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Andrew Boryga grew up in the Bronx and now lives in Miami with his family. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic, and been awarded prizes by Cornell University, the University of Miami, the Susquehanna Review, and the Michener Foundation. He attended the Tin House Writer's Workshop and has taught writing to college students, elementary school students, and incarcerated adults. Victim (Doubleday, March 12, 2024), his debut novel, follows a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the veneer of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the odd currency of identity.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
A Bronx kid pimps out his identity to achieve his dream of being a successful writer, but loses himself in the process.
On your nightstand now:
I'm about to finish An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy, which is an excellent and extremely stylish noir mystery I've been meaning to peep. Up next is Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez, which I talked my way into getting an advanced copy of because I love Xochitl's work. I'm also looking forward to picking up Oye by Melissa Mogollon, too, a highly anticipated debut (out May 14).
Favorite book when you were a child:
Goodnight Moon when I was little, little (I still have the beat-up board book from back then, and read it to my kids sometimes.) The first novel I can remember falling in love with though was Slam! by Walter Dean Myers.
Your top five authors:
Junot Díaz, Paul Beatty, Mat Johnson, Patricia Engel, and Justin Torres.
Book you've faked reading:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Just one of those books I always felt like I should read, and I think started a few times, but could never actually get through it. Maybe one day.
Book you're an evangelist for:
The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty. That book is wayyy too slept on. Satire and social commentary wise, it pointed out odd things around representation and identity commodification in 1996 that most writers, myself included, are only coming around to grasping now. Granted, I was a child in 1996, but still. My point is that Beatty was ahead of the curve then, and still is. Also, the book is just straight-up hilarious. Humor is very important to me, and Beatty is a master at it on the page.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Mister, Mister by Guy Gunaratne. I honestly don't know much about the novel or the author, but the cover of that book is fire. It's also on my TBR.
Book you hid from your parents:
None, honestly. My mom was mostly pleasantly surprised--probably relieved--that I was into books and not other vices or activities I could have easily been into. Also, given that she bought me explicit rap CDs quite young, I'm not really sure there were any books that would have been off limits.
Book that changed your life:
Reading Drown by Junot Díaz in college was basically my gateway drug to becoming a writer. If I hadn't read that book, I'm honestly not sure I would have even thought it was possible for me to write fiction in the way I wanted to. After I read it for the first time, I was so inspired that I sat down one blissful night and wrote like 40 straight pages about my own childhood, my family, and my neighborhood--little scenes and anecdotes that turned into my first stories and even some things that made it into Victim.
Favorite line from a book:
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' " --from On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
Five books you'll never part with:
Drown by Junot Díaz (see above); Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez, because it's a certified hood classic; Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, because you always gotta learn from the OGs; The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty because it's incredible (as previously mentioned); and We the Animals by Justin Torres because I still can't understand how the hell he packed all of that beauty into, what, 150 pages? Wild.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Loving Day by Mat Johnson. I devoured that book and I remember realizing while reading it that it was a perfect model for the type of novel that I wanted to write. It's entertaining, funny, moving, and is packed with wit and smart, sly commentary--but it never once feels heavy-handed. Mat Johnson's touch is just spectacular and it'd be dope as hell to get reacquainted with the feeling of understanding and deeply appreciating his precise formula for the first time again.
Book you most enjoy reading to your kids:
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, James Dean, and Kimberly Dean. It's such a fun book to read--and sing--and one of the only books I don't mind repeating over and over again at night.