KATIE ANDRASKI DISCUSSES HER CONTROVERSIAL NOVEL "THE RIVER CAUGHT SUNLIGHT"

Sometimes a person has to leave home, even if that home is the most marvelous place she’s ever lived, even if her mother will be diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her beloved farmer, a man she’s loved for years asks her to marry him. Janice Westfahl feels called to publicize Godspeed Books, a small evangelical publisher outside Chicago, a good thousand miles away from upstate New York. The job fits her, a woman who loves God and books. But Janice finds herself working with Jeremiah Sackfield, a radical right-wing activist, who toys with revolution. Even though she is a brilliant publicist, Janice feels like she is betraying herself by promoting a cause she doesn’t believe in. Like the elder brother in the Prodigal Son story, her brother has stayed home, furious his sister has dodged the painful months of his mother’s dying, while earning their father’s favor. When her father dies, they must settle the estate with this jealousy flickering between them.

Katie Andraski worked as a publicist in Christian publishing where she convinced editors at Newsweek, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Moody, and Christianity Today to publicize her authors. It was an exciting time as she jetted around the country accompanying Francis, Edith and Frank Schaeffer on tour. Her novel, The River Caught Sunlight is based on these adventures.  She has an MFA from the University of Arkansas. Her collection of poetry, When the Plow Cuts, was published in 1988 by Thorntree Press. She has published over 50 articles, essays and reviews in places like Christianity Today, Moody, The Wittenburg Door, and Sun Dog. Most recently her poem “Why Girls Love Horses” was included in Brushstrokes and Balladeers a beautiful coffee table book. She teaches composition at Northern Illinois University and lives on a farm with her husband Bruce, two dogs, two horses, chickens and one not so feral cat.