Q&A With Michelle Young 

I am honored to be doing this Q&A with Michelle Young. Michelle Young has her nonfiction book coming out on May 13^th titled The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland. Her other nonfiction books are Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York: An Unusual Guide, Secret New York: Hidden Bars And Restaurants & Broadway. Michelle is not only an author, but she is also a journalist & the founder of the online magazine Untapped New York. You can read more about her amazing career by clicking on this link to her blog https://michelleyoungwriter.com/about 

Q: Michelle, welcome to Book Notions! I’m happy you are here! Would you like to give a brief description of each of your books starting off with The Art Spy? 

A: Thank you so much, happy to be here! The Art Spy tells the wartime story of WWII French Resistance hero and art historian Rose Valland who helped take down Hermann Göring’s art looting ring. Rose worked undercover inside the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris, which the Nazis took over for their art looting operations. At great risk to her life, she collected intelligence on all the art being looted en masse in France and who the perpetrators were. She is the woman behind the Monuments Men! 

Secret Brooklyn is a guidebook of 150+ unique, weird places, and secret places in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City where I live. The entries range from things like the remnants of the world’s first underground transit tunnel, a taxidermy museum, a street with hobbit doors, a glass water tower, and many more. 

Secret New York is similar but covers all the five boroughs of New York City. I co-wrote it with two other writers. Same with Secret New York: Hidden Bars & Restaurants, which is self-explanatory!  

Lastly, Broadway was my first book, about the history of the street in Manhattan with many vintage photographs. 

Q: Your book The Art Spy is different from the rest of your books about New York. What was the transition like from writing nonfiction books about New York to then writing about the true story of Rose Valland, an art spy that was part of the resistance in World War II?

A: I was lucky that my writing education from elementary through graduate school prioritized versatility—being able to write in any style. I’ve written fiction, non-fiction, creative writing, scientific papers, reports, you name it. What was important is that you were saying something new, and you were writing it well. At Harvard, all freshmen were required to take a course called Expository Writing, or Expos, for short. It was hugely influential. It was not until graduate school that I realized that some people just regurgitate other people’s research and submit those as papers. I was taught that you had to have an original thesis for everything you wrote. Sometimes finding that angle was a monumental endeavor, you can’t expect it to come immediately, and you must give it space to percolate— but this is all part of the writing process. The way I approach writing crosses over genres, and I apply the same rigor to whatever genre I am writing or however long something is. Similarly, research should be as in depth and pull from a broad swath of source materials as you can find whether you are writing a news article or a full-length book like The Art Spy. 

In short, I actually found the transition seamless. In fact, I relished the multi-year creative process that a book entails. When I was in my 20s and early 30s, I wanted things to be as fast as possible, and the advent of online journalism allowed for that. But in recent years, I felt the urge to go more in depth and nurture the creative juices longer

Q: How long does it take you to research and write your books? Would you say your journalism skills are what helped with researching and writing your books?

A: The Art Spy took me four years to complete, from the time I discovered Rose Valland to the final pass of the manuscript before printing. I traveled regularly to France for archival research and in-person interviews, spent years cultivating sources, and traveled to or received documents from archives all over the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and even Latvia. I believe that my journalism experience combined with the in-depth writing and research I did in high school, college, and graduate school, gave me the skills to write The Art Spy. Not all journalists are trained to write narrative non-fiction. I also applied some atypical skills, like what I learned in architecture school using Adobe Creative Suite and mapping tools to map out parts of the story, understanding layers of history of the built environment, and Excel to make sense of the endless pages of reports Rose Valland left behind. Most importantly in this kind of book, however, is just a relentless quest for the truth. You must get a thrill out of tracking down documents that nobody has seen before that help bring your story to life, even if some of those rabbit holes yield just one adjective in your story. Or sometimes, they lead to whole chapters of the story. I love this detective aspect equally as much as I love writing the story itself, but these two things really use two completely different parts of the brain. 

Q: What lessons & emotions do you hope readers learn and feel after they turn the last page and read your books? 

A: First and foremost, I hope people feel inspired by Rose’s story and ask themselves what they would have done in the same position as her. The lesson here is that anybody can be a hero. In war, a lot of skills and talents that were previously overlooked in society become critically important. Secondly, I hope that they see how fundamental language and culture is to totalitarian rule. Words matter and art matters. Lastly, I know this book is predominantly about Rose but the secondary storyline that runs throughout is about the Jewish art collector Paul Rosenberg and his son Alexandre Rosenberg who fought with Charles de Gaulle to liberate France. The Rosenberg family encapsulates the plight that Jewish families faced in WWII, particularly those whose art collections the Nazis coveted. The last section of the book covers the liberation of Paris by Alexandre Rosenberg alongside American, French, and British forces, and I teared up every time I edited and re-read it. The selflessness of those soldiers who fought for something greater than themselves and even their own countries is something I wish more people would aspire to in today’s world. 

Q: Will your next book be nonfiction or will you try your hand at fiction this time? 

A: Narrative nonfiction is my primary calling, but I’m likely going to zoom forward to the near-contemporary period for the next book. I don’t like being in the same headspace two times in a row! But then I’ll go back to WWII unless something pulls me elsewhere. 

As for fiction, I have the beginning of one as a note on my iPhone, which I fiddle with when inspired. It’s connected to my family history. I imagine that it will be finished when I’m retired and will be my last book! I have so much respect for fiction writers, who can conjure beautiful things from within themselves. 

Q: How does it feel knowing The Art Spy has received glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly as well as authors Lynne Olson, Laurie Gwen Shapiro & Fiona Davis? I have done a Q&A, a Behind The Book Q&A & an Authors In the Media Q&A with Fiona and she’s wonderful! 

A: It’s all been a dream. When I imagined what my future book looked like, I dreamt about those blurbs. It is such an honor to have authors whose books I loved write such amazing things about The Art Spy. It was a full circle moment. Lynne Olson is the author that introduced me into the narrative non-fiction genre to begin with! I devoured Last Hope Island and then Madame Fourcade’s Secret War. I got to know Fiona Davis first as a journalist, when I interviewed her about her book The Masterpiece, set in New York’s Grand Central, and indeed, she is just such a wonderful person and that just shines through in her writing and when you speak to her! And I met Laurie Gwen Shapiro on a tour with Untapped New York, the company I founded, and she is the one who encouraged me to write a narrative non-fiction book in the first place. 

As for reviews, getting a starred review in Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly and being in PW’s Summer Reads picks has given the book such momentum and industry support. I am so grateful. But also, all the early readers who left reviews on Goodreads gave me such comfort knowing that people loved the book and got what I was trying to achieve. 

Q: What’s it like having your written work featured in The Guardian, Narratively, The Forward, Business Insider, Hyperallergic, Wilson Quarterly, Food & Wine Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, Curbed and The Huffington Post? For anyone wanting to submit work to these magazines what is your advice?

A: Those bylines were collected over the course of my fifteen plus year career in journalism, so don’t think you need to get them in a short period of time! Although I’m not predominantly a freelancer, I’m always on the lookout and open to opportunities. Some of those bylines came in connection with my previous books, others through my platform Untapped New York, others through traditional pitching, and others I was commissioned to do. The most important things are to have a unique voice, ideally have your own platform, and to get that unique access only you can provide for a story. 

Q: Congratulations on your photography being published by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and The Museum of Modern Art! I think it is amazing that it’s exhibited at The Museum of the City of New York & included in numerous books! What is your advice for anyone wanting to have their photography and various art portrayed in museums & books? Does it feel surreal that your photography is in a museum?

A: Thank you! Almost all those opportunities came because people discovered my photography through the articles I have published on Untapped New York. Often, I am the only person, or one of few people, who have photographed some of those places or events. Once again, it’s all about access! But just to clarify, regarding museums, my photography is not on permanent display but was in exhibitions and publications in the past.

Q: What were your experiences of being on tv like? That also sounds so amazing being featured on The History Channel, PBS, National Geographic etc..

A: I love filming TV! It’s always rather glamorous. Some outlets will even do your hair and makeup. One of the most memorable was the PBS shoot 10 Things That Changed America with Geoffrey Baer. I was 8½ months pregnant and we were going all around Manhattan. I remember we stood on these wooden boxes in Times Square to elevate us for the shot, and the people all around us were wondering what the heck was going on! Also, fun fact, I was cast in a Steven Soderbergh movie once, Side Effects! I’m still getting royalties from it. Hopefully The Art Spy is made into a movie too! 

Q: Would you give links to your social media so my readers can follow you? 

A: Here are my social media links! 

Instagram

Threads

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You can find out more about The Art Spy on my personal website.