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Author News & Interviews

Author Talk: Christie Tate, author of Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

Oct 29, 2020

GROUP is November’s Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick. Here, Chicago-based writer and essayist Christie Tate details how she reluctantly chose to get psychologically and emotionally naked in a room of six complete strangers --- her psychotherapy group --- and in turn found human connection, and herself. In this interview, Tate discusses what inspired her to share her daring, exhilarating, painful and hilarious journey with the world; how her fellow group members have reacted to being featured in the book; her evolving relationship with her eccentric therapist, Dr. Rosen, and how she would encourage skeptical readers to embrace some facets of his unique approach; why she considers her memoir to be a bildungsroman; and her decision to end GROUP with a “Ten Years Later” update rather than with her wedding.

Interview: Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies

Sep 16, 2020

Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play “Disgraced” and whose debut novel, AMERICAN DERVISH, was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012. His highly anticipated second work of fiction, HOMELAND ELEGIES, is about an immigrant father and his son who search for belonging --- in post-Trump America, and with each other. In this interview, conducted by Bookreporter.com reviewer Harvey Freedenberg, Akhtar talks about one of the book’s most powerful scenes --- Ayad’s description of his experience in Manhattan on 9/11 --- and how he went about recreating the terrible sights and overwhelming emotions of that day; what he thinks it will take for those who harbor suspicions about Muslims to view them with less hostility; and the pivotal role that dreams play in the novel.

Author Talk: Rita Dragonette, author of The Fourteenth of September

Sep 14, 2020

Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Heather Morris, Rita Dragonette’s debut novel, THE FOURTEENTH OF SEPTEMBER, is based upon her personal experience on campus during the Vietnam War and is told through the rare perspective of a young woman who traces her path to self-discovery. In this interview, Dragonette talks about how what she lived through in 1969-1970 parallels the activism that is occurring right now in the United States; why she calls her book a coming-of-conscience novel; what she hopes readers will take away from the story; and her future writing projects.

Author Talk: Alice Hoffman, author of The World That We Knew

Sep 25, 2019

In 1941, during humanity’s darkest hour, three young women must act with courage and love to survive. This is the premise of Alice Hoffman’s spellbinding new novel, THE WORLD THAT WE KNEW, which is set mainly in France during the Nazi occupation. In this interview, Hoffman discusses her inspiration for the book; how she used magic to reach the emotional heart of such a cruel time in history; the research she conducted, which included traveling to France and visiting the chateaus where Jewish children were sent when they were separated from their parents; the character in the novel who moved her the most; and her next project, which is sure to excite readers of her Practical Magic series.

Interview: William Kent Krueger, author of This Tender Land

Sep 3, 2019

William Kent Krueger is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller ORDINARY GRACE and the long-running Cork O’Connor mystery series. His latest stand-alone novel, THIS TENDER LAND, is about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the early years of the Great Depression. In this interview, conducted by Bookreporter.com reviewer Joe Hartlaub, Krueger discusses his inspiration for the book, which he describes as an updated version of THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; what he learned about the Depression during the course of his extensive research that surprised him the most; why the vast majority of the story’s action takes place in southern Minnesota; and exciting details about his current work-in-progress --- a prequel to the Cork O’Connor series.