Author Sara Winokur Interview | Book Crew | Double Blind Novel | Ivory Bones Book | Iceland

Join Beth A. Freely and Dirk Hooper as they interview author and geneticist Sara Winokur. We talk about her books “Double Blind: The Icelandic Manuscript Murders” and “Ivory Bones: The Lewis Chessmen Murders” plus what it’s like to travel for research, how your job can help you write fiction, and what her writing process is like.

About This Episode of Book Crew

1. Power went out and I had to take a day off

2. Feature Interview: Sara Winokur

Sara Winokur is a geneticist, researcher, and author. Her historical fiction and cultural thrillers embody elements of DNA and forensic science, as she has a Ph.D. in molecular genetics. Her research helped identify mutations underlying muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease, and dwarfism.

In her Nordic noir novel “Double Blind: The Icelandic Manuscript Murders,” a young boy disappears from a fjord in Iceland. Years later, his twin sister Brynja, a DNA scientist, searches for him but lands in a world of trouble. Her second novel, the historical thriller “Ivory Bones: The Lewis Chessmen Murders,” finds Brynja racing against time to find the valuable medieval chess pieces before she herself becomes the target. Sara is a direct descendent of two of the main historical characters: the ruthless Barbary pirate Jans Janszoon and his son Anthony, the largest landowner in 1600s Brooklyn and Coney Island.

As an ovarian cancer thriver, Sara has a sense of gratitude, strength, and perspective that she extends to family, friends, work, and her writing. On her journey from science to writing, she says “Let go of who you are and become what you might be. Do what scares you.”
A mother of three, Sara Winokur resides with her husband and writes in Southern California. That is, when she is not traveling the world in search of unique stories.

a. Please give us a brief overview of your author journey.
b. You’re both a scientist and a writer, are those two different states of mind or does one inform the other?
c. Please tell us about your Nordic Noir novel “Double Blind: The Icelandic Manuscript Murders.”
d. Please tell us about your historical thriller “Ivory Bones: The Lewis Chessmen Murders.”
e. What is your writing process like?
f. What made you want to do be a writer?
g. Where is the most unusual place you’ve travelled to for research?
h. How has your experience with ovarian cancer shaped your writing?
i. What are you working on now?

Sara Winokur Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelNyx
Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/AngelNyxFanPage
Website: https://authorangelnyx.com/
Amazon: http://bit.ly/angelnyxauthor
Instagram: http://bit.ly/AngelNyxIG
Patreon: Get more from Angel Nyx Snack Cake Sized Reads! on Patreon
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/authorangelnyx.bsky.social
Newsletter: https://angel-nyx-books.kit.com/
Eden Books: https://edenbooks.com/author/authorangelnyx/

Beth Anne Freely
bethannefreely.com
themusesfunhouse.com +
X: @BAFreely
Instagram: @BAFreely
https://linktr.ee/BAFreely

Dirk Hooper
www.writeworks.dirkhooper.com
themusesfunhouse.com
X: @dirkhooperplus
www.facebook.com/dirk.hooper/

Book Crew, hosted by indie authors Beth A. Freely and Dirk Hooper, was crafted to help writers get their book written, edited, published and promoted.
Book Crew features interviews with writers currently in the trenches, deep-dive tutorials, hot topic panels with experts, and copious tips, tricks, and personal insight to help you on your author journey.