Club Book: Recent Episodes
Club Book
Melanie Benjamin is an acknowledged master of historical fiction, not to mention one of the genre’s bestselling authors. Benjamin’s growing collection of work profiles topics ranging from the Nazi occupation of Paris, to silent movie starlet Mary Pickford, to the real-life inspiration behind Alice in Wonderland. Her most popular novels to date include The Aviator’s Wife (2012), the story of the aviatrix spouse of Charles Lindbergh; The Swans of Fifth Avenue (2016), about the headline-making relationship between famed author Truman Capote and a New York socialite; and The Children’s Blizzard (2021), which breathes new life into an infamous 1888 blizzard that still holds distinction as one of the most deadly natural disasters to ever hit the Great Plains. Her latest, California Golden, turns the spotlight to Malibu in the 1960s – and the formative but factious genesis of California surf culture. Booklist touts: “Benjamin’s novel shows what the sun-kissed highlight reels so often missed.”
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Alice Winn is the pen behind one of 2023’s most talked about literary debuts. In Memoriam is a moving story of first love set against the cataclysmic backdrop of World War I. When young Henry Gaunt enlists in the British Army to dispel rumors of his family’s pro-German leanings, boarding school classmate Sidney Ellwood is quick to follow him to the front line. Harrowing experiences in the trenches nurture a forbidden love. In a starred review, Booklist raves that: “Winn’s finely accomplished debut novel is a rare thing: an intoxicating romance and an impossible-to-put-down war story in one. She captures the war as it looked, sounded, and smelled; but the ultimate death-defying acts here are in literature, breathtaking bravery, and love.” Among other high honors, In Memoriam received the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize in 2022 and the Waterstones Novel of the Year Award in 2023.
The post Club Book Episode 170 Alice Winn first appeared on Club Book.
Kiley Reid burst onto the literary scene in 2020 with Such a Fun Age, a fast-paced social satire about privilege in America. The New York Times bestselling debut hinges on the layered relationship between newly minted college graduate Emira Tucker and Alix Chamberlain, a wealthy businesswoman who hires Emira as a babysitter. Such a Fun Age was longlisted for the Booker Prize, selected as a Reese’s Book Club Pick, and charted high on Best Book of the Year lists from sources as varied as The Washington Post and Good Housekeeping. Reid’s “masterful, nuanced take on racial biases and class divides” (Entertainment Weekly) is on display once again in Come and Get It. Her sardonic sophomore work follows enterprising writing professor Agatha Paul and dormitory assistant Millie Cousins. In service to an unusual, clandestine writing project, Millie allows Agatha to eavesdrop on her wards through a hole in the dormitory walls. Notes Publisher’s Weekly: “In this blistering send-up of academia… every page sparkles with sharp analysis of [Reid’s] characters.” It hit shelves in January.
The post Club Book Episode 169 Kiley Reid first appeared on Club Book.
Cristina Henríquez is best known to many as the author behind the modern classic The Book of Unknown Americans (2014). In it, Mexican teenager Maribel suffers a traumatic brain injury, forcing the Rivera family to move to the United States to secure medical care. A budding relationship with a neighbor boy, Panamanian immigrant Mayor Toro, sets in motion a series of events with profound repercussions for all involved. The Washington Post lauds The Book of Unknown Americans as “a ringing paean to love in general: to the love between man and wife, parent and child, outsider and newcomer, pilgrims and promised land.” Henríquez’s own Panamanian heritage and experiences also loom large in much of the author’s other work, including the short story collection Come Together, Fall Apart (2007) and novel The World in Half (2010). Her latest, The Great Divide, hits shelves in March 2024. It centers around the decade-long construction of the Panama Canal and the unsung workers who made this herculean feat of engineering possible.
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Fiction phenom Nita Prose is the author behind the #1 New York Times bestselling mystery The Maid. Readers and critics alike praise Prose’s mastery of plot and place, but reserve greatest acclaim for her memorable protagonist, “realistically different heroine” Molly Gray (NPR). Molly is neurodivergent. Her unique lens on the world proves invaluable for the young maid when a real estate magnate turns up dead at her five-star hotel – and Molly herself becomes a prime suspect. The Maid won Prose the prestigious Anthony and Barry awards for debut novel, among many other industry honors. It also holds distinction as a Good Morning America Book Club pick and as one of only a handful of mystery debuts from the past decade to sell more than one million copies worldwide. Oscar nominee Florence Pugh is set to star soon in a much-anticipated screen treatment. Nita Prose – and Molly Gray – returned in November 2023 with The Mystery Guest.
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Science fiction superstar John Scalzi has gained a large and loyal following through what Kirkus Reviews calls his “insufferably good, trademark brand of fun yet think-y sci-fi adventure.” His debut, Old Man’s War (2005), won Scalzi speculative fiction’s Astounding (formerly John W. Campbell) Award for Best New Writer and launched the New York Times bestselling series of the same name. Scalzi also penned the Locus Award winning Interdependency trilogy and a host of popular standalone novels. The latter includes Redshirts, winner of the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and The Kaiju Preservation Society, winner of the 2023 Locus Award and other high science fiction honors. Scalzi’s latest novel, Starter Villain, centers on an unassuming substitute teacher who unexpectedly inherits a long-lost uncle’s supervillain business – complete with island volcano lair. Publishers Weekly raves that Starter Villain is “a breezy and highly entertaining genre send-up [which] subverts classic supervillain tropes with equal measures of tongue-in-cheek humor and common sense.”
The post Club Book Episode 166 John Scalzi first appeared on Club Book.
Science fiction superstar John Scalzi has gained a large and loyal following through what Kirkus Reviews calls his “insufferably good, trademark brand of fun yet think-y sci-fi adventure.” His debut, Old Man’s War (2005), won Scalzi speculative fiction’s Astounding (formerly John W. Campbell) Award for Best New Writer and launched the New York Times bestselling series of the same name. Scalzi also penned the Locus Award winning Interdependency trilogy and a host of popular standalone novels. The latter includes Redshirts, winner of the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and The Kaiju Preservation Society, winner of the 2023 Locus Award and other high science fiction honors. Scalzi’s latest novel, Starter Villain, centers on an unassuming substitute teacher who unexpectedly inherits a long-lost uncle’s supervillain business – complete with island volcano lair. Publishers Weekly raves that Starter Villain is “a breezy and highly entertaining genre send-up [which] subverts classic supervillain tropes with equal measures of tongue-in-cheek humor and common sense.”
The post Club Book Episode 165 Tommy Orange first appeared on Club Book.
ReShonda Tate is as versatile as she is prolific. In total, the bestselling author has published more than 50 books to date. Tate runs a wide gamut from contemporary romance, to teen fiction, to nonfiction, and even poetry. Standouts include her sophomore novel Let the Church Say Amen, which was adapted for the screen by producer Queen Latifah and actor-turned-director Regina King. Tate turns her prodigious talents to historical fiction in 2024 with The Queen of Sugar Hill, which spotlights the largely unknown story of Hollywood actress Hattie McDaniel. Best known for her portrayal of “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, McDaniel holds notable distinction as the first African American woman to win an Academy Award. Unfortunately for her, that historic Oscar would put her in the crosshairs of controversy for the rest of her life. In an early review, historical fiction mainstay Jillian Cantor raves that “The Queen of Sugar Hill is an impeccably researched biographical novel… brimming with heart, heartbreak, and resilience.”
The post Club Book Episode 164 ReShonda Tate first appeared on Club Book.
Tracy K. Smith has published five well-received poetry collections to date and served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017-2019. Her sophomore release, Duende, received the coveted James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. Smith cemented her growing reputation with Life on Mars, which “blends pop culture, history, elegy, anecdote, and sociopolitical commentary to illustrate the weirdness of contemporary living” (Publishers Weekly). It won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Smith branched into memoir in 2015 with National Book Award finalist Ordinary Light. Her latest project is To Free The Captives: A Plea for the American Soul. Based on scholarship and the author’s own experience and earnest soul-searching, Smith’s latest “etches a portrait of where we find ourselves as a society four hundred years into the American experiment” and offers a blueprint for “fulfilling our duties to each other and to the future” (Knopf Doubleday). It debuts November 7, 2023.
The post Club Book Episode 163 Tracy K. Smith first appeared on Club Book.
Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American author and spoken word artist. She is best known for her 2018 young adult novel-in-verse The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Acevedo’s follow-ups, With the Fire on High (2019) and Clap When You Land (2020), solidified Acevedo’s standing as one of the foremost YA writers of her generation. She also holds distinction as the Young People’s Poet Laureate for 2022-2023, a National Poetry Slam champion, and a frequent TED Talk presenter. Family Lore, the author’s first novel for adults, hits shelves in August. Flor Marte has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. When she asks her family to schedule a wake – a wake without a death – Flor’s three sisters are left to wonder if the clairvoyant has seen her own death or is driven by other motives. Spanning the three days prior to this most unusual family gathering, Family Lore traces the lives (and uncovers the long-held secrets) of all four Marte sisters.
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Fiona Davis is a historical fiction mainstay beloved by readers for her “winning formula of showcasing the stories behind New York City landmarks” (USA Today). Her seven bestselling novels to date include Good Morning America Book Club pick The Lions of Fifth Avenue, a “delightful mystery delving into the history of New York Public Library” (Publishers Weekly). The Magnolia Palace spotlights Gilded Age mansions and the secrets held within their walls. The Masterpiece breathes new life into a defunct and now all-but-forgotten art school once housed improbably within Grand Central Terminal. In her latest novel, The Spectacular, Davis turns her attention to the equally iconic Radio City Music Hall. Nineteen-year-old ingénue Marion Brooks seeks a coveted position with world-famous precision dance troupe The Rockettes, unaware that her ambitions will pull her in the middle of a city-wide dragnet to capture an elusive terrorist. The Spectacular hit shelves in June.
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Curtis Chin is an award-winning filmmaker and activist. He also holds distinction as the co-founder and first executive director behind New York’s prestigious Asian American Writers’ Workshop. His anticipated debut memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, hits shelves this October. Chin’s family restaurant, Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, occupied a special niche in 1980s Detroit. During this tumultuous period Chung’s clientele reflected the growing diversity of the Motor City – all seeking a safe oasis and the simple pleasure of sitting down to a home-cooked meal. Chung’s also looms large in Chin’s own coming-of-age narrative. In a rave review, novelist Jamie Ford summarizes: “Coming out and coming of age are hard enough for the average teen, but when they’re in a Chinese American family, in a city in conflict with itself, it becomes an epic journey of self-discovery.”
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Nicole Chung grew up as a transracial adoptee – and one of the few people of color in her Oregon hometown. Her lifelong journey of self-discovery and poignant, candid writing on the subject have positioned Chung as a singular voice in memoir. In her 2018 debut, All You Can Ever Know, Chung shares her search for her biological family – a quest she undertook while starting a family of her own. Chung’s follow-up, A Living Remedy, focuses on the author’s relationships with her adoptive parents, her upbringing in their working-class family, and her attempts to care for her mother and father from afar while also parenting her own children. After her father died young from diabetes and kidney disease, followed by her mother from cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chung gained a new perspective on the wealth disparities and healthcare inequities entrenched in our society. Notes The Washington Post: “Chung explores this difficult emotional terrain while delivering a powerful social commentary posing vital questions around access to medical care and the meaning of home and family.”
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Jacqueline Holland is the pen behind the chart-topping novel The God of Endings. Publications as many and varied as Book Riot, B&N Reads, LitHub, Polygon, Library Journal and E! singled out this literary debut as one of the most anticipated fiction titles of 2023. The God of Endings follows Collette LeSange, headmistress of an elite fine arts school in upstate New York. She is talented, affable and – unbeknownst to her students and colleagues – immortal. Collette has kept her nature a secret (and a growing bloodlust at bay) for 150 years, until the arrival of a gifted student from a troubled home threatens to reveal all. NPR praises The God of Endings as a refreshing take on the vampire genre: “an atmospheric vampire tale that wrestles with existential questions of being and philosophy, rather than bloodlust and gore.” It became an instant favorite with fans of Anne Rice and V.E. Schwab.
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Book club phenom Sadeqa Johnson has authored five novels to date. Her early books, including Love in a Carry-on Bag and And Then There Was Me, won the Phyllis Wheatley Award and National Book Club honors, among other distinctions. Johnson branched out from contemporary fiction and reached a still wider audience with Yellow Wife, lauded by Publishers Weekly as “a powerful, unflinching account of determination in the face of oppression.” Born into slavery, light-skinned Pheby Delores Brown is forced to bear children to and manage a slave dealer’s household. This precarious position pits Pheby’s hunger for freedom against the maternal drive to stay with and protect her children. Johnson’s newest novel, The House of Eve, tells the interconnected stories of two ambitious Black women who struggle with the consequences of unplanned pregnancies in 1950s America. It was an instant bestseller and February 2023 selection for the Reese Witherspoon Book Club.
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Speculative fiction superstar Rebecca F. Kuang is the author behind the #1 New York Times bestselling The Poppy War trilogy. Described by Publishers Weekly as “an ambitious fantasy reimagining of Asian history populated by martial artists, philosopher-generals, and gods,” Kuang’s early masterwork spans three installments: The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, and The Burning God. […]
Joshua Bennett, PhD, is a prize-winning poet and spoken word artist. He gained critical acclaim in 2016 with The Sobbing School, winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. Bennett’s follow-ups, Owed (2020) and The Study of Human Life (2022), solidified his standing as one of his generation’s most resonant and needed poetic voices. In a starred review for Owed, Publisher’s Weekly raves “these powerful, crisp poems celebrate the complexity, joy, and heartbreak of the Black experience in America.” Bennett’s newest release is Spoken Word: A Cultural History. In it, he tracks the origins and broad impact of a resilient art form that has long centered voices and experiences outside the dominant cultural narrative. In addition to his writing, Bennett is a professor at Dartmouth College and founding editor of Minor Notes, a Penguin Classics book series dedicated to the rediscovery of underappreciated Black poets from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Alka Joshi moved to the United States at age nine, but the author’s native Rajasthan, India looms large in her chart-topping historical fiction. Many readers know her best for The Henna Artist (2020), the first entry in The Jaipur Trilogy. It follows dye artisan and herbal healer Lakshmi Shastri, who flees an abusive marriage and attempts to earn a livelihood in the vibrant city of Jaipur. Set in the unsettled decade after the country’s independence, “The Henna Artist is a fabulous glimpse into Indian culture of the 1950s… rich in detail and bright with tastes and textures” (Bookpage). Reese Witherspoon selected Joshi’s debut for her Hello Sunshine Book Club, and the book will soon have a second life as a Netflix original series. The Perfumist of Paris, Joshi’s much-anticipated conclusion to The Jaipur Trilogy, hit shelves in March. In an early review, historical fiction mainstay Kate Quinn raves: “Evoking India and France with equal beauty, this is Alka Joshi’s best book yet!”
Ali Hazelwood holds a doctorate in neuroscience and a faculty position at a prestigious university. She also moonlights as one of the most popular romance authors writing today. Hazelwood’s distinctive brand centers on women in STEM fields and academia. She burst onto the literary scene in 2021 with The Love Hypothesis. Fellow romance writer Christina Lauren calls Hazelwood’s debut “contemporary romance’s unicorn – the elusive marriage of deeply brainy and delightfully escapist.” The Love Hypothesis has already been optioned for a screen treatment. Hazelwood’s next release, Love on the Brain (2022), became an instant New York Times bestseller, Indie Next Pick, and #1 LibraryReads selection. In a starred review, Booklist praised: “Snappy dialogue with witty zingers makes this tender enemies-to-lovers story, set at NASA, an unforgettable follow-up.” Hazelwood’s latest book, Loathe to Love You, collects three ‘STEMinist’ novellas released separately in 2022: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero.
Oscar Hokeah is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. He also proudly claims Mexican ancestry on his father’s side. Hokeah’s award-winning fiction explores intertribal identity and multicultural heritage. He honed his craft at the prestigious Institute of American Indian Arts, and his prose can be found in American Short Fiction, World Literature Today, and Literary Hub. Algonquin Books released Hokeah’s first novel, Calling For a Blanket Dance, to wide acclaim in July 2022. Like the author himself, intrepid protagonist Ever Geimausaddle comes from a family that is part Native American, part Mexican. “Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Calling For a Blanket Dance underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity – and the too-common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed” (The Millions). In addition to his burgeoning literary career, Hokeah works with Cherokee Nation Indian Child Welfare in his hometown of Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Janie Chang’s bestselling historical fiction is inspired by her Chinese ancestry, as well as that culture’s rich folkloric traditions. She gained a loyal following with Three Souls (2013) and Dragon Springs Road (2017), and reached a still wider audience with the 2020 release of The Library of Legends. Set against the Japanese invasion of China during World War II, this book club favorite centers on a group of student refugees who flee Nanjing with a priceless treasure: a 500-year-old compendium of ancient myths known as The Library of Legends. Chang’s newest novel, The Porcelain Moon, is set in France in the waning days of World War I. It spotlights the untold story of 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during The Great War. Fellow historical fiction writer Kate Quinn lauds: “The Porcelain Moon exhibits Chang’s signature trademarks – lyrical prose, deftly-drawn characters, and skillful excavation of little-known history – to give us a rare jewel in a sea of wartime fiction.”
Will Schwalbe is an acclaimed memoirist and entrepreneur. Amateur chefs may know him best as the mind behind Cookstr, the world’s largest free recipe database. Cookstr is owned today by Macmillan Publishing, where Schwalbe is now executive vice president of editorial development and content innovation. Schwalbe’s authorial debut, Send: Why People Email So Badly and How To Do It Better, first hit shelves in 2007 and is considered a modern classic among business professionals. However, most fans first encountered Schwalbe through The End of Your Life Book Club. In this intensely personal but widely relatable memoir, Schwalbe chronicles his mother’s cancer diagnosis, treatment, and death – and how shared reading experiences allowed them to enjoy a deep connection in dark times. Schwalbe’s new book is We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship. As the name suggests, this latest memoir tracks an improbable but life-changing “geek and jock” college friendship over the course of four decades.
According to a poll conducted by the BCC, novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby ranks as one of most influential people in British culture. Hornby is best known to American readers for his chart-topping novels High Fidelity (1995), About a Boy (1998), and Juliet, Naked (2009) – each of which has been adapted for the screen. […]
Marie Myung-Ok Lee is a treasured voice in Korean American literature. Her latest novel, The Evening Hero, follows the trials and travails of Korean obstetrician Dr. Yungman Kwak. In the wake of the Korean War, Kwak left his family and village to pursue the American Dream in rural Minnesota. Lee’s poignant, time-jumping narrative encompasses “rural […]
Leila Mottley is the pen behind Nightcrawling, one of the most-anticipated and best-reviewed fiction releases of 2022. Set in the author’s native Oakland, California, this searing debut welcomes readers into the world of 17-year-old Kiara Johnson. After her rent skyrockets, Kiara turns to sex work to stave off homelessness. She soon finds herself in the […]
Historical fiction phenom Kristin Harmel is the #1 international bestselling author behind book club favorites The Sweetness of Forgetting (2012) and The Winemaker’s Wife (2019). She reached a still wider audience with the publication of The Book of Lost Names in 2020. Inspired by a true story of WWII heroism, The Book of Lost Names […]
British Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid’s international bestsellers have been translated into an astounding forty languages. They include The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Exit West (2017), two novels shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013), which won the Tiziano Terzani International Literary Prize. Hamid is also an […]
Jamie Ford made waves in 2009 with the publication of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which charted on The New York Times Best Seller list for more than two years. It also won Ford the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His follow ups, Songs of Willow Frost (2013) and Love and […]
Speculative fiction writer Peng Shepherd burst onto the literary scene in 2019 with The Book of M. In this critically acclaimed debut, people all across the globe are mysteriously shedding their shadows – and a few days later, losing their memories as well. Booklist praises the premise as “existential apocalypse that is eerie, dark, and […]
Acclaimed essayist and poet Boyah J. Farah immigrated to the United States in the mid-1990s as part of the Somali diaspora, when thousands of families fled the war-torn Horn of Africa. Instead of finding safety and freedom, Farah quickly learned that his adoptive country is plagued by deep-seated issues of its own. Systemic injustices against […]
Rebecca Roanhorse is among a small cohort of “Indigenous novelists reshaping North American science fiction, horror, and fantasy – genres in which Native writers have long been overlooked” (The New […]
Tia Williams is a tour de force in the style industry. For more than two decades, she served as beauty editor for iconic magazines including Elle, Glamour, and Essence. She […]
Few authors today boast the cross-genre appeal or international following of novelist James Rollins. Over the past three decades, Rollins has published standalone thrillers, the popular Jake Ransom middle grade […]
Jason Mott is the pen behind Hell of a Book, winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly described Mott’s modern masterpiece as […]
Maggie Shipstead is the author behind Great Circle, one of the most anticipated, best reviewed, and bestselling fiction releases of 2021. Her modern masterpiece intertwines the stories of Marian Graves, […]
Chart-topping novelist Julie Otsuka is the daughter of Japanese immigrants, and a poignant chronicler of the Japanese American experience across the first half of the twentieth century. Her breakout debut […]
Victoria Christopher Murray boasts more than 30 books to her credit – and is as versatile as she is prolific. Her writing runs the gamut from contemporary romance, to teen […]
Brendan Slocumb is a classically trained violinist and accomplished music educator. During his own education at the University of Carolina Greensboro, Slocumb served as concertmaster for the University Symphony. Slocumb […]
Internationally acclaimed British novelist Maggie O’Farrell is the author behind eight bestselling novels. Readers and critics alike praise her “demonstrated mastery at depicting strained relationships, skewed family loyalties, and the […]
Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley is “one of America’s most accomplished and wide-ranging writers” (Dallas Morning News). Her thirty books to date include two short story collections, two biographies, and […]
Chart-topping novelist Kawai Strong Washburn lives in Minnesota but hails proudly from the Big Island of Hawai’i. His upbringing on the magical Hāmākua Coast inspires and infuses his first fiction […]
Tamara Winfrey-Harris is a nationally renowned columnist and speaker. Her work focuses on the fraught intersection of race and sex. In 2015, Winfrey-Harris published The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the […]
Prince was one of the most original, accomplished and beloved musicians of our time. He was also, undeniably, one of the most enigmatic. In early 2016, “The Purple One” approached […]
Kate Quinn is one of the best known – and bestselling – authors writing today in the realm of historical fiction. Standouts include her four-book Empress of Rome series, two […]
Over the last decade, thriller novelist Mary Kubica has established herself as a mainstay of the genre. The Good Girl, her 2014 breakout about an amnesiac kidnapping victim, became an […]
Rita Woods is the author behind Remembrance, one of the most celebrated historical fiction debuts in years. Woods’ opus straddles literary genres and historical epochs. In this book, “Remembrance” is […]
Qian Julie Wang is an Ivy League trained litigator and managing partner of New York City’s prestigious Gottlieb & Wang LLP – a law firm specializing in advocacy for immigrants […]
Angeline Boulley is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and former director of the Office of Indian Education at the US. Department of Education. Her […]
Mystery phenom Rachell Howzell Hall is the pen behind the four-volume Elouise “Lou” Norton series. Readers and critics laud Hall’s intrepid and memorable lead as “a strong and likeable African […]
Ian Manuel is a name well known to legal and criminal justice reform advocates. Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for a crime committed at the age of […]
Michelle Zauner is a darling of the modern indie music scene, better known by fans under her solo project alias Japanese Breakfast. Zauner’s family moved to the United States from […]
Lawrence Wright is an acclaimed journalist, screenwriter and novelist. His impressive ten nonfiction titles to date include The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Wright also executive produced a 10-episode miniseries adapted from this 2006 exposé (starring Alec Baldwin and Jeff Daniels) for Hulu in 2018. His explosive follow-up, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, likewise received the screen treatment. Wright co-produced a 2015 film adaptation that won three Emmys (including for Best Documentary), along with the prestigious Peabody Award. Wright’s recent fiction includes the eerily prescient novel The End of October, a 2020 medical thriller about a virus that originates in Asia before ravaging the globe. According to The New York Times Book Review, “Wright applies the magisterial force of his reporting skills, spinning a novel of pestilence, war and social collapse that – given the current pandemic – cuts exceedingly close to the bone.”
Food Network favorite Abby Jimenez is an award-winning pastry chef, and the owner of the world-famous Nadia Cakes cupcakery and custom cake studio. A self-taught baker, Jimenez won Food Network’s […]
Therese Anne Fowler is a perennial favorite among historical fiction readers. She is perhaps best known for Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (2014). Z showcases the incredible life and […]
Robert Kolker is an established and esteemed investegative reporter. Long known in journalism circles for his exposés in New York Magazine and Bloomgberg News, Kolker became one of the nation’s […]
Chart-topping historian H.W. Brands is one of the foremost American Studies scholars writing today – and also one of the most prolific. With nearly 40 published books to date, his […]
Claire Lombardo is one of few first-time authors to see their debut novel chart immediately on the New York Times Bestseller List. The Most Fun We Ever Had follows the […]
Cameroonian-American novelist Imbolo Mbue burst onto the literary scene in 2016 with her debut novel Behold the Dreamers. Semi-autobiographical in nature, the book tracks a young Cameroonian couple as they […]
John Moe is one of Minnesota’s best-known radio and podcast personalities. The reporter and talk show host first cut his teeth in the Seattle radio market, before bringing his unique […]
Lauren Fox is an acknowledged master of the family novel. Readers enjoyed their first taste of her achingly funny take on marriage, friendship, and domesticity in Still Life with Husband […]
Eduardo Porter is an economics reporter for The New York Times. His distinguished career in journalism has taken him to Mexico City, São Paulo, Tokyo, and many points in between. […]
Megha Majumdar is the author behind A Burning, one of the most anticipated and best reviewed fiction debuts of 2020. Set in modern-day India, this propulsive narratives hinges around three […]
David Treuer is a member of the Leech Lake band of Ojibwe, and one of the foremost chroniclers of the rich and diverse Native American experience – past and present. […]
Moroccan American novelist Laila Lalami uses fiction as a vehicle to showcase “overlooked” North African stories and experiences. Notable examples include her 2014 breakout The Moor’s Account, which reconstructs the […]
Acclaimed journalist and climate advocate Dahr Jamail is the author of The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption. Part travelogue and part […]
Nancy Pearl is America’s Librarian. As the head of the Washington Center for the Book, she pioneered the groundbreaking “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” series in the […]
Morgan Jerkins is the New York Times bestselling memoirist behind the popular 2018 essay collection This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in […]
Brad Taylor is the pen behind the New York Times bestselling Pike Logan series. Now spanning fourteen installments, Taylor’s high-octane thrillers center around “the Taskforce” – a highly trained covert […]
Gish Jen is a second generation Chinese American, and a thoughtful chronicler of emigration, assimilation, and multiculturalism as they relate to the modern American experience. The Los Angeles Times said […]
Lara Prescott belongs to the small, exclusive club of authors who have had their work optioned for film. While this is an impressive accomplishment on the face of it, still […]
National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson is the author of four novels, including the critically acclaimed Where the Dead Sit Talking. Hobson’s layered coming-of-age story focuses around a Cherokee boy […]
Columbian-born Ingrid Rojas Contreras is author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree, one of 2018’s breakout fiction debuts. Based in part on the author’s own experiences growing up in factious […]
Nicola Yoon is one of the best known – and bestselling – authors writing today in the realm of YA fiction. Her debut, Everything, Everything, catapulted her to the top […]
Dacre Stoker is the great grand-nephew of renowned Irish novelist Bram Stoker, the mind behind the genre-defining classic Dracula. He is also manager of his famous ancestor’s estate, and an […]
Mystery phenom J.A. Jance is the mind behind not one, but four blockbuster series. Her corpus, stretching back to 1985, includes nearly 70 novels to date. Jance’s popular and compelling […]
Over the past decade, Thrity Umrigar has emerged as a leading, cherished voice in Indian American literature. Her fiction, usually set in urban India, showcases the wealth of diversity found […]
In the span of six short weeks in 2014, Nora McInerny had a miscarriage, buried her father, and lost her husband Aaron to an aggressive brain tumor. Devastated but undeterred, […]
New York Times bestselling historian Charles C. Mann is perhaps best known for his ground-breaking 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. As the name suggests, 1491 challenges and […]
Minnesota’s own Lorna Landvik is a comedienne, actress, playwright, and prolific novelist. Her 1995 fiction debut, Patty Jane’s House of Curl – a zany but heartwarming story about two Minnesota […]
Cooking sensation Kwame Onwuachi is one of America’s best known chefs of color, and a vocal ambassador for Afro-Caribbean fusion cuisine. He first gained a national following as a Final […]
Award-winning novelist and poet Linda LeGarde Grover is a poignant chronicler of the modern Native American experience. A member of the Bois Forte Band of the Chippewa Tribe – and […]
Chart-topping novelist Leif Enger burst onto the literary scene in 2001 with Peace Like a River – one of this century’s few fiction debuts to sell a million copies. Set […]
Internationally renowned thriller novelist Don Winslow is the mind behind “The Godfather trilogy of our time” – this according to sources as varied as The New York Times, Esquire magazine, […]
Tennessee native Emily Bernard is intimately familiar with, and endlessly fascinated by, the “complexities and paradoxes” of growing up as a person of color in the American South. She captures […]
Peabody Award- winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz is one of the nation’s foremost commentators on urban violence and community perseverance. He is best known for […]
Bestselling author Deborah Blum is one of America’s foremost science writers, and one of only a handful to find publishing success writing about the history of science. Blum’s debut, The […]
David Grann is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His gripping debut, The Lost City of Z (2009), follows the life and mysterious disappearance of Amazon explorer Percy Fawcett. […]
African American historian Wil Haygood made waves in 2008 with the publication of a feature in The Washington Post titled “A Butler Well Served by This Election.” It profiled the […]
Outside of the United States, the city of Duluth is best known by many as the primary setting for the mysteries of prolific, internationally bestselling novelist Brian Freeman. He is […]
National Book Award winner Julia Glass won one of fiction’s highest honors with her debut novel. That breakout, Three Junes (2002), follows the lives and loves of a Scottish family […]
Eli Saslow is a Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist, and a leading voice in the discourse around resurgent white nationalism and how to combat it. His first book-length treatment of this […]
Eli Saslow is a Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist, and a leading voice in the discourse around resurgent white nationalism and how to combat it. His first book-length treatment of this […]
Award-winning journalist and feminist icon Peggy Orenstein is a leading voice in the national conversations around gender norms and expectations. Her influential exposés include Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from […]
Somali expat and debut author Abdi Nor Iftin is the pen behind one of the most anticipated – and most timely – nonfiction releases of 2018. Iftin’s long and harrowing […]
Chart-topping mystery phenom Karin Slaughter is the author behind nearly twenty thrillers to date. Collectively, her books have sold a staggering 35 million copies across more than 120 countries. She […]
Samantha Irby is a comedienne and memoirist, and a decidedly unique voice in contemporary African American literature. Her fresh, honest brand of humor first came to the attention of readers […]
Emily Fridlund’s opus History of Wolves straddles the line between thriller and coming-of-age novel. Fridlund’s teenage protagonist, Linda, is an outsider in her close-knit Northwoods community. She finally finds a […]
Patricia Hampl is one of those rare authors who holds perennial appeal with general audiences, but is also beloved by writers everywhere: “lyric, cerebral, and a boon companion at any […]
Ariel Lawhon is a rising star in the realm of historical fiction. Her first forays into the popular genre include The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress (2014), which explores […]
Laura Lippman is author of the chart-topping Tess Monaghan series. Plucky, resourceful Baltimore private eye Tess Monaghan is a consistent New York Times bestseller, and the dozen installments so far […]
Edward Kelsey Moore is the pen behind 2014’s breakout hit The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat. Moore’s debut follows three life-long friends – dubbed “The Supremes” while in high school – […]
Lawyer-turned-novelist Allen Eskens burst onto the thrillers scene in 2014 with his “compulsively suspenseful” (Bookpage) mystery The Life We Bury. This literary debut won the former defense attorney the genre’s […]
Acclaimed writer and prison reform advocate Heather Ann Thompson, PhD, is the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for History. Thompson won that high honor for Blood in the Water: […]
Shawn Lawrence Otto is a science activist and two-time Minnesota Book Award winner. His nonfiction debut, Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America (2012), is a meticulously […]
Minnesota boasts its fair share of thriller novelists, but few are as prolific as David Housewright. Intrepid ex-cop Holland Taylor, Housewright’s original protagonist, first came to the attention of readers […]
Dave Page is one of the foremost scholars writing today on the life and legacy of Saint Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald. Among other credits, Page edited The Thoughtbook of […]
Scandinavian readers who have never visited the United States have come to know northern Minnesota intimately through the inspired work of Norwegian crime novelist Vidar Sundstøl. He is best known, […]
Nigerian-American short fiction favorite Lesley Nneka Arimah made waves in April with the release of her long-awaited collection What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky. For months […]
Only a handful of romance writers can boast a career as long or prolific as Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Over the past three decades, she has published nearly thirty books. Moreover, […]
P.J. Tracy is the pseudonym of mother-daughter writing duo Patricia (P.J.) and Traci Lambrecht, authors behind the internationally bestselling Monkeewrench mystery series. Set right here in the Twin Cities, the […]
Ghanaian-American novelist Yaa Gyasi is the author behind Homegoing, one of the breakout hits of 2016. This sweeping, transcontinental family saga follows the descendants of two sisters torn apart by […]
Minnesota’s own Lorna Landvik is a comedienne, actress, playwright, and prolific novelist. Her 1995 fiction debut, Patty Jane’s House of Curl – a zany but heartwarming story about two Minnesota […]
Julie Rivett is a scholar and granddaughter of Dashiell Hammett, author of the 1929 detective classic The Maltese Falcon. Hammett is considered the father of the “hard-boiled” style of detective […]
Award-winning novelist Lily King is the author of Euphoria, one of 2014’s best reviewed books. King’s popular page-turner is inspired by and loosely based around the New Guinea fieldwork of […]
Pam Jenoff is the author behind The Kommandant’s Girl (2007), one of this past decade’s best received works of historical romance. After the Nazis occupy Poland in 1939, young Jewish […]
Book club favorite Jamie Ford made waves in 2009 with the publication of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Set in Seattle against the backdrop of Japanese-American internment […]
Richard Zacks is an accomplished journalist and historian, best known by many for his gripping, well-researched books on topics relating to the Golden Age of Piracy. These include The Pirate […]
Chris Pavone burst onto the mystery thriller scene in 2012 with The Expats, a chart-topping spy novel centered around an unassuming American housewife who stumbles upon evidence of a major […]
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American memoirist and teacher, and a leading voice for one of Minnesota’s fastest growing ethnic groups. Her moving 2008 memoir, The Latehomecomer, chronicles the story […]
Internationally bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Nnedi Okorafor is one of that genre’s most unique contemporary voices. Her spell-binding work is inspired by her rich West African heritage. Titles […]
Minneapolis native R.T. Rybak served as mayor of Minnesota’s largest city from 2002 to 2014, before stepping down from the post at the end of a third term. His post-mayoral […]
Internationally renowned naturalist, author, documentarian and media commentator Sy Montgomery is sometimes described as “part Indiana Jones, part Emily Dickinson” (Boston Globe). A distinguished career in animal behavior research has […]
Candice Millard is a New York Times bestselling historian widely acclaimed for producing “crisp, concise and revealing history” (The Washington Post). She began her distinguished career as a writer and […]
American Book Award winner Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a master of many different genres. Her hit novels to date include The Mistress of Spices (1997), Sister of My Heart (1999), […]
Architect-turned-author Charlotte Rogan made waves on the literary scene with the publication of The Lifeboat, a tense and haunting survival story set at sea at the outset of World War […]
Lucie Amundsen is a self-described ‘reluctant farmer’ and co-owner, with her husband Jason, of Locally Laid Egg Company, a ranch enterprise in Duluth that supplies pasture-raised eggs to markets in […]
Mystery favorite Cara Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer behind the popular Aimée Leduc private investigator series. Set in and around Paris, Leduc’s adventures span […]
Forrest Pritchard is a seventh-generation farmer and New York Times bestselling memoirist. He is one of the nation’s foremost experts on and champions of organic and sustainable farming practices. Pritchard’s […]
Mystery phenom J.A. Jance is the mind behind not one, but three blockbuster series. Her corpus, stretching back to 1985, includes an impressive 60 novels to date. Jance’s popular and […]
Book club favorite Jacquelyn Mitchard is the author of ten acclaimed novels to date. Her 1996 debut, The Deep End of the Ocean, propelled the author to superstar status after […]
Lyndsay Faye is one of the most unique voices writing today in the realms of historical and speculative fiction. Her 2009 debut, Dust and Shadow, takes place in Victorian-era England, […]
Writers David Mura and Sun Yung Shin will come together for an evening of conversation about the Asian-American experience in Minnesota. David Mura is a multitalented poet, novelist, memoirist, and […]
Novelist Christina Baker Kline is best known by many as the author behind Orphan Train, a runaway hit that reached #1 on The New York Times bestseller list – and […]
Karen Abbott is a New York Times bestselling historian and a pioneer of what USA Today calls “sizzle history.” Her hits to date include Sin in the Second City (2008) […]
Lori Sturdevant is a veteran editorial writer and columnist for the Star Tribune and one of the most recognizable bylines in Twin Cities print journalism. Her forte is state government […]
Novelist and memoirist, Brando Skyhorse, made a name for himself in 2011 with the publication of The Madonnas of Echo Park. This fiction debut – set in one of Los […]
Authors Alexs Pate and Tish Jones come together for an evening of conversation about their writing and the African American experience in Minnesota. Pate is a professor of writing, playwright, […]
Minnesota boasts more than its share of homegrown thriller novelists, and Chuck Logan ranks near the top of that list for many. He is best known for his six-book Phil […]
Ron Rash is one of the most popular authors writing today in the areas of historical and regional fiction. Rash’s “powerful, yet gently beautiful” novels draw heavily from his own […]
Journalist Marja Mills made a name for herself in the literature world last year with the publication of her much-anticipated The Mockingbird Next Door. Considered the definitive biography on Harper […]
Detective fiction favorite, Sara Paretsky, is the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestselling V.I. Warshawski series. Warshawski, an intrepid private investigator from Chicago, “always […]
Mitchell Zuckoff is a veteran journalist and prolific historian. A two-decade career as a roving correspondent for The Boston Globe won him numerous accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination. As […]
Book club favorite, Meg Waite Clayton, is the author of five novels to date. Her 2002 debut, The Language of Light, was a finalist for that year’s Bellwether Prize for […]
Literary dynamo Garth Stein is best known by many for 2008’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, a runaway hit that spent a consecutive 156 weeks on The New […]
Jon Ronson is among Britain’s most prolific journalists and documentarians, and a household name throughout that country. He first came to the attention of most Americans with the publication of […]
Over the last eight years, Marisa de los Santos has penned three consecutive New York Times bestsellers: Love Walked In in 2006, Belong to Me in 2011, and Falling Together […]
Anthony Marra’s 2013 opus, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, takes place against the backdrop of occupation and insurgency in war-torn Chechnya. NPR called it “one of the most accomplished and […]
Jonathan Odell’s popular books draw from and explore racial divisions that continue to define his native Mississippi. His second novel, 2012’s The Healing, garnered praise for its candid look at […]
Nadia Hashimi made waves last year with the release of her fiction debut, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell – “a luminous tale of two women, destiny, and identity in […]
Amy Quan Barry is a Vietnamese-American author and poet. Her work has appeared in a wide range of literary publications, including The New Yorker and Ploughshares. Barry has written three […]
Before turning his attention to novels, literary fiction breakout Peter Heller made a name for himself as a contributor to and editor for such publications as National Geographic Adventure, Outside […]
Over a prolific career spanning five decades, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni has penned nearly twenty popular poetry collections including, more recently, Acolytes (2007), Bicycles: Love Poems (2009), and Chasing […]
Literary fiction writer Rebecca Rasmussen garnered accolades in 2011 for The Bird Sisters, an “achingly authentic, almost completely character driven” novel chronicling the remarkable lives of two spinster sisters in […]
Julie Klassen is Minnesota’s answer to Jane Austen. Her romances, set in Regency-era England, have a strong and growing national following. Two of these, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall and […]
Hampton Sides is one of the best known – and bestselling – American historians of the past decade. Sides first made a name for himself with 2001’s Ghost Soldiers, a […]
Sue Miller is the author of nearly a dozen bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Her first two hits, The Good Mother and Inventing the Abbotts, saw successful big screen adaptations […]
Jennifer McMahon’s unique brand of suspense straddles the line between conventional mystery and supernatural thriller. Her novels have been staples on The New York Times bestseller list since her 2009 […]
Canadian mystery phenom Louise Penny is the author behind the wildly popular Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, set in Quebec but sold around the world in twenty different languages. She […]
Amy Bloom is among the elite set of contemporary American storytellers to see international success as a novelist, short story author, and screenwriter. Bloom’s short fiction has been nominated for […]
Lev Grossman is the author of the bestselling Magicians trilogy, lauded by the Washington Post as a “masterful… fresh and compelling” addition to the corpus of coming-of-age fantasy literature popularized […]
This last Club Book Podcast of the 2014 Winter/Spring season features Amanda Coplin at her April 24th visit to Stillwater Public Library. Amanda Coplin’s majestic debut novel, The Orchardist, was […]
J. Courtney Sullivan is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Commencement, Maine, and The Engagements. Maine was named a Best Book of the Year by Time magazine, […]
This Club Book Podcast features authors Peter Geye and Amy Greene coming together for an evening of conversation about their work and the rich physical landscapes that drive their writing […]
This Club Book Podcast features Brian Freeman at his April 7th visit to Rum River Library in Anoka. Brian Freeman is Minnesota’s own master of psychological suspense. He is best […]
This Club Book Podcast features Dave Zirin at his March 19th visit to Southdale Library in Edina. Dave Zirin, correspondent and sports editor for The Nation, is the author, most recently, […]
This Club Book Podcast features P.S. Duffy at her March 11th event at Merriam Park Library in Saint Paul. Duffy’s highly praised fiction debut, The Cartographer of No Man’s Land, […]
This Club Book podcast features Elizabeth Berg at her February 26th event at Galaxie Library in Dakota County. One of the most prolific New York Times bestselling authors of the […]
This Club Book podcast features Julie Kramer at her February 11th event at Central Park Amphitheatre in Washington County. Set in the cutthroat world of television news, Julie Kramer’s alliteratively […]
This Club Book podcast features Amy Thielen at her February 3rd event at Prior Lake Library in Scott County. Thielen is a classically trained chef and host of Food Network’s […]