Q&A With Keith Riegert

Keith Riegert is an author and publisher at Ulysses Press. Some of Keith’s books are When Ninjas Attack, Underwater Hawaii, Goodnight Homeroom, which came out this year, & How To Cook for a Dragon, coming out in 2025. 

Q: Keith would you please give a brief description of each of your books starting with your current releases Underwater Hawaii & Goodnight Homeroom? 

A: Each year my writing partner, Dr. Sam Kaplan, and I choose one book to write together. Sam and I have been friends since high school and live on opposite coasts, so writing together is a wonderful chance to get together (either virtually or in person) and do something that we both love to do—write. Goodnight Homeroom is a follow up to our bestselling faux children’s book, Goodnight Dorm Room. These books are meant to help college freshmen (Dorm Room) and high school freshmen (Homeroom) navigate two of the most profound and transformative eras of their lives in a humorous and light-hearted way. 

As for Underwater Hawaii, I wrote that book on my own when my family returned from a trip to Maui for my 40th birthday. My son was three at the time and I wanted to create something that would allow him to visit the islands at any time. To me, there is no place on Earth more magical than Hawaii.

Q: Is it fair to say that your ideas for the characters are loosely taken from real people you know?

A: As far as Goodnight Homeroom and Dorm Room go, the characters are a blending of the people we remember being at those times in our lives. We tried to capture the excitement, newness, and anxiety of being a teen or twenty-something. In retrospect, those times seem so simple, but when you’re amid studying for APs or writing a thesis, it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Our goal was to let students know that it’s entirely normal to feel pressure, stress, pain and joy, and that they will survive it.

Q: Other than How To Cook for a Dragon coming out next year, what other new releases and upcoming books are you writing right now?

A: Right now, that’s the only book on my to-do list. In my real life, I run two publishing houses, a tech platform, and teach at NYU, so I try to protect my writing time and keep it as a stress release; not let it become a burden. But I’m really excited about How to Cook for a Dragon. Learning how to cook is such a valuable skill to develop in life and I feel that anything we can do to make it more enjoyable and imaginative for kids to pick up will help.

Q: What lessons do you hope readers learn after reading your work? What emotions do you hope readers feel after reading your work?

A: It depends on the book. When it comes to the non-fiction and trivia titles we’ve written, I want our readers to feel like the world is wild and full of stories and possibilities. For most of our other titles, I want them to laugh and enjoy themselves. Their time is so valuable, and I feel honored that they are spending it on the pages we crafted.