on your life?

Uneasy Street: Anxieties of Affluence by Rachel Sherman made me look at human behaviour differently. It also solidified the fact that reading nonfiction and being a good listener could enhance my fiction like nothing else could.

The book you couldn’t finish?

I began David Copperfield when I was pregnant and made it about halfway through. I enjoyed it but haven’t been able to pick it back up since my daughter was born.

A book you wish you had read but haven’t got to?

The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk. And The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James Mcbride.

The book you are most proud to have written?

Happy to say Come and Get It.

Your favourite place to read?

Any place with sun, shade, and white noise.

What book do you re-read?

I re-read several books as I teach many of my favourites. This semester I’m teaching a class called The Workplace Novel and I’m re-reading The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada and Jillian by Halle Butler.

What books are on your bedside table?

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans.

What are you writing next?

I’m working on the Such A Fun Age adaptation, which is as challenging as it is exciting. Come and Get it by Kiley Reid, Bloomsbury, $33