Authors Answer: Reyna Marder Gentin
Authors Answer Q&A #573
Author interviews almost always focus on questions regarding an author’s latest publication (and that’s great because it’s how readers discover new books!) but sometimes it’s fun to ask authors to talk about their lives beyond the book they’ve just written. Authors Answer (started as a blog in 2020, moved onto Substack in 2025), is an attempt to give authors space to wax eloquent about the other influences on their writing. The questions posed here move beyond the formulaic classics like, “What books are on your nightstand?” or “What book inspired you to be a writer?” and even “You’re having a dinner party….which three authors (dead or alive) do you invite?” There are 20 standing questions. Authors pick FIVE that they want to answer.
Are you an author? Visit the Questions page to learn more about participating.
Today’s post features Reyna Marder Gentin.
Reyna Marder Gentin grew up on Long Island and attended Yale College and Yale Law School. A former criminal defense attorney, she is the author of two prior legal romances, Unreasonable Doubts and Both Are True, as well as a middle grade novel, My Name Is Layla. Reyna’s most recent novel, Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away will be published by Ten16 Press on November 18, 2025. Reyna’s personal essays and short stories have been published widely in print and online, and she is currently working on a collection of linked short stories entitled Open Twenty-Four Hours. Reyna lives with her family in Westchester County, New York.
New novel: Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away, November 18, 2025
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reynamardergentin/
Instagram: @reynamardergentin
Favorite non-reading activity?
My favorite non-reading activity is walking. I love to be outside if the weather is good, feeling myself move. My husband and I have a 3.5 mile loop around our neighborhood that we do at least once a week. It’s our time to catch up, discuss our thoughts and aspirations for ourselves and our hopes for our children.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
My go-to comfort food is savory: bread. I love to toast a bagel or a piece of challah, and eat it with cheese or hummus. I bake challah every week.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
I’ve never met a writer who didn’t experience imposter syndrome, although I suppose some are better at masking those fears. I spent 25 years practicing law before I started to write creatively. Even when my first personal essays and short stories were published, I still felt that I was not a writer. Only now, with the publication of my fourth novel, is the imposter syndrome starting to fade.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I almost never put down a book I have started. But when I do, it is almost always non-fiction that I just couldn’t get into. Most fiction, even lighter novels or ones that are in genres that don’t particularly interest me, will capture my attention enough to plough through. The flip side is that I rarely pick up a non-fiction book or a book in a genre I know is not appealing (science fiction or fantasy or romance, for example), so I lower my chances of not finishing.
Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?
I love the paintings of Renee Magritte. There is such a whimsy to them, and I am moved by the recurrence of themes — the apple, the clouds, the bowler hat. I have seen many paintings in person in museums in different parts of the world. Finding one is always like greeting an old friend.
Endnotes!
This newsletter is a passion project started by me, Elizabeth Rynecki, to try to help shine a light on new-to-me authors. I am also an author (and a documentary filmmaker and podcaster) and if you want to learn more about me, you can visit my website or read my personal newsletter, Ink Trails: A Chronicle in Creativity.
I’ve never made Authors Answer specific social media accounts, but you can find me on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.