Interview with Angela Hunt

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's interview is from multi- Christy Award winning and nominated author Angela Hunt, who won the 2000 Christy Award for Futuristic Novel with Grant Jeffrey for By Dawn's Early Light. She was also nominated for The Shadow Women (2003 International History) and Doesn't She Look Natural? (2008 Lits)


Do you think the Christys are important?

Indubitably. None of the other awards focus on fiction in the way the Christy does, and many of the others tend to reflect best-sellerdom. The Christy is the single award that has tough criteria for fiction and doesn’t take an author’s sales record or name recognition into account.

What does the Christy Award mean for you?

For me, the Christy Award was affirmation from people who love fiction and recognize its unique challenges and possibilities. Catherine Marshall’s Christy will live in the minds of its readers for years, and I’d like to think Christy-winning books will do the same thing.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

I write novels that reflect Christ because Jesus is the focus of my life. I’d like to think that anything I write reflects him in some way.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding Christian Fiction?

I think most people operate under the misconception that Christian fiction is formulaic or preachy or requires a salvation scene. Obviously, those folks haven’t read Christian fiction lately.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

Most people will cite C.S. Lewis or Madeline L’Engle, but I’m going to talk about people who are actually leading the charge today: Francine Rivers. Athol Dickson. James Scott Bell. Jan Karon. I could fill the page with names, but I’d better stop now.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

I honestly don’t think Christian fiction has unique weaknesses—all writers have weaknesses. Every author sets out to write a great book, and most of us fall short of brilliant and breathtaking. In the great bell curve of life, most books and movies fall in the center, the wide part of the bell, while only a few achieve brilliance . A few fall on the low end of the bell curve, and I suspect those are authored by writers who didn’t set out to write a great book.

So what keeps a book from achieving greatness? Usually it’s a lack of risk, emotion, and unpredictability. Writers dream of greatness, and then fall back to playing it safe.

Besides your own book what is your favorite Christy nominated or award winning book?

I’m drawing a blank here . . . too many to name.

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

Each time I was thrilled—not only to be nominated, but to have my book entered in the first place. For various reasons, lots of books don’t get entered by their publishers, so even knowing that a book was entered feels like affirmation.

You've been nominated (and won) for multiple books. Which one is your favorite and what inspired you to write that book?

It’s hard to pick a favorite book—ever—because they’re like children, and we’re not supposed to have favorites, are we? So I’ll mention the last book nominated: Doesn’t She Look Natural, the first book in the Fairlawn series. It was inspired by my musings about death, and I proposed the series as a way of removing some of the mystery and fear around the end of life. The Christian should never fear death . . . and readers of that series needn’t fear buying a casket, either.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a collaborative project that will come out early next year. I think I should keep a lid on the subject matter and not announce the book until the publisher does, but it’s fascinating!


Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who have learned to expect the unexpected in novels from this versatile author. With nearly four million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 100 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to nonfiction books, to novels.

Her books have won the coveted Christy Award, several Angel Awards from Excellence in Media, and the Gold and Silver Medallions from Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Award. In 2007, her novel The Note was featured as a Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel. Romantic Times Book Club presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

Also in 2006, Angela completed her Master of Biblical Studies in Theology degree. She completed her doctorate in 2008 and was accepted into a Th.D. program in 2009. When she’s not home reading or writing, Angie often travels to teach writing workshops at schools and writers’ conferences. And to talk about her dogs, of course.