We chat with debut author Sarah Ruiz-Grossman about A Fire So Wild, which follows a wildfire creeping toward Berkeley, California, igniting tensions as characters from all walks of life confront the injustices lying beneath the city’s surface.
Hi, Sarah! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a writer and former reporter at HuffPost, where I covered the climate crisis and other social justice issues for over six years. Born and raised in New York City, I currently live in Los Angeles, California.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was lucky to grow up steeped in books – at my mother’s, I read in bed every night before going to sleep, and at my father’s, each weekend I had to do an hour of reading before I could earn TV time. Books were an escape from what I would later come to recognize as my budding anxiety and fear of loneliness — I read everything from Calvin and Hobbes cartoons to Nancy Drew mysteries to WWII tomes like The Winds of War recommended by my grandmother. The urge to write came in high school, where I loved picking apart my favorite books line by line in English class. After college, I gravitated toward jobs that had me writing every day, first in nonprofit communications and then as a journalist. I finally made the jump to writing fiction during the pandemic, and A Fire So Wild is my first novel.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Swimmers, Julie Otsuka
Your debut novel, A Fire So Wild, is out February 20th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Urgent critique of climate apocalypse
What can readers expect?
A suspenseful account of a wildfire approaching a city, and three families whose lives are upended as the heat and smoke descend, raising tensions between the haves and have-nots, and digging up the injustices lying under the city’s surface.
Where did the inspiration for A Fire So Wild come from?
As a journalist for HuffPost, I covered our worsening fire seasons in Northern California year after year. Speaking to survivors on the ground, including after the state’s deadliest wildfire in Paradise in 2018, the idea came for a story of three families living in Berkeley: one in a mansion in the hills, one in affordable housing in the flats, and a couple in their van by the shore, with a wildfire growing in the distance.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I had a lot of fun writing the two high schoolers, who are budding climate activists falling in love. Their passion for the planet and youthful conviction that more must be done was a refreshing counter to the cynicism of adults, who are often too afraid of their own complicity to face the problem head-on.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was a rollercoaster! This is the second novel I wrote in full — the first I pitched to dozens of agents but wasn’t able to get representation. By the time I received my last rejection, I was already part way through writing this book, so I told myself to just finish it and give one more go to getting published. Luckily, I was able to find an agent, and then she was able to sell it to an editor within a few months, and here we are nearly two years later, with the book coming out. All this to say, don’t let rejections stop you from writing — the road can be long, but it is worthwhile if writing is what you love.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on my next novel!
Lastly, are there any 2024 book releases that you’re looking forward to?
I just finished reading Susan Muaddi Darraj’s Behind You Is The Sea, which is a novel following the interwoven stories of Palestinian Americans in Baltimore. It is urgent and gorgeous and I highly recommend it.
