68: Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr., author of The El

The Deerfield Public Library Podcast

Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr., in conversation on his new novel The El (Vintage Books, 2025).

A love letter to our city of Chicago, The El follows a group of teen gang members in August 1979 as they travel across the city to a summit where gangs plan to join forces. But the reality is less like the movie The Warriors and more like the creation of a corporate structure, and leader Teddy—a devoted reader and the only Indigenous member of the gang—has to rely on his book smarts, street smarts, and the guiding spirit of Coyote to find a way to their next destination.

Van Alst Jr. is also the author of a stunning trilogy of "mosaic novels" of linked short stories, also starring his semi-autobiographical character Teddy: Sacred Smokes (2018), Sacred City (2021), and Sacred Folks (2024). In our conversation, we learn how the author's depiction of Teddy evolved to include more and more voices, and how literature can help us recover the past, see the future, and appreciate the "magic light."

Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr. (enrolled member, Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians) is the co-editor of Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Vintage). He is the award-winning author of the trilogy Sacred Smokes, Sacred City, and Sacred Folks as well as the editor of The Faster Redder Road: The Best UnAmerican Stories of Stephen Graham Jones (2015), all from the University of New Mexico Press. His novella Pour One for the Devil: A Gothic Novella was published in 2024 from Lanternfish Press.

You can check out titles by Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr. here at the Library as part of our Podcast Collection, featuring books and other materials by past guests of the show. Find out more about Ted on his website or his Instagram @TVAyyyy.

We hope you enjoy our 68th interview episode! ​​Each month (or so), we release an episode featuring a conversation with an author, artist, or other notable guests from Chicagoland or around the world. Learn more about the podcast on our podcast page. You can listen to all of our episodes in the player below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts. We welcome your comments and feedback—please send to [email protected].