Katy Hays

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the arts

Sierra Native Alliance MMIW Quilt Exhibit

Truckee Donner Recreation & Park District, Truckee,

Dec. 28-Jan. 11, 8 a.m., (530) 582-7720, tdrpd.org

Fantastic Planet Virtual Art Faire

MELHOP GALLERY º7077, Zephyr Cove, Dec. 28-31, 10 a.m., melhopgallery.com

Winter in Lake Tahoe

Gatekeepers Museum, Tahoe City, Dec. 28-Jan. 11, 11 a.m., northtahoemuseums.org

At Home: Functional Art in Lake Tahoe Cabins

Gatekeepers Museum, Tahoe City, Dec. 28-Jan. 11, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., northtahoemuseums.org

Tahoe Transformations Community Exhibit

Gatekeepers Museum, Tahoe City, Dec. 28-Jan. 11, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., northtahoemuseums.org

Holly Arts Exhibit

North Tahoe Art Center, Kings Beach, Dec. 28-Jan. 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., (530) 581-2787, northtahoearts.org

Incline Village Knitters Guild

St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Incline Village,

Wednesdays, 1 p.m., (775) 831-1418, tahoeepiscopal.org

11th Annual Holiday Reception

Gallery Keoki, Olympic Valley, Dec. 28, 5 p.m., (530) 414-8500, gallerykeoki.com

Fall Art Exhibit Closing Reception

Tahoe Art League Gallery, South Lake Tahoe, Dec. 30, 11 a.m., (530) 544-2313, talart.org

Fiber Art Friday

South Lake Tahoe Library, South Lake Tahoe, Fridays, 1 p.m., (530) 573-3185, eldoradolibrary.org/hoursand-locations/#south-lake-tahoe

Public Tour

Truckee Roundhouse Makerspace, Truckee, Saturdays, 1 p.m., (530) 582-4007, truckeeroundhouse.org

1st Fridays

Piper J Gallery, Truckee, 5 p.m., piperjgallery.com

THEmakers

creative awareness | arts & culture | makers’ movement

Katy Hays

HER ROAD TO NEW YORK TIMES’ BESTSELLER

BY PRIYA HUTNER

LEFT: Katy Hays | Katy Hays. RIGHT: “The Cloisters.” | Courtesy Simon & Schuster

Katy Hay’s debut novel, “The Cloisters,” drew me in almost immediately into the world of divination, deceit, the magic of the tarot and the lengths the characters were willing to go to in the name of ambition. Hays lives in Olympic Valley and her journey to the New York Times best-seller list is one of tenacity, talent and excellent writing. She teaches at numerous local colleges in the region: Sierra College, Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe and Cerro Coso Community College in the Eastern Sierra. Writing is no easy feat. Writing a novel and having it published is monumental. “I have always written. Throughout undergrad and graduate school, I had many beginnings of novels on my computer but never really got past chapter five,” Hays says. Shortly before the pandemic, Hays set the goal of writing a novel and completing it. She finished her first novel at the end of 2019. Then she says, COVID hit and everything changed. She eventually landed a literary agent. “We took that novel out on submission in the fall of 2020. And no one wanted to buy it,” Hays says. It was a huge blow for Hays. She had written a second novel while shopping for a publisher for her first book, but her agent wasn’t interested in that book. It was then that Hays pitched her idea for “The Cloisters.” Her agent loved the concept and told her to write it. Hays completed the book in 2021 and sold it almost one year after her first book died in the submission process. Hays explains that when she writes, she is committed to the process. “I’m really driven by deadlines and I stick to those deadlines,” she says. According to Hays, she writes from 5 to 8 a.m. When she is drafting a story, her target is to write at least 2,000 to 2,500 words a day. “I think as a writer, I’m really driven by the question: What are we capable of believing? It’s something I’m interested in, whether it’s the tarot, astrology, manifesting or even religion,” she says. The idea of how atmosphere and environment play a role in a belief system is one that drew Hays to her story. “I am interested in how atmosphere can influence what we believe in. I approached the novel from that question. I was curious. Under what conditions would someone be able to believe that if they had a deck of tarot cards, it could tell the future. And what would that mean in their lives? It brought up some interesting questions around fate and free will,” she says. For aspiring writers, Hays says the key is persistence and luck. “I think that it’s really important for writers to know whether they’re trying to get their work in magazines, that they find a literary agent or publisher. The people who ultimately end up being published are the people who stick with it long enough that they end up manufacturing their own opportunity. I’m a big believer that in every situation, luck plays some kind of role,” she says. “I think that you have to have a little bit of magic on your side for things to go right.” She reminds us that if you’re not persistent, haven’t done the work and haven’t kept reading and writing, when the luck comes, you might not be ready. “I’m a big believer in writing every day, if you can, just even if it’s 50 words or 25 words, just a sentence even,” she says. She is a voracious reader and points out that it’s essential to read in your genre if you’re a writer. What is Hays reading? “I’ve really been into horror recently. Silvia Moreno Garcia’s ‘Mexican Gothic,’ ‘The Only Good Indians’ by Stephen Graham Jones and Rachel Yoder’s ‘Nightbitch,’” says Hays. “I love ‘White Horse’ by Erika T. Wurth. It’s particularly resonant for readers in the Tahoe Basin.” Hays also recommends “The Ingenue” by Rachel Kapelke-Dale, which came out the day we spoke. Hays says it’s really good literary suspense. In addition to skiing, cycling and playing in the outdoors, Hays is an avid baker of cakes. Currently, on her kitchen counter is a lemon poppy seed cake she baked using chef, restaurateur and food writer Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe. “The Cloisters” is packed with intrigue, how far people are willing to go to pursue their ambition and at what cost and provides many twists and turns right up to the end. It was a great read. | katyhays.com n