An Interview with Kate Gale, author of UNDER A NEON SUN
by Kat Georges
When we received Kate Gale’s query for her debut novel, UNDER A NEON SUN, I was immediately intrigued by the opening lines of her cover letter: “I believe this book belongs with Three Rooms Press because I like the hard feminist lean of your books. This book is about a strong woman who doesn’t even know she’s strong but finds it out as she builds her fight back muscle.” Clearly, Kate Gale doesn’t mince words. An award-winning poet and opera librettist, her first foray into fiction is a contemporary tour de force. Set in Los Angeles, the action revolves around Mia, a community college student who lives alone in her car and scrapes together enough money to exist by cleaning the homes of wealthy families. When Covid hits, she loses everything except her determination to survive. Her sense of humor and willpower prove to be powerful tools that Kate herself employs in her busy life as co-founder of LA-based Red Hen Press. I caught up with this whirlwind of a woman recently, to find out more about her ideas behind one of the spring season’s most fascinating new novels.

Kate Gale with her daughter, Tobi Harper Petrie
Kat Georges: We’re so excited to publish your novel, UNDER A NEON SUN, featuring a truly original main character, Mia, who lives in her car so she doesn’t have to take out a student loan to attend community college. She’s gutsy, she’s funny, she very resourceful, just such a strong female. What drove you to create such a powerful main character?
Kate Gale: I am surrounded in my home life and work life by feisty women. My daughter is feisty; my daughter in laws are both tiger women, and at the press, we have some strong women, so everywhere I go, I see women changing the world and not letting anything get in their way. Not a pansy among them.
Kat: As mentioned, Mia lives in her car, and these days she’s certainly not alone. According to The Atlantic, in 2023, a survey found that nearly 20,000 Angelenos live in RVs, vans, or cars, a jump of 55 percent compared to 2016. You lived in your car for a time. Two things: What are some of the biggest challenges Mia faces living in her car? And what made you chose to focus on someone in this social strata in UNDER A NEON SUN?
Kate: Living in a car is dangerous for all kinds of reasons. There’s weather, possible flooding and of course, heat, but also there’s the possibility of assault. Thousands of college students live in their cars. As a society, we should be concerned about this. We should be able to provide housing for students in college. There’s a lot of shame to not having money. We live in a culture that praises people with money and assumes the worst of people who don’t have money. I wanted to show someone who didn’t have money but was working hard to better themselves. When I didn’t have money, I wasn’t a bad person. I was just a poor person.
We live in a culture that praises people with money and assumes the worst of people who don’t have money. I wanted to show someone who didn’t have money but was working hard to better themselves. When I didn’t have money, I wasn’t a bad person. I was just a poor person.
Kat: The differences between poor and wealthy people is another overriding theme in UNDER A NEON SUN. How does this reflect your experiences living in LA for so many years?
Kate: Los Angeles is a strange city. A small percentage of people live in large homes and have work done for them, and go out to eat, and shop and live well. Most of the rest of us are nail biting paycheck to paycheck. If we get a paycheck two days late, we are not happy. Bills are going to be whistling around us. Most of the things you see people do on television in Los Angeles, normal people don’t do. I can’t go to Laker games. I can’t go skiing at Mammoth. I can’t shop on Melrose or Rodeo Drive. I can’t afford any of those things. Like most people I know I have at least three jobs at all times just to keep a roof over my head. Like Mia, when I was in college, I cleaned houses and tutored kids. Los Angeles is fissured by wealth, the haves and the have nots.
Kat: At the heart of the book is the pandemic. So many people’s lives were disrupted by the pandemic, but little attention has been paid to the life-threatening disruption experienced by people living in poverty. What are some the extraordinary challenges that Mia and her friends face? Does this reflect the experiences of people in your life as well?
Kate: For some, the pandemic was inconvenient. They couldn’t travel, couldn’t go to parties and restaurants. But there were plenty of people who depended on their living on being in contact with others. My characters’ lives were completely disrupted and at first, Mia thinks she has lost all her income, and then gradually, it comes back. But she and her friends have an unsteady source of income from the time the pandemic begins. I work in publishing, and front list book sales dropped drastically. You could say, Why not fire your staff? but my staff love working in publishing, and unemployment was high. They wanted to have a job. It was very rough to keep the press going during the pandemic, and we still have not completely brought sales back. Our neighbor was laid off and couldn’t pay his rent, and fortunately his landlord did not kick him out, but their family could have gotten kicked out. Homelessness skyrocketed in California during the pandemic. Thousands of people could no longer afford to live indoors.
Mia learned as I did that you can only rely on yourself. Your parents are going to do nothing for you. My parents didn’t care if I lived or died. At eighteen, when I applied for a job, under who to contact in case of emergency, I wrote, “Nobody.”
Kat: Mia and you share the experience of growing up in a cult. How did that shape your lives, especially in terms of self-reliance?
Kate: Mia learned as I did that you can only rely on yourself. Your parents are going to do nothing for you. My parents didn’t care if I lived or died. At eighteen, when I applied for a job, under who to contact in case of emergency, I wrote, “Nobody.” Mia also learned to rely on herself. That makes you stronger.
Kat: What are some of your favorite traits of Mia?
Kate: She’s a funny little person. She’s braver than I was, but also willing to dive into trusting people. I love her bravery. I didn’t achieve bravery for decades.
Kat: This is your debut novel, after many years as an award-winning poet, and opera librettist. How did the process of writing a novel differ from these other creative pursuits?
Kate: It took long writing stretches. I wrote the poetry and opera in brief stretches; this I needed some long weekends.
Kat: You also run a very successful independent publishing house, Red Hen Press. As a fellow indie publisher—hello!—what are the greatest joys of being an independent publisher—and, briefly(!)—what are the biggest challenges?
Kate: The greatest joy is finding a book. I read a manuscript on the way to AWP that I fell in love with and I want it! That mad love is the best. We’ll see if I get it. Biggest challenge?
Feels like everything right now. But if I had to name one thing it’s increasing sales.
Kat: UNDER A NEON SUN also has Los Angeles itself as a character. What do you think are some of the greatest traits of LA these days?
Kate: Ever since I read Golden Days and Day of the Locust, I wanted to write an LA novel with all the stuff an LA novel is supposed to have: an apocalypse, oranges, sex, drugs, murder. I think I got it all in there. Los Angeles these days? It’s spread out. You feel invisible when you live there, you have to work hard, strung out on the freeways, but…
you can make things up. You can be whoever you want to be and no one stops you. You can build a castle out of air. The magic of Los Angeles is that you can create something like a self, a press, a life in the crouch between the freeways and nobody will stop you, they are all too busy whizzing by on their way to someplace else.
Ever since I read Golden Days and Day of the Locust, I wanted to write an LA novel with all the stuff an LA novel is supposed to have: an apocalypse, oranges, sex, drugs, murder, I think I got it all in there.

Hosting dinner with, clockwise from left, Mark Cull, Liesel Retief, Stephen Harper, Elias Wondimu, Andrew Nicholls, Kay Boles and and Doug Manuel with baby Cullen
Kat: You’re hosting a dinner party and you can invite four no-longer-living authors to your house. Who would you invite? And what would you feed them?
Kate: Carolyn See, James Baldwin, Alexander Dumas, Marguerite Duras. I would make tortilla soup, and then dill baked salmon and a salad with grilled peaches, cheese and candied walnuts. For dessert, I would make a raspberry fool. I would serve really good wine. I would play Nina Simone all night, and before dessert, we would get up and dance.
UNDER A NEON SUN by Kate Gale goes on sale April 23. Preorder now:
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