Andrew Shipley was interviewed for BookCast by Fairfax County Public Library Director Sam Clay. BookCast is sponsored by Virginia Commerce Bank through the Fairfax Library Foundation.

• He is a graduate of Harvard Law School who began writing fiction in undergraduate school and has published his first novel, The Messenger.



• The novel is a political thriller in the style of The Da Vinci Code that explores the consequences of blurring the lines between church and state. It concerns a U.S. Senator who gives a speech on the Senate floor, understood in every language spoken. His fame for "speaking in tongues" leads him to run for president.



• Shipley was born to deaf parents and learned to sign before he could talk. He believes that experience helped his writing.

About Andrew Shipley