Authors at Home: 5 Questions with Timothy Jay Smith, Fire on the Island
This week’s spotlight Q&A is with Timothy Jay Smith, author of the romantic thriller, Fire on the Island, published today, July 7, 2020, and described by Publishers Weekly as “the perfect blend of intrigue, romance, and travelogue.”
What are you currently reading? What music are you listening to?
When my novel, The Fourth Courier, was published last year, I don’t think anyone on my team — editor, agent, publicist and me — thought to promote it as a gay novel. The main character isn’t gay, though he teams up with a black gay CIA agent, who’s the real hero in the story. Nevertheless, the gay media liked it, so when we were getting ready to launch my new book, Fire on the Island, in which the protagonist is gay, I decided to see if I could convince a gay author or two to write a blurb for its cover.
That sent me researching current gay writers, which naturally led me to Lambda Literary’s website with its list of recent Lambda Award winners and finalists. I was really surprised how few of them I’d heard of, let alone never read. So I have spent the last few months catching up on contemporary gay literature, and what a treat! I am currently reading Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski, a coming of age story with interesting twists, including its style in which the main character tells the story as if speaking to a lover about their affair.
I feel compelled to mention the last book I read because it will likely be my favorite book for the year. Leading Men by Christopher Castellani is a fictionalized account of the longtime love affair between Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo. It’s brilliant, entertaining, and though not a hugely emotional read, the ending packs a wallop that brought me to tears.
As to music, I used to play music to help set the mood for a scene I was writing. Eventually music with lyrics began to distract me, so for a long time I listened to solo piano (Keith Jarrett was my favorite). But slowly, I stopped listening to music altogether, preferring the silence. In fact, except for street noise, I live in a silent world. When I was growing up, the television was always on, and that droning sound followed me from room to room. I think that’s why I appreciate silence so much. It’s certainly why I don’t own a television!
How are you spending your day in quarantine? Cooking, exercising, reading/writing?
I live in Nice, France, and we went into full lockdown (le confinement) on March 17 for two months, with a gradual easing starting in May that, for all intents and purposes, finished July 1. During lockdown, only food stores and pharmacies were open. We were allowed to shop for necessities and be outside for exercise one hour a day. The hardest part for me was that all the pools and beaches were closed, and I’m a swimmer.
Otherwise, the lockdown didn’t faze me much. I tend to work at my desk all day, and that’s what I did.
What do you want readers to take away from your book?
More years ago than I care to admit, my first job after college was in Greece, and in the intervening years, I have spent cumulatively some seven years there. For the last fifteen years, my partner and I have gone at least once a year to the same village (Molyvos) on the island of Lesvos. We’ve had some wonderful times there, and we’ve witnessed what it’s been like for our Greek friends to experience and weather the simultaneous crises of a national economic meltdown and an unprecedented influx of refugees by the hundreds of thousands.
Fire on the Island is my first novel set in Greece, and it’s my homage to that beautiful country which has so enriched my life. I hope readers will ‘meet’ characters they’d like to know in person, get a sense of the Greeks’ enduring spirit even in the worst of times, envision the beauty of the island, and laugh at the funny parts because the whole world needs a few good laughs.
We know you’re very passionate about justice for all people, and have spent much of your life and career pushing for positive change. What is an organization that people should check out right now if they want to help?
I’m going to give four options to cover many bases: a U.S. educational program, an international refugee program, an environmental project, and a political arts project.
US program. Generation Hope. Based in Washington DC, Generation Hope assists teen parents attend and graduate from college through a combination of financial support and mentoring. Education opens opportunities for them and gives them control over their lives. It empowers them. It’s also an innovative, two-generation solution to poverty that helps DC-area teen parents graduate from college while at the same time helping their children enter kindergarten ready to learn. For a truly inspirational fifteen minutes, I encourage everyone to watch this Ted Talk video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNAvIWk14yA. Generation Hope’s website is: http://supportgenerationhope.org/about-generation-hope.
International program. Starfish Foundation on Lesvos, Greece. When the refugees first started arriving on this Greek island by crossing a treacherous channel from Turkey, local villagers organized the first relief efforts that led to the creation of the Starfish Foundation. It’s been an advocate for the refugees and a provider of essential services. It’s approach is multi-faceted and flexible as it serves the 20,000 refugees trapped there. At the moment, a big focus is sanitation to prevent an outbreak of COVID, which would be disastrous. Its website: http://www.asterias-starfish.org/en/.
Environmental project: Tanzania Trees and Water Project. This is a project I manage along with farmers in Tanzania. I originally started it to assuage my guilt for using so much paper as a writer! But it has community development benefits as well. In three years, we have planted 8,750 trees (eventually hoping to plant 30,000) and brought water to two adjacent villages, directly helping roughly 2,000 people. A benefit we hadn’t foreseen: people can now wash their hands to fight the coronavirus, and they do! Besides planting more trees, we also hope to replace the diesel pump with electricity or solar power. For more information: http://www.timothyjaysmith.com/tz-trees-project.
Political arts project: Another one of my pet projects. Fifteen years ago I founded the Smith Prize for Political Theater to encourage playwrights to dramatize the pressing issues of our time. The prize is a commission to write a new play, and includes funds to develop it and bring it to a full production. One of the Smith Prize winners went on the win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama! For more information: http://www.timothyjaysmith.com/the-smith-prize.
Often authors don’t get a lot of say over their book’s cover — what was it like to have your talented partner create the gorgeous cover for Fire on the Island?
In a word: lucky. Michael took up photography when he took an early retirement. It’s been exciting to watch his work evolve. And I should add, it’s not through nepotism that he’s created my books’ covers. When my publisher asked me for ideas for an image for the cover of The Fourth Courier, I gave her several, and threw in one of Michael’s without attributing it to him. She chose it and the rest his history. His website: www.michaelhoneggerphotos.com.
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Visit Tim’s website at http://www.timothyjaysmith.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimothyJaySmith/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimothyJaySmith
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timothyjaysmith/
