Jasmine Guillory interviews with Santa Fe Literary Review

“I love books. I love everything about them. I love the way you can fall into another
world while you’re reading, the way books can help you forget hard things in life, or
help you deal with them.” So states Isabelle “Izzy” Torres, editor, book aficionado, and
protagonist of By the Book, Jasmine Guillory’s feisty reimagining of Beauty and the
Beast. A prolific novelist, Guillory has always sought solace in stories—even before she
ever imagined herself a writer.

“I learned to read when I was three years old,” she confessed in a 2023 interview with
Wellesley Magazine. “My parents were both getting their graduate degrees when I
was a kid, and so I was always in the library. I was always reading. That has been one
of the constants throughout my life.” Guillory remains a ravenous reader, devouring
books before bed, alone at bars, outside in the sunshine, and nearly every evening in
the bathtub.

Today, Guillory’s novels have been translated into more than twenty languages and
are widely available worldwide. A graduate of Stanford Law School, she transitioned
to writing in 2015, during which she participated in National Novel Writing Month by
tackling her first novel for adults, The Wedding Date. Since then, Guillory’s work has
been praised by critics, celebrities, and book lovers everywhere. Her tenth novel, It’s
Only Dancing, evokes the spirit of the classic film, Dirty Dancing, and will be released
on October 6, 2026.

“I write because I love it,” Guillory told author Locke Hughes in 2021. “Sometimes that’s
hard to remember now, when writing is work for me instead of a hobby … But there’s
always a moment when I realize how to fix a plot point or fall in love with a character
or start to understand something I didn’t understand before. Those moments make
me so happy, they help carry me through all of the hard stuff.” Click here for the Santa
Fe Literary Review’s conversation with Guillory, which touches on creative inspiration,
writerly connection, and the nature of resistance in romantic fiction.

—Kate McCahill, Summer 2026