Featured Interview With Joel Shoemaker
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Joel Shoemaker has been a librarian for a decade and a magician for three! He lives in central Illinois with his husband, a frog, a colony of cherry shrimp, and his dog, Maximus. He consumes an inordinate amount of cheese.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I actually didn’t grow up a reader. I fell in love with it after being assigned the book FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk in college. I instantly read everything he’d ever written and other authors he would recommend. While I don’t write like him, I found his style fascinating. It wasn’t until I became a librarian that I started writing and that was chiefly because I noticed a lack of affirming-faith based work for the LGBTQIA+ community, especially fiction work and especially for younger readers. I wanted to create that for people like me, if at all possible.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My writing teacher is Chelsea Cain, a good friend of the aforementioned Chuck Palahniuk. I lucked into that space and, because of that, their work as minimalist thriller writers has greatly influenced my work, albeit not at all…thrilling, shall we say?
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is SILAS ON SUNDAYS, an affirming-faith picture book that follows a gender nonconforming child to church. It uses they/them pronouns and subtly teaches/reinforces the days of the week while showing that a gender nonconforming child can thrive at home AND in a church community.
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