We chat with Kelly Loy Gilbert about Everyone Wants To Know, which is a ripped-from-the-tabloids young adult drama about a girl’s famous-for-being-famous family fracturing from within as their dirty laundry gets exposed.
Hi, Kelly! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thanks so much for having me! I’m a writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I write books for young people about complicated characters at some kind of crossroads in their lives, and all my books are very influenced by my home state of California.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
In kindergarten! As soon as I could write, I was hooked. I wrote my first ‘novel manuscript’ in third grade, in a wide-ruled notebook with my prized turquoise Crayola fine-tipped marker. (It was called Raven of the River and was about a girl who lived by the river in a really, really awesome bedroom. No plot, just vibes.)
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first: Amelia Bedelia
The one that made me want to become an author: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld was the first one that made me think I actually could—it was one of the first books that treated the subject of a young girl’s mind as worthy of seriously, literary consideration
One I can’t stop thinking about: Seen and Unseen, an illustrated book about the Japanese American incarceration. It’s just so, so well done.
Your latest novel, Everyone Wants to Know, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Messy influencer family publicly implodes
What can readers expect?
It’s a dishy, addicting story about the behind the scenes of the famous Lo family’s dirty laundry. There are some pretty shocking secrets that come out, and it’s narrated by Honor Lo, one of the youngest of five kids, whose whole life has been in the spotlight. Honor loves her family fiercely, but the dynamics get really complicated.
Where did the inspiration for Everyone Wants to Know come from?
I used to read a lot of parenting blogs back in the early days of blogging, and I’ve always wondered about the kids who grew up with so many of their private moments just plastered onto the internet as content. Then during the lockdown era of covid, I was home with three very small kids who were watching way too much screen time, and watching some of the YouTube families sparked my interest in writing the book. I wanted to write about a family whose children grew up completely in the public eye, with none of the legal protections afforded to child actors—kids whose life was inextricable from the family business and livelhihood.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Honestly, every character in this book was so much fun to write: the parents, who convinced themselves that everything they were doing was best for their family; the oldest daughter Jamison who tried to take care of all her siblings but is now raising her daughter as a second generation influencer; Wrangell, the second oldest, who’s explosive and impulsive and never afraid to say what he thinks; Skye, the most successful of the siblings, who has monetized basically every part of her life; Honor and Atticus, the youngest twins, who’ve never known a different life. They all need … so much therapy. I love writing big families, and all the complexities of the different levels and layers that exist in all the different relationships.
What’s next for you?
I’m writing my first book for adults—it’s still in early stages, but it’s about a teen pregnancy.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I mentioned already, but I think everyone of every age should read Seen and Unseen. I also recently enjoyed Cold, by Mariko Tamaki.
