J. Ryan Stradal
J. Ryan Stradal is the author of the New York Times bestseller Kitchens of the Great Midwest, which won the 2016 American Booksellers Association Indie's Choice Award for Adult Debut Book of the Year, the 2016 Midwest Booksellers Choice Award for debut fiction, and the 2016 Southern California Independent Booksellers Association award for 2016's top novel. His second novel, The Lager Queen of Minnesota, was an instant national bestseller. A native of Minnesota, he lives with his family in California, where he enjoys books, wine, craft beer, and peas.
Twitter: @jryanstradal
Instagram: @jryanstradal
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
A lot of the music that has inspired me throughout my life -- R.E.M., Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, John Prine, Bob Dylan -- ends up in my books one way or another. I have an entire scene in The Lager Queen of Minnesota that's directly inspired by me trying to put one of my characters inside the song "Visions of Johanna." Roberta Flack has appeared in each of my novels, including the one I'm writing now. I first heard Lizzo on The Current years ago while I was visiting Minneapolis, and knew right away that one of the characters I was writing would love her music.
While I write, though ... I can't do lyrics. It's all ambient, all the time. Musicians like Stars of the Lid, Lucinda Chua, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Meg Bowles, Max Richter, Aphex Twin.
What’s your favorite comic strip or graphic novel?
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, by Ben Katchor. I love all of Katchor's work, but this is the one I'd recommend to the uninitiated. He has a brand new book out now called The Dairy Restaurant that I just ordered from Bookshop.org and I can't wait until it arrives.
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
Whether "people in the Midwest are actually like that." Readers like that are a big reason I write what I do. When I grew up, there weren't a lot of representations of Minnesota in fiction, and fewer still of the kinds of Minnesotans I grew up around -- the farmers, nurses, and truck drivers I was related to. I've done the best I can to represent them as I attempt to add to the evolving conversation about the representation of Midwesterners in the media. To answer that reader's question, then -- Yes. More than you're aware of.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
I have numerous comfort foods, some sweet, some savory. Pineapple fried rice is one of my go-to meals when I'm writing (which I don't make myself, yet) as is baked salmon (which I do).
I'm most inspired to write by the people of my home region, but food is a close second. I can't ever quit writing about food. Maybe my book titles give me away, but I'm particularly preoccupied by the food and beverages either native to or prominent within the northern Midwest. It's an underrepresented and underrated culinary region, in my opinion -- and writer/chefs like Beth Dooley, Sean Sherman, and Amy Thielen are doing a much better job than I could ever do of being its contemporary champions and ambassadors. I am, and always will be, just an enthusiastic end-user.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I used to play percussion, extremely poorly, among some very patient and talented musicians in bands like The Runny Nose Warriors, Smarmy Kitten, and Super Duper. I was a decent live audio mixer for a while but I was never more than an energetic mess on the other side of the microphones. I think my ceiling would've been someone like Joel Gion (of Brian Jonestown Massacre) or Bez (of the Happy Mondays), given substantial extra talent and luck, neither of which emerged. In my most recent band, I took the onstage role of a triangle player who stood there as if about to play a note, but never did. Best applause I ever received as a musician.
Eventually a former girlfriend knocked me to my senses and said that I was a much better writer than musician, and if I applied the time I was spending being a lousy percussionist towards being a writer, my writing might greatly improve. She was right. Now it's all I do, and I feel incredibly lucky.
