Clare dooley
Clare dooley asked Gabrielle Zevin:

Will there ever be anymore books in the series " In the Age of Blood and Chocolate "? I love all your writing, well that's a slight fib I consider you an author who's novels I can pick up to get lost in a whimsy twist on life , when I saw " the holes we dig " , it was so dark. Such an accurate portrayal of where alot of ppl are in life current day. But I must admit it made me sad to think you may put the whimsy away?

Gabrielle Zevin This is actually several questions! 1) I doubt I will ever write more Anya Balanchine books. I've talked about this a few other places, but in short, the series had disappointing sales. It came out during a time where there were many dystopian books on the market, and on some level, the books were confusing to an audience who was hungry -- ha ha -- for books like The Hunger Games and Divergent. Anya's story was more of a coming of age story and it wasn't really a dystopian novel in the way people thought of them at the time. And so, even though I feel like I could probably write more Anya (Anya as an old woman or a mother is still interesting to me), I doubt I ever will. However, there has been discussion of turning it into television, and it could be fun to revisit her then. 2) I wrote The Hole We're In from 2005-2008 (it published in 2010) long before I wrote the Anya books. Obviously, this was a novel for adults, and it was a political book and a social satire and very, very dark. So, if you consider books like A.J. Fikry and the Anya series to fall on the more "whimsical" side of things, then rest assured, I have already gone back to things with a higher "whimsy" quotient. I don't ever set out to be dark -- the books I write reflect to an extent how I am feeling about the world. However, the older I get, the more I feel it's a personal responsibility to write honestly, but also, to attempt to see the good in the world and the people who live in it. 3) I don't know that it's either possible or desirable to put whimsy away for good. That said, I know I have changed since my first books came out. I started publishing when I was in my mid-twenties and I recently turned forty. So, I think it's natural that my books have changed and grown with me. Be suspicious of authors whose books always stay the same... (I'm just kidding. ) (But maybe, it's true.) 4) Thank you for reading my books. Thank you for being willing to try things like The Hole We're In. I am so grateful for readers like you.
Gabrielle Zevin
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