North Gate Update: Five Questions for Ilana DeBare

Ilana DeBare

Ilana DeBare (‘87) worked as a reporter at the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Chronicle for about 20 years, then as communications director for an environmental nonprofit. In 2018 she decided to work full-time on her first novel, Shaken Loose, which came out in 2023. Publisher’s Weekly said, “DeBare leavens this fast-paced and often brutal tale with subtle wit and thought-provoking existential dilemmas.” Her sequel, Shaken Free, will be published in June. DeBare is coming to the J-School on March 15 for the Narrative Journalism reunion, where she’ll participate in the “New Possibilities: Where Journalism Can Take You” panel. Next on her to-do list is finishing a 17th-century historical novel.

Bonnie Eslinger (‘98) asked DeBare about her North Gate memories and favorite off-campus spot. The novelist also offered advice for journalists just starting out, as well as for alums interested in transitioning to a new career.

What is one memory you hold from your time at the J-school?

I’ll be ornery and give two. One was an assignment from Bill Drummond’s J200 boot camp, where we had to write a feature about a newspaper bar. I ended up at the bar near the Oakland Tribune offices, an awestruck fangirl listening in on Paul Grabowicz and other “real” reporters shooting the sh-t. At the other end of the spectrum, David Littlejohn’s class on literary journalism—including writers like (Joan) Didion and (John) McPhee—gave me a lodestar of superb writing that I carried within me, even when my first newspaper job mostly involved 10-inch stories about flower shows and high school graduations.

Is there a particular off campus spot that you remember fondly from your time in Berkeley?

Having lived in the East Bay for the past 35 years, it’s hard to remember which spots I discovered during school and which came later. My favorite Bay Area spot is the Steep Ravine trail on Mount Tam, where you’re immersed in ferns and redwoods following a creek up a (yes) steep ravine. I love this trail so much that I used it in my fantasy novel “Shaken Loose,” where the main character summons its image for solace when she is trapped in a fiery, unjust, unraveling Hell.

Where do you presently live? What do you enjoy doing when you have free time?

I live in Oakland, where I’m the slowest bicyclist going up Tunnel Road in the East Bay hills. Everyone passes me, but I get there! Most of my recent free time, though, has been spent researching a historical novel set in the 17th century in the Jewish communities of Europe. I’m infinitely grateful for alumna access to U.C. Berkeley’s world-class library, with holdings such as a 1579 Yiddish guidebook for Jewish women about sex and morality, written, of course, by a man. [Among the rules: no talking during sex, and the husband should study the Torah as foreplay.]

What advice do you have for someone just starting their journalism career?

This is mundane, but take a statistics course. It will be useful whether you’re writing about casualties of war or the efficacy of anti-wrinkle creams. Thinking more broadly, say yes to everything. Yes to visiting your newspaper’s printing plant to see the papers roll off the presses, yes to taking the New Year’s Day shift that no one else wants, yes to getting up at 4 a.m. to cover a day in the life of a garbage truck driver. [And say those “yesses” especially before you have children, because it will be harder afterwards.]

What advice do you have for a journalist who wants to transition to a new career?

You’re more marketable than you realize. Shockingly few people know how to write a clear and readable paragraph. Even fewer know how to tell stories. Your ability to take a complicated or dry situation and turn it into a vivid, engaging story is a huge asset. Nonprofits need you to turn abstract causes into human stories. Businesses need you to explain why their newest gadget makes life better. Politicians need you to … write speeches and craft press releases and create memes and basically turn them into a likeable, admirable person. You’re not just a journalist: you’re a storyteller. Please be an honest one.