Kitchen Table Chat with Carolyn Leiloglou, author of Beneath the Starry Sky

Hello, friends! Please welcome Carolyn Leiloglou, author of Beneath the Swirling Sky, Book One of The Restorationists series. Besides being a fellow author and art-lover, Carolyn is a homeschooling mom; I discovered throughout this interview that we have a lot in common! As I write my interview questions and read responses, I like to imagine that the author and I are enjoying a cup of tea together at my kitchen table… In this case, it's probably a good thing it was actually over email, because I can guarantee my Restorationist-fan children would be keeping Carolyn busy with lots of questions of their own!

FEH: Welcome, Carolyn, and thank you for agreeing to this interview! Beneath the Swirling Sky was one of my family's favorite reads of 2023 (I reviewed it here). I also want to start out by sharing that Beneath the Swirling Sky is one of my ten-year-old daughter's very favorite books. She is dyslexic, so the act of decoding words is still a challenge for her, but she wanted a hard copy of your book after we listened to the audio version together, so she could go back and re-read her favorite parts whenever she wanted. It's been such a special experience for us to share.
We are SO picky about art-themed books in my house, because my husband is a professional artist. So often, artists in literature are surrounded by a strange sort of mystique, overlooking the hard work and practice they put into their works. Your story portrayed art and artists in a way that even this very choosy family could get behind. :)
Which leads to my first question: 
Are you a visual artist yourself?

CL: Before I answer, let me just say how encouraging it is for me to hear that your daughter with dyslexia wanted a physical copy of the book! I’ve had a few families with dyslexic kids tell me their kids read and love Beneath the Swirling Sky, and it means a lot to me because two of my own children have dyslexia. I think books with adventure and character depth help pull them in (and I’m sure the illustrations help too in this case)!
To answer your question, no, I’m not a visual artist myself. However, I grew up around a lot of art and familiar with artists and artistic concepts. My mom was an art major and taught high school art for several years, and my grandparents were art collectors. In fact, Uncle Leo’s house in Beneath the Swirling Sky is loosely based on theirs!

FEH: Of course you cover this thoroughly and poignantly in your story, but what are some of the ways you believe art can influence the world and each individual? Do visual arts have a unique role in that?

CL: One of the ways art can influence us is to bring to light beauty. It can also help you see things in a new way. Visual art specifically forces you to slow down to truly experience it, which feels like a rare gift in our hurry-to-the-next-thing culture. 

FEH: (Yes! I love that and totally agree. The ability art has to help us slow down is often overlooked.)
The villains in your story damage art and attempt to pollute it with their evil ideas... but you also mention real-life damage to artwork. What would you say regarding those who risk the destruction of (or actually destroy) masterpieces to magnify their own voices?

CL: I wonder if you’re referring to the protesters who have repeatedly assaulted various paintings over the last few years and now have apparently actually damaged one. I certainly don’t think the way for anyone to get a point across would be to harm irreplaceable paintings by some of our world’s greatest artists. It’s misguided, to say the least. But perhaps it had helped some people realize how precious these objects are. Their stunts have sent more people than ever to museums by reminding us of the frailty of art and our inability to truly protect it while also sharing it with the world.

FEH: (That's a very encouraging way of looking at it! Anything that helps us to consider the value of artwork isn't a total loss.)
From visual arts to word arts... Can you share a little about why you love writing and how you started writing?

CL: I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I was making up poems long before I could spell, and I started writing my first novel in the fourth grade. However, somewhere around middle school, much like my main character Vincent, I lost confidence in my art. Tragically, I stopped writing stories until I had kids of my own (though I never totally gave up on poetry). It makes me sad to think about how many years I wasted not writing because I thought I wasn’t good enough. But you can never actually get “good enough” without doing the work. I hope my story inspires kids not to give up on whatever art form they love.

FEH: Here is a question from my daughter, Maddie: if you could choose any of the artists you talk about in your book to illustrate it for you, who would it be?

CL: Well, it’s hard to beat the amazing art that Vivienne To created! Her illustrations, especially the cover, really blew me away, and I feel so blessed that she chose to take on this project. But if Vincent van Gogh wanted to illustrate my book, who am I to say no?

FEH: (We loved Vivienne's illustrations, too! They were the best part of getting a physical copy of the book after having enjoyed it on audio.)
If you could host a dinner with one artist and one writer (dead or alive!) who would you choose?

CL: This feels like a sneaky way to ask who my favorites are… I think I’d have to pick Vincent van Gogh for the artist because I love so many of his paintings and he had so much to say about art and life in his letters to his brother Theo. (Though I just came across a treasure trove of quotes from Henry Ossawa Tanner while researching book three, so he’s my close second). And how can I not pick C.S. Lewis as the author? I think I’d just sit back and soak in the conversation the two of them would have and just keep refilling their tea cups.

FEH: Finally, what is some of the best writing advice you ever received?

CL: It’s not the most talented writers who necessarily succeed. Its the most persistent. If you want to be a writer, keep at it!

FEH: Thank you so much for joining us, Carolyn, and thank you for writing your beautiful story. We are so looking forward to Book 2!!

​CL: Thank you for having me! Book 2, Between Flowers and Bones, is up for preorder now!