Andre Petrov
Author of LOL Files: Bagel Boy in Ashgabat
“Embarrassment is only tragedy until somebody draws a moustache on it.”
Andre Petrov's LOL Files: Bagel Boy in Ashgabat follows twelve-year-old Boris Bublik through school humiliation, viral mishaps, marble-floor disasters and the discovery that humour can turn ridicule into resilience. We asked the author serious questions. He answered several of them.
TGEP: Who is Boris Bublik?
Andre Petrov: Boris is twelve, Russian by ancestry and cursed with a surname that means bagel. He is also brave, although usually by accident, and athletic, although never in the direction he intended.
TGEP: Is Boris based on you?
Andre Petrov: My lawyers have advised me to say no. My turtle has advised me to blink twice and leave the room.
TGEP: Why make embarrassment the centre of a children's story?
Andre Petrov: Because embarrassment feels enormous when you are young. One mistake can feel like the end of civilisation. Boris discovers that the moment becomes smaller when he owns the joke instead of letting the joke own him.
TGEP: What are The LOL Files?
Andre Petrov: Boris's private survival archive. It contains doodles, mission logs, fake chats, lists and evidence that shiny marble floors should be regulated by international law.
TGEP: Why set the story in Ashgabat?
Andre Petrov: Because it may be the sparkliest, hottest and whitest city on Earth. It is beautiful, strange and almost too perfect, which makes it ideal for a boy who cannot cross a polished floor without creating history.
TGEP: General Pushkin rarely speaks. Why is he important?
Andre Petrov: Wisdom is often silent. General Pushkin contributes through blinking, napping and disciplined disapproval. He has also impeached me twelve times, so I prefer not to criticise him publicly.
TGEP: What does “Still Bread. Still Here.” mean?
Andre Petrov: It means Boris has survived another disaster without becoming someone else. He may be bruised, viral and covered in cafeteria evidence, but he remains himself.
TGEP: What comes next for Bagel Boy?
Andre Petrov: More elections, more internet trouble and more completely preventable disasters. Boris may run for president. The world should prepare accordingly.