Anthony Bonato is a mathematician and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he studies the networks that govern how we live and think. He is the author of Dots and Lines: Hidden Networks in Social Media, AI, and Nature (2025), a behind-the-scenes look at how networks reveal reality and shape everything – from Bitcoin transactions to neural connections, and from political landscapes to climate patterns. He also writes science fiction. His debut novel, The Sky Took Us (2026), involves alien abductions. He recently spoke with Accenti’s editor-in-chief, Licia Canton. The text that follows has been lightly edited for clarity.
Anthony Bonato, welcome. Your first novel, The Sky Took Us, sounds rather ominous. What can you tell us about it without giving too much away?
Hi, Licia. So, a black orb appears in downtown Toronto, flashing mysterious patterns. A 16-year-old girl, Kris, watches as her mother disappears. More of these orbs appear in different cities: New York, Beijing, London. And millions of people vanish. Kris is a math prodigy. She begins to notice a pattern in what the orbs are flashing. She sees things that no one else can. She’s invited to join a group of scientists to help understand this mystery and try to bring back her mother and all the millions of people who have vanished. The book has mathematical themes but it is not, strictly speaking, a book about math. You shouldn’t be scared if math is not your favourite subject. At its heart Sky is really about family. It’s also about loss, and about the lengths that we go for the people we love.
I don’t often read science fiction or math fiction, but I loved the novel. Why was it important to write this novel from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl who is a math genius?
I thought a lot about who the protagonist would be and I landed on Kris. It’s a coming-of-age story, and I’ve always loved coming-of-age stories. I was inspired by books like Ender’s Game [by Orson Scott Card], even Anne of Green Gables. Kris is a mathematical genius who has abilities far beyond mine. I’m a working mathematician, a research mathematician, but she’s a towering mathematical genius, even though she’s only 16 years old. I love the idea, sort of the mix, of someone who would be underestimated, but who could do things other people consider impossible. I also wanted to frame Kris very much in reality. So she comes, like I do, from a working-class family. She doesn’t have very much money or status. But she happens to have a one-in-a-billion mathematical mind. Everything else about her is ordinary. I would also add that growing up gay, I always felt different. I carried a part of myself that others couldn’t see, and some of that has found its way into Kris.
Was there someone specific who inspired you when you were thinking of how to create Kris?
Kris isn’t based on any one person, she’s more of a combination. There’s some of me in her, and other mathematicians that I’ve met. I’m very fascinated with mathematics, and patterns, and so on. She embodies qualities that I see a lot in young people and teens. I teach first-year university courses, and I see resilience, curiosity, willingness to question the status quo. I also, and this is really important for me, wanted to write a heroine who wasn’t defined by physical strength or magical powers. Her strength is her mind, and that’s what really drew me.
The story begins in Toronto, where Kris lives with her mother and sister. But most of the action takes place in the United States, just outside New York City. Why did you start the narrative in Toronto?
Toronto is my adopted home. I grew up in the Niagara region; I was born in Niagara Falls. I used to love visiting Toronto, especially as I got a little bit older, into my teens and 20s. I met my husband when I was a professor in Waterloo. I moved full-time to Toronto in 2004. I really can’t imagine living anywhere else. I wanted to bring the readers into that experience a little bit. The action starts in Sankofa Square, in the heart of downtown Toronto, right next to my university – Toronto Metropolitan University. Toronto for me is one of the great immigrant cities. I’m the son of Italian immigrants. I grew up surrounded by a lot of different languages, cultures, and customs. That experience of living a little bit in the margins, between worlds, is what shaped how I see people and how I wrote the book. The opening scene is based on a real moment. I was walking, this was more than 10 years ago, through Sankofa Square, which used to be Dundas Square and, I don’t know, a vision just came to me. It was so strange. It was a crowded square and I just imagined for a second, I saw it clearly in my mind, everyone immediately vanishing. It was a really profound image that stayed with me for many years. I realized that I could tell a story based on that. I also love New York City, which I’ve visited many times. I definitely wanted a part of the story to be set there.
What was the writing process like? Was there a part of the novel that was more difficult to write, more satisfying, more fun?
It was difficult for me as a research mathematician to write a novel. I’ve always written, and I love words. But just conceiving of a novel and putting it together, and executing it – that took a lot of patience. Specifically, I’d say the ending was the hardest. I had to rewrite it several times. I received feedback from editors and readers, picking at the ending. I finally landed on an ending that I was happy with. Also, the emotional scenes – there are quite a few, as you would imagine in a young adult novel. Mathematical writing is very dry and analytical, as you would imagine. This novel was a very different sort of muscle to exercise. It demanded different attention. I think I’ve succeeded in bringing some of the emotions to the surface, but it was a long process. In terms of the enjoyable part, I just love the act of writing – sitting down and putting ideas on paper. Also, the math and how the aliens use it to communicate was a key element in the novel. I grew up in the ‘80s, so I’m a huge fan of Carl Sagan and his novel Contact. That very much inspired the book. Bringing aliens to Earth who speak “in math” was a joy. The math was like a puzzle that had to fit together and make sense to the reader. There aren’t really many formulas in the book. I tried to write in a way that you could get a sense of the excitement of discovery with mathematics, but you don’t need to be a mathematician or even really like math to understand what’s happening.
The seed of the idea came as you were walking through Sankofa Square, where you imagined people vanishing. How long did it take from that idea to the finished book?
I guess it was a couple years from that point before I started writing a draft, it was around 2014, and I finished in 2015. I went through a lot of iterations. It was also a long story in terms of the publication. It was really last year, after I had left it dormant for a while for various reasons, that I came back to it. I spent a good six months going through it and reading it, teasing it, revising it. I would say that it was a decade of work, on and off, to bring this book into the world.
Yes, that happens quite often with writers. Did you have a specific reader in mind as you wrote the book?
It’s a young adult novel, but I think readers of all ages can get something from it. It’s also for people who like to read science fiction. There’s an element of mystery and it’s a thriller, but I really want to emphasize that it’s a family story. The dynamics between Kris and Antoinette, the two sisters, is the spine of the book. That’s really what propels the book from the first few pages to the end. Finally, the book is about accepting ourselves and our limits, and the choices we make in our lives, especially those inspired by the people we love.
Are you thinking about, or already working on, a sequel?
At the moment, no. But I’ve learned throughout the years to never say never, and I love the characters so much. Maybe I’ll revisit them at some time, but at this point, I think I want to look at new stories.
So what other literary projects are you working on right now?
I have a book that I plan to start writing in a few days, actually. It’s a mathematical book on a field called “graph burning,” which is an area of mathematics that I helped discover and develop about a decade ago. There’s a couple hundred research papers on the topic now. The time is probably ripe to write a book on that. On the fiction side I have written two novels, but these are shelved away for now. They may not ever see the light of day. They need an overhaul. Fiction takes me a very long time to write. So, we’ll see.
What do you like to read for fun?
I like science fiction. I’ve always been drawn to the field. A writer that I’m especially fond of is Kate Heartfield. She’s from Ottawa. She writes science fiction and fantasy. Her books are always imaginative, beautifully written, and full of surprises. Her novella Alice Payne Arrives is really a great work of fiction. I highly recommend it. Because of the movies, I’m re-reading Frank Herbert’s six original Dune novels, which I read as a teenager. I had understood them to a point, but I have a better understanding of them now. Herbert is an incredible worldbuilder. His topics really resonate with me. He made up a whole universe. It was vast, very dark at times, but also intellectually rich.
You don’t read math textbooks for fun?
[Laughter] I still do. I read math papers, and books, and all of that. I wrote a pop-math book.
Thank you very much for speaking with Accenti.
Thank you!
Licia Canton is Accenti’s editor-in-chief
The audiobook of The Sky Took Us is available here.
