Interview with Nicholas Gannon
Nicholas Gannon, author of The Doldrums.
A graduate of the Parsons School of Design. Since childhood, he moved a lot, lived in Tennessee, Minnesota and upstate New York. Now lives in Brooklyn.
The Doldrums has incredible artwork. When you started the process, what came first, the story or the drawings?
Nicholas Gannon: The story grew out of Archer, and Archer was originally a sketch. I made his first sketches on chalkboards while working on a construction site in upstate New York. (All of Archer's original drawings are now stuck in the walls of the house we were building.) From there I got a lot of different ideas and combined them into a fictional newspaper called The Doldrums Press. Later it became a book.
The Helmsley house is no ordinary house - it's also a character full of secrets and talking animals that only Archer can see. Where did you get your inspiration for the house?
NG: Two years after art school, I once rented an upstairs bedroom in a single-family house on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The house belonged to a famous family (US president at the turn of the century) and my bedroom had a balcony overlooking the secret gardens. It was there that I started The Doldrums Press and, in the process, realized that it was the perfect place for an Archer story.
The old saying, "Like father, like son" applies to Richard Helmsley's father and Archer. What do you think Mr. Helmsley was like as a child?
NG: Archer and Mr. Helmsley are similar in some ways and different in others. I like the idea that in families certain traits often skip generations. Growing up, Mr. Helmsley was as different from his parents as Archer is from his own. Mr. Helmsley never says it outright, but he sees it and is generally okay with it.
Archer is a young boy who has never met his grandparents, but wants to get to know them. Why do you think the relationship between grandchildren and grandparents is so important and what makes it unique?
NG: I think grandparents and grandchildren see things the same way. Grandparents are at the beginning of their end, and grandchildren are at the end of their beginning. I also think that grandparents see all the mistakes and missed opportunities they had with their own children and try to make up for it with their grandchildren. As a result, they are often more "present" than their parents. Parents are still busy trying to grow up on their own.
У The Doldrums ви протиставляєте «діячів» і «мрійників». До якого типу ви себе відносите?
NG: I'm a bit of both. As everyone should ideally be. I always wanted to do something that I was passionate about. To do this, you need to have faith that the wandering curiosity of the dreamer will eventually lead you somewhere. And she brought it. And when that happens, you'll need that focus of action to get things done. And then you can go back to wandering again.
A trip to a great independent bookstore can be like an adventure with the booksellers in charge. What role do you think independent booksellers play in helping readers discover debut authors?
NG: I think most independent booksellers own bookstores for one reason: they are passionate about books. And the one thing they love even more is finding the right person to give the right book to. This is what a beginning author needs. Booksellers are indispensable when it comes to introducing readers to an author's debut book.
Resource: https://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-qa-nicholas-gannon
Publication date: September 29, 2015