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Author News & Interviews

Interview: Jamie Ford, author of Love and Other Consolation Prizes

Sep 14, 2017

Jamie Ford, whose debut novel HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is being adapted into a film, returns with a new work of historical fiction. Inspired by a true story, LOVE AND OTHER CONSOLATION PRIZES is about a boy whose life is transformed at Seattle’s 1909 World’s Fair. In this interview conducted by Carol Fitzgerald, the president and co-founder of The Book Report Network, Ford discusses his inspiration for the novel, the social issues that are explored here (specifically class in its many forms as an underlying theme), and his penchant for writing strong female characters. He also talks about his decision to add titles to his chapters, why his original title for the book, “The Consolation Prize,” had to be scrapped, his tendency to overdo it when it comes to his research, and what readers can look forward to seeing from him in the near future.

Author Talk: Philippa Gregory, author of The Last Tudor

Aug 15, 2017

Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, THE LAST TUDOR, features one of the most famous girls in history, Lady Jane Grey, and her two sisters, each of whom dared to defy her queen. In this interview, Gregory talks about the book’s origin, explaining why she was interested in telling the story of all three Grey sisters and with three different narrators. She also discusses what surprised her in the course of writing it, the film that introduced her to the Tudors when she was just a teenager, and her involvement in a project called Gardens for The Gambia, which was established in 1993 to provide water for wells in the gardens of rural schools in The Gambia, one of the poorest countries in Africa.

Author Talk: Fiona Davis, author of The Address

Aug 8, 2017

In her debut novel, THE DOLLHOUSE, Fiona Davis pulled readers into the lush world of New York City's glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women. For her follow-up, THE ADDRESS, the setting shifts to another iconic New York building, The Dakota, one of the first apartment houses to be built on the Upper West Side. In this interview, Davis talks about her inspiration for her second novel, how she chose the story’s two timelines (the 1880s and the 1980s), the research she conducted, and the ways in which she seamlessly blended fact and fiction.

Interview: Michelle Richmond, author of The Marriage Pact

Jul 28, 2017

New York Times bestselling author Michelle Richmond’s latest novel, THE MARRIAGE PACT, is an intense and shocking tale that asks: How far would you go to protect your marriage? In this interview, conducted by Bookreporter.com’s Joe Hartlaub, Richmond explains why she wrote the book, which was partly inspired by her longstanding fascination with cult-like organizations that lure people in with the promise of helping them to live fuller, happier lives and be better versions of themselves, and how she came up with the four rules that form the bedrock of The Pact. She also talks about the important role that Leonard Cohen and his music played in the novel, how her books (including this one) cross genres, her decision to explore the world of writing at such a young age, and the single best action she took on her road to success.

Author Talk: Jean Hanff Korelitz, author of The Devil and Webster

Apr 4, 2017

Jean Hanff Korelitz is the bestselling author of such novels as YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN and ADMISSION, and is the creator of BOOKTHEWRITER, a New York City-based service that sends authors to book groups. Her highly anticipated new work of fiction, THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER, is about a college president who must reevaluate her values and identity, a tangled student protest, and some of the most controversial issues on today’s college campuses. In this interview, Korelitz discusses her inspirations and what she hopes readers will take away from the book, as well as how notions of voice, gender and truth play a role in her storytelling.