Brooklyn BookBeat: Brooklynite writes novel he ‘always wanted to read that didn’t exist yet’
Brooklynite Kristopher Jansma recently released “The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards” – his debut novel that follows an unreliable narrator and his two friends as they travel the world in an effort to find and define themselves.
In this coming-of-age tale, Jansma’s erratic narrator and his friends – the brilliant Julian and Broadway actress Evelyn – attempt to assert their individuality in the face of their interconnectedness. The three travel across the U.S. and beyond, exploring Manhattan, the Grand Canyon, Iceland, and Sri Lanka. Somewhere along the way, the friends have a tragic falling out, after which the narrator envelops himself in a fictional world, seeking to evade his upsetting reality. Jansma’s moving book investigates the importance of confronting the truth in spite of unpleasant circumstances.
Jansma will appear at DUMBO’spowerHouse Arena on Thursday, March 28 for a reading and book launch party. In anticipation of the book’s release, Brooklyn Eagle spoke with the writer, who tells us how his first novel came to be, and reveals some of his favorite Brooklyn spots and activities.