Celebrity Travel: Go away with Sarah Seltzer

With her debut novel, “The Singer Sisters” (out Aug. 6, 2024 from Flatiron Books), Sarah Seltzer weaves together a multi-generational story of an alt rocker and her folk legend mother. Full of fractured relationships, deceit, love and mystery, the page turner reads like a confessional full of music that readers can almost hear. “I had a couple of notes that I had jotted down years ago about this idea of a family of folk singers that was loosely based on Rufus Wainwright and his family,” the author said in a Zoom interview from her New York home. “But I actually drew inspiration for [the character] Judy from my grandmother, who is very literary and preternaturally intelligent.” To keep up with Seltzer’s travels, follow her on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sarahmseltzer/). For more information about her book, check out https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250907646/the-singer-sisters.

Q: Do you think any of the characters in “The Singer Sisters” would make good travel companions for you?

A: Yeah, I would love to go somewhere with Sylvia. I feel like she would really know where to eat. Food is life! [Laughs.] She’d also know what to do, but would give me space. I think she actually would be a great guide to anywhere.

Q: Can you share an anecdote about being a first-time author?

A: It was amazing to see all the work that went into getting the book published. My editor was simultaneously working on a [high-profile] book that she couldn’t talk about. She couldn’t say why she was so busy, but it turned out to be the BTS book [“Beyond the Story”] that was worked on secretly and was being translated almost in real time from Korean to English. But she took great care of me!

Q: Did you write any of “The Singer Sisters” while you were traveling?

A: Actually, I got the idea for the book while away. My husband's family has gone to Cape Cod every summer since before he was born, and they go to the bay side, where the water is calm. And so you can take really long, relaxing swims. And we often have great talks out there. That’s when I started thinking about writing [what would turn out to be] this book.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I'm from the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I'm a lifelong New Yorker. I've never really lived anywhere else, except for Boston and college. And I studied abroad in Ireland.

Q: Why did you choose Ireland?

A: All my roommates decided to go abroad and I decided to as well. I speak a little French, but not enough to go study there, so I was looking into English-speaking places. So I was looking at places like Ireland or Scotland. I was very captivated by the idea of literary Ireland. I loved [William Butler] Yeats poetry in particular. It was really a beautiful country, in the way that you see on postcards. It really is that way – lush green. There was a castle you could walk to. So it was just very, very beautiful and poetic. I read James Joyce when I was there. I took a poetry class with an Irish poet who was not affiliated with the university [National University of Ireland, Galway]. It was a class in town at a bar. And that was the way I not only met other students from all over the world studying there, but the locals who lived in Galway.

Q: Have you ever spent a holiday abroad?

A: Yes. My parents and grandmother came over for Thanksgiving [while I was studying in Ireland]. My grandma was in her late 80s already. She, my mom and I did a literary pilgrimage together. We took a taxi out to the Martello Tower where the first scene of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” is set. And then our cab driver took us past [U2 member] Bono’s house. [Laughs.] We hadn’t even asked for that. That was her last trip abroad and it was very special.

Q: Did you travel a lot as a child?

A: The majority of travel we did as kids was on the northeast, in a car. But every few years we would go abroad. Some of that was because of my grandma – a real travel fanatic. She took us on a couple of big family trips. We went to Italy and Israel. And my parents really love France. They didn't meet in France, but they fell in love in Paris. We have very close family friends there. My parents were so adventurous. We would do basically the same thing in France that we did here, which was pile into a car, head off and have picnic lunches. Then in addition to going to Paris to see all the art, we went to beaches, saw nature and relaxed for a few days. They didn’t just bombard us with museums and churches.

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(Jae-Ha Kim is a New York Times bestselling author and journalist. You can reach her at www.jaehakim.com, follow her on Instagram and X @goawaywithjae, or read more from her on Substack (jaehakim.substack.com).)