Interview with Kristen Nevarez
Written by: Stacey Ebert
Kristen Nevarez is the winner of the Acorn Publishing Debut Author Prize for her upcoming novel Ring by Spring. Announced at the 2026 San Diego Writers Festival, Kristen took the stage and wowed audiences with her joy, wit, and talent.
The novel is, in her words, is ‘a dual-POV romantic comedy set at a Christian college. The protagonist is a broke theatre student who charms her way into a free room in a house with three guys and falls for the broody guy who fears it’s a sin for her to live there. It deconstructs purity culture and gender roles through a feminist school production of The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s play about a wife submitting to her husband), in a way that is both theologically thoughtful and theatre-kid cringe’
Kristen Nevarez is a native San Diegan, a pastor, and an arts journalist. Here she shares her backstory, what winning this prestigious prize means, and offers some wise counsel to novice writers. Ring by Spring hits shelves in March 2027.
As a professional writer (entrenched in the San Diego theater scene) and associate pastor, how would you describe your writing journey over the years? I suppose I’ve always swung between serious, straightforward work and silly, satirical stuff.
In high school, I wrote both award-winning short plays and fan fiction. (No, I won’t tell you my pen name, but I’ll confess my popular fanfics were inspired by Gilmore Girls and Spy Kids.) In college, I worked for The San Diego Business Journal (where I met my husband in an IRL enemies-to-lovers office romance) and wrote an unhinged humor column for San Diego State’s campus newspaper. Today, I write sermons as an associate pastor at Makers Church, cover local theatre for Vanguard Culture, and will soon debut a romantic-comedy novel.
I’ve always had publishing deadlines on the one hand, and, on the other, free-spirited passion projects to keep me feeling juicy.
What has it been like to be the winner of the Acorn Publishing Debut Author Prize? How has this shaped/affected your experience in putting your work out there, sharing your story, and having a hybrid publisher in your corner? Winning the Acorn Publishing Debut Author Prize felt like being handed a permission slip. I’ve wanted to write a novel since I was old enough to read one, but my prior manuscripts never escaped the query trenches. After repeated rejection, asking people to read my pages started to feel like begging.
Acorn Publishing said, “We deem your fiction worth our time — so it’ll definitely be worth a reader’s time,” and this has renewed my faith in my novelcraft.
Your debut novel, Ring By Spring, takes a close look Christian culture through the lens of a romantic comedy – why did you choose to share this story at this present moment in time? That’s an interesting question because I’m both a pastor and a local arts journalist, and — especially since 2016 — have witnessed my church friends and activist-artist friends become more polarized.
I use romantic comedy — this popular, yet often overlooked genre — and smuggle in thoughtful, subversive theology. My manuscript was inspired by the satirical humor of Pride and Prejudice; it deconstructs purity culture through Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
And it feels more timely than ever because, in 2023, the Southern Baptist Convention (America’s largest Protestant denomination, with 12.3M members) voted to expel churches with female preaching pastors. This month (June 2026), they’ll vote again to bar women from holding any pastoral function. I believe Christians must critically examine and challenge their denominational leadership, just like Jesus Christ confronted the corruption and drift of His religious leaders.
What three pieces of advice would you offer to novice writers – perhaps things you’ve picked up along this journey of creating and publishing your first novel?
1. The goal of the first draft is to finish it.
2. AI is like an e-bike; you’ll move faster, but it’ll atrophy your writing legs.
3. You deserve love and dignity right now — don’t wait to like yourself until after an agent/publisher/fan base likes you first.
As an active journalist, pastor, and San Diego local, what books call to you or are in your nightly reading queues? What are your favorite San Diego bookstores to frequent? I read a lot for work. Last week I preached on the Book of Esther, and my favorite research read was Dr. Alexiana Fry’s Esther Keeps the Score: Trauma, Body and Politics in the Hebrew Bible. Next up is a reread of Steinbeck’s East of Eden in preparation for the upcoming Netflix miniseries. In between, I wanted a laugh, and grabbed Christina Lauren’s The Soulmate Equation because it’s set in San Diego. I stock my bookshelf like a wine cellar, so I always have something heavy, bubbly, and old around.
I am a loyal ‘friend of the library’. My favorite branches are Tierrasanta (I can walk to it, and it hosts a solid used-book sale once a month), Downtown Central (the size! The shop! The local authors section!), and Mission Valley (their new books section is particularly good). I like vintage books so I’ll pop into Verbatim. Their art installations are stunning, and it’s within walking distance of my desk at Makers Church.
Is there anything else you’d like to share regarding your work, life, or goals you’re focusing on now? Working with Acorn’s acquiring editor, Holly Kammier, taught me some things that have helped get my two connected manuscripts into fighting shape, too. Soon, I’ll start querying Ring by Spring’s sister novels, The Doctrine of Dating and Righteous Rivals.
Where can readers find you (socials)/your work? Follow me on Instagram or Substack at @kristennswrites or on www.kristennevarez.com. I just started a Ring by Spring Instagram at @christiancollegecrush. My sermons are on @makerschurch’s YouTube, and my local arts coverage is on @vanguardculture.
Kristen Nevarez Schweizer is a Cultural Correspondent at Vanguard Culture and an associate pastor at Makers Church. Her debut novel, Ring by Spring, is a feminist romantic comedy set at a San Diego Christian college. It won the Acorn Publishing Debut Author Prize and will be released in March 2027.
