'Books Across America' filmmaker treks across country in 50 days to interview an author in each state

Jul. 29—Editor's Note: The interview with Mason Engel took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Stress. It's something Mason Engel doesn't like too often. Yet, he can work wonders in it.

Earlier this year, Engel set out to film the documentary, "Books Across America."

The documentary takes viewers to the far reaches of literary America like no documentary you've ever seen.

Engel sits face-to-face with authors in their own hometowns as he explores enchanting indie bookstores and legendary bookish landmarks.

Engel traveled with a two-person crew, and their minivan, "Chrissy the Chrysler," on the whirlwind literary tour of America — from the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., to The Outsiders Museum in Oklahoma, to the bookcase where Grip — the real-life, long-dead raven that inspired Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," — is forever enshrined behind glass.

Engel's goal was to interview one author in each state.

In New Mexico, Engel sat down with Lorena Hughes to talk about her novel, "The Spanish Daughter."

"I've caught up on sleep," Engel says during a recent interview. "I have to pinch myself because this was an opportunity of a lifetime for me. It would have been awesome to have local people line up and participate as an audience, but we had one day in each city."

Engel is getting the documentary ready for the film festival circuit, with a date for PBS some time in 2024 or early 2025. He is still raising money via Kickstarter for the film at booksxamerica.com.

Some of the authors interviewed are the likes of James Patterson, David Baldacci and Joyce Carol Oates.

He says interviewing the authors would have been amazing enough.

"Adding in a road trip to all 50 states in 50 days made for a crazy and unforgettable journey," he says. "This is something I've been working toward for five years. It's not my first 50-day road trip. In 2019, I was self-promoting my novel and along the way, I fell in love with bookstores."

On his way to Albuquerque, Engel read "The Spanish Daughter," so he could prepare for the interview with Hughes.

"I woke up and I sat in the back seat of the car preparing," he says. "We stopped to get drone footage and when I got to Albuquerque, we did the interview at Bookworks."

Yet, when Engel and the crew got to the bookstore, there was no electricity.

"We went to Home Depot to buy a generator," he says. "Right when we got back, we were ready to start it up and the electricity came back. It was a stressful moment that went away after the power went on."

Prior to the 50-day trip, there were months of preproduction as Engel began to take the New York Times bestseller list and started writing down authors.

He then contacted publicists.

"It was a mammoth task," he says. "Then I started to make a list and make sure that the authors were a diverse group. Luckily, the response was overwhelmingly positive."

Engel enjoyed the challenge of maintaining concentration to reading up to eight hours a day while traveling.

"It was mentally taxing," he says. "At the end of the day, I would get to talk to some of my publishing and writing heroes. There's such a wide range and it's very dramatic up and down. It was difficult to be on day seven and know that I needed to have 43 more days like that."

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