OB: Why did you choose fiction as a vehicle for reaching youth?

Heather: In many ways, fiction is a more potent truth elixir than any piece of nonfiction. I can’t tell you much about the textbooks I read when I was in school, but I will always remember the powerful impact Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Old Yeller and other books had on me as a tween.

Kids aren't reached by sermons, preaching or textbooks. They tune that stuff out most of the time. They're reached by ‘story.’ Entertainment industry insiders know this. They’re experts at reaching into our kids’ hearts and minds and twisting as we Orthodox adults sit back and read our theology books.

That said, my novels are not vehicles for marketing Orthodoxy. There are other books that do that, Sunday School text books and whatnot. In order for my fiction to have the power it needs to reach children, it needs to be authentic, to have literary merit, to emphasize ‘story’ over evangelism strategy.

OB: Why did you choose the Tween market? Can you tell us a little about what the ages of that market are, and what makes it unique?

Heather: Tweens are roughly 9 to 12 years old. They make up that in-between age group that is neither totally childish nor totally grown up. It's a partly torturous, partly enchanting time in a person's life. So much is new and thrilling, and so much is depressing and frightening. A lot happens in a person intellectually and physically during the preteen years.

I think a lot happens spiritually as well. Tweens become aware, perhaps for the first time in their lives, that time passes. They become aware that the world is a big, big place. They become aware of their own past and of their own looming future as adults. Tweens can’t hide any longer in the brilliant ignorance of early childhood -- they have to face the realities of their human existence for the first time. As a result, becoming a tween is a turning point for many young people. That's why I feel it is so critical for adults to provide quality literature that speaks to this age group.

OB: Give us a brief synopsis of your book.

Basil's Search for Miracles is a story about a boy who dreams of being a reporter. After switching to a parochial school at his single-mother’s urging, he joins the newspaper staff and commits to writing a religion column, even though he knows nothing about religion. He decides that to make his column interesting he’ll research and write about real, modern miracles.

So he starts with a local miracle – a weeping icon at a nearby church. He observes the icon and interviews a kindly priest named Fr. Maximos about the miracle. Father Maximos leads Basil to other miracles and Church mysteries.

In the meantime, as Basil learns more about the faith behind the miracles, he attempts to put this new and mysterious faith in motion in his own life, befriending a school outcast who happens to be, Basil discovers, a victim of abuse not just at school but at home. Basil’s Search for Miracles explores themes of forgiveness, “growing up,” and faith in powers beyond understanding.

OB: Could you tell us a little about your background?

Heather: I was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago, went to college at Illinois

Heather Zydek

To give a bit of context, I come from a line of converts; my mother’s father converted from Protestantism to Catholicism; my mother converted from Judaism to Catholicism; and although I spent my formative years as a member of the Catholic church, an innate truth-seeking spirit within led me to dabble with Agnosticism, Judaism, Evangelical Christianity and Mainline Protestantism before I ultimately stumbled upon Orthodox Christianity while in graduate school. The year was 2000; I was working on a lengthy article for my Journalism degree for which I wanted to explore trends in American Christianity at the turn of the millennium.

Because of the broad scope of my piece, I interviewed a variety of theologians and clergypeople across denominations. It was during these interviews that I spoke at length with a local Greek Orthodox priest whose answers to my questions were so striking that I couldn't help but be drawn to his church. I dragged my husband to the local GOA parish the following Sunday; about six months later, we were Chrismated. Our eldest child was born about a day and a half after we came into communion with the Orthodox Church. We’ve been Orthodox ever since.

OB: How did you get interested in writing?

Heather: Maybe it’s in the genes. My maternal grandfather was alleged to be a good writer, although no one knows for sure – he died of a brain aneurism in his late twenties, when my mother was a few weeks shy of her third birthday. My maternal grandmother is a loyal journal-keeper with travelogues that go back decades. My mother is an avid reader, writer and lover of words, and I suppose I inherited from her and my grandparents a natural interest in manipulating words to express my thoughts and ideas.

Learn more about Heather Zydek and her writing at www.heatherzydek.com.

Part 2 of this interview will be published 12.13.2007

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 [Interview with Heather Zydek - Orthodox Christian Author]

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