bio

Jeffrey Overstreet is a novelist and an award-winning film reviewer.

Jeffrey composed his first fantasy novel on a black Royal typewriter when he was seven years old, and he’s been writing stories for all ages ever since.

His first fantasy novel -- Auralia's Colors -- earned a rave review from Publisher's Weekly, and high praise on websites for Image journal, Paste magazine, and on the blogs of fantasy readers everywhere. It was also honored and recommended by independent booksellers as a BookSense Notable selection. Auralia's Colors is available at your favorite bookstore and online. (Autographed copies now available!) The sequel, Cyndere's Midnight, will be published in 2008.

Since 1996, Jeffrey's film reviews, music reviews, and interviews have been regularly posted at his website, LookingCloser.org.

His book Through a Screen Darkly -- described as a “travelogue of dangerous moviegoing” -- was published by Regal Books in February 2007, and earned a coveted "Starred Review" from Publisher's Weekly. The book is used as a textbook at Seattle Pacific University, Fuller Seminary, Bryan College, and other notable schools.

In October 2007, Jeffrey was honored by the City of the Angels Film Festival with the Spiritus Award, in celebration of his writing about movies. His review of Sophie Scholl: The Final Days earned him an award from the Evangelical Press Association in 2007.

Jeffrey's perspectives on film (and, occasionally, music) are frequently published at Christianity Today’s website, and in many other periodicals including Paste, Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion, Risen, and Seattle Pacific University's Response magazine. His work has also appeared in Books and Culture and Relevant.

In 2005, Jeffrey’s movie reviews were the focus of a cover-story feature in The Seattle Times’ Sunday magazine Pacific Northwest.

Frequently invited to lecture at universities, arts conferences, film festivals, and churches around the country, Jeffrey offers seminars on:
     - faith, filmmaking, and artistic discernment
     - the value of fairy tales, and the tradition of fantasy storytelling
     - Christianity and culture
     - the literary legacies of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle
and he often reads from Auralia's Colors and Through a Screen Darkly at booksignings.

Jeffrey grew up in Portland, Oregon, and graduated with a B.A. in English literature from Seattle Pacific University. He and his wife, a poet and freelance editor named Anne, spend time writing in the coffee shops of Shoreline, Washington, every week. He works as a contributing editor for Seattle Pacific University’s Response magazine. And now he is hard at work on many new stories, including three more strands of The Auralia Thread.

interviews (print, audio)

print:

- In June, Jeffrey was interviewed by Angela Walker at ChristianCinema.com.
  They talked about great movies, Through a Screen Darkly, and Jeffrey's
  novel Auralia's Colors.

- Regal Books has an interview with Jeffrey Overstreet on their website.

- Infuze Magazine interviewed Jeffrey at length about Through a Screen Darkly
   and Auralia's Colors.

- In February 2007, Christianity Today interviewed Jeffrey about Through a Screen
  Darkly. Here's the interview.

- Response Magazine interviews Jeffrey Overstreet, Michael Medved
   and Todd Rendleman about film, faith, and the "state of the arts."

- Read Christianity Today's interview with Jeffrey, from a few years back.
   Click here for the article, or here for a transcript of the full interview.
 

audio:

Jeffrey discussed the art of this year's Oscar contenders with Dick Staub and others at The Kindlings Muse. Listen to Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Also, listen to Jeffrey on:

• The Albert Mohler Radio Program

• "Along the Way," w/ Kim Jeffries

1. Where do you live?

I’ve lived in Seattle, Washington, since 1989, and love this city more than I can say. Mountains. Water. Writers. Bookstores. Great live music. And movies? It’s a moviegoing town: The Cinerama may be the finest movie theatre in the world, the Crest offers some of the best films around for three bucks a ticket. I love going to concerts at The Moore, the Crocodile Cafe, Benaroya Hall, the Showbox, and the Tractor Tavern.

2. Some people insist that you write "Christian fiction" and "Christian movie reviews,"but you've objected to those terms. Why?

I don't write "Christian reviews" or "Christian stories" any more than I bake “Christian cookies.”

As a storyteller, I try to write good stories and, like most storytellers, I hope those stories reflect something true and beautiful. That's my aim.

As a film reviewer, I'm looking for truth and beauty at the movies. I'm not interested in doing what most who declare themselves "Christian movie reviewers" do (counting cuss words, condemning movies that include sexual references, or protesting portrayals of violence). I believe good art reflects the world around us, specifically or abstractly, and I believe artists have the right to show us both the beautiful and the ugly aspects of life. What I'm concerned about is excellence in craftsmanship, apprehension of beauty, the search for truth, and behaving responsibly in view of what we behold in art. I've discovered profound truth in the darkest and most violent of films, in the loudest and angriest music, just as truth can be found in the darkest and most violent stories of the Bible.

But I am not saying every piece of work is okay for every person. I believe that all things are permissible, but not all things are profitable, and I should make sure that I choose to dwell only on what is worthy of praise. How can I find out what those things are if I do not test them, one by one?

It is up to each viewer to use discernment in what they choose to see, being careful not to watch things that will play to their weaknesses. I wouldn't give a bottle of whiskey to a recovering alcoholic, so I wouldn't recommend Closer to someone who is prone to lustful thoughts, or Apocalypse Now to someone deeply troubled by violent imagery. I believe it is a parent's responsiblity to protect their children from things they are not prepared to see and understand. The ocean is a wonderful place, but I wouldn't let a toddler play at the edge of it unsupervised.

3. Do you answer mail from readers?

I do. I always have, because I love conversations about storytelling and art.

I love talking with people who have read Auralia's Colors. I keep learning more and more about the story from the things people find in it... things I never realized were there.

As a critic, I'm still a beginner -- I've only been writing reviews about 12 years. So I sometimes underestimate or overestimate a film or an album, and I invite you to tell me when you have a different perspective.

Great art reveals itself over time. Emily Dickinson says, "The truth must dazzle gradually." So I’m eager to learn your thoughts and impressions. Defend the movies and music that you love, or take issue with something I've recommended. Feel free to e-mail me. Let's have a civil conversation, though. There are a lot of  trigger-happy people who react rashly with anger-filled e-mails and personal attacks. I get them all the time. All they do is reveal the immaturity of the writer.

(Once, because I dared to criticize the portrayal of hasty and immature love in the film Titanic, a Christian couple wrote me to say, "Clearly you have never experienced, and will never experience, true love for yourself." I had my wife write back to them with a few choice thoughts.)

4. Do you write full-time?

No. It's one of my dreams... to write full-time.

But for now, I have a full-time job as an editor.

I write fiction in my spare time. On the bus. In coffee shops. Anywhere.

And I do reviews as a volunteer...because I love movies. I've been blessed to have invitations to publish my reviews in Christianity Today, Risen, Paste, Image journal, Christianity and the Arts Magazine, Relevant, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Film Forum, and other publications. Send me the details at joverstreet@gmail.com.

5. What are your ten favorite films?

Wings of Desire, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Three Colors: Blue, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Fisher King, Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now (Redux), The New World, Midnight Run, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, A Room With a View, Code Unknown, Raising Arizona, Babette's Feast, Au Hazard Balthazar, Ordet, Watership Down, and Down By Law. That was ten, wasn’t it?

6. What novels have influenced your fiction writing?

The Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, Winter's Tale, The Book of Atrix Wolfe, the Gormenghast novels, Sailing to Sarantium... Those are the first books that spring to mind. But I'm more often inspired to write by reading poetry or spiritual writing, like the works of Annie Dillard, Scott Cairns, or Thomas Merton.

7. When were you and Anne married?

We were married in 1996. And now we live with Sophie and Mardukas (cats) near beautiful Richmond Beach, Washington. We spend our days juggling too many responsibilities and passions: day-jobs, time together, time working on our various creative writing projects. She writes poetry and I’m working on more novels.

When we’re not in Seattle we’re either in Portland visiting friends and my family, or in Vancouver B.C., or our favorite destination… Santa Fe, New Mexico.

8. Are you related to Jason Overstreet of the singing group Rescue?

That's my brother!

9. What's your next book?

Cyndere's Midnight, the sequel to Auralia's Colors. It'll be out in September 2008, if all goes according to plan.

acknowledgments