March 15, 2023 | Issue #134 |
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Kristy Woodson Harvey had a fabulous time in Florida launching the paperback of THE WEDDING VEIL and spending the weekend with friends. She wants to thank everyone for their support of the paperback and all the love for THE WEDDING VEIL. She is in Boston this week with Patti Callahan Henry at Simon & Schuster selects introducing THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS to booksellers—and crossing her fingers and toes she’s able to get out of town with this nor’easter!
Kristin Harmel is celebrating the end of chemotherapy (and her son Noah’s spring break!) with a few hotel stays around Orlando this week. Next up: Four weeks of radiation therapy, beginning next week. In the meantime, she’s looking forward to hitting the road for a tour for THE PARIS DAUGHTER in just twelve weeks. It will be so nice to get out on the road again after spending the winter and early spring with a compromised immune system! She can’t wait and will hopefully be able to announce her full tour schedule soon. Some events, like her Friends & Fiction launch party with Mary Kay, Kristy, and Patti in Huntsville, Alabama and this “Lunch and Lit” event in Greenville, SC with indie bookseller M. Judson are on sale already!
Mary Kay Andrews and family and friends threw a successful and super-fun Shamrock Shenanigans fundraiser this past Saturday for the scholarship named in her daughter’s honor, and is trying to get back in the writing groove now that the party’s over.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Sarah Penner!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
I worked in finance for 13 years, and if I weren’t a writer, I would certainly still be working in corporate America! Not nearly as fun as writing, is it?
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
A lot of people seem surprised when I tell them I have no formal writing background. No MFA, just a few college English credits. I graduated with a business degree. I began writing as a way to fulfill my creative energies, and because I loved learning about London’s history. I’m proof that you don’t need a formal writing background to be an author!
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve loved writing since I was a kid. I’ve always journaled, and in high school I tried my hand at some very terrible poetry. I’ve always loved language and communicating, and even when I was young, I would peruse the shelves at Borders bookstore (who remembers Borders?!) and imagine seeing my name on one of the covers.
Do you have any writing rituals?
I need silence to write, so I do my best work in my home office. I put on noise-canceling headphones, and I keep a glass of water and my chapstick handy. I’m a big fan of timed writing sprints, too. I like to do five sprints, 30 minutes each. With breaks, it’s about 3 hours, and usually very productive!
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida is just a dream! They’ve hosted both of my launch events. It’s a gorgeous store. Every week, they bring in a huge fresh flower display that they situate alongside new releases.
The last book you raved about:
The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell! Think Great British Bakeoff, but throw in a murder mystery. It’s so deliciously fun (pun intended!)
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
My first two books were both set in London, but—surprise!—my next book takes place along the dazzling Amalfi coastline in Italy. Think shipwrecks, sunken treasure, and rumors about a coven of witches living along the coast hundreds of years ago… I’m about halfway done with the first draft. Look for it in 2025!
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Get to Know Our Friend, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
I once worked as a librarian at the American International School in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I was in charge of ordering new books for the library and I must say I had one of the best jobs! So if I weren’t a writer, I would love to be a librarian.
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was a little girl, growing up in the rural area in Southern Vietnam, my family’s most precious belonging was a small bookshelf my father built himself using bamboo from our garden. It was filled with books that my parents had bought with their savings. Still, there weren’t enough books to quench my thirst, so I read them so often, the pages fell off. Those books enabled me to escape our poverty and lived a rich life filled with imagination and adventures. From those moments, I wanted to be a writer.
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
People of my parents’ generation in Vietnam don’t celebrate birthdays (only death anniversaries), so every year when I turned older, I yearned for a birthday party. One year, when my parents had gone to bed, I stayed up, lit our oil lamp and wrote a poem about a birthday party where my friends and family celebrated my new age, with a real birthday cake. I think I was around seven years old. It was my first piece of fiction, written in the form of poetry.
Do you have any writing rituals?
I used to get up at 4:30 am as a teenager to go catch shrimps at different ponds near my house. I lived in a tropical climate all year round and the shrimps liked to leave their hiding places and go out to eat before the sun arrived, making the water too hot. Nowadays, I often wake up at 4:30am to catch the earliest words of the day.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
I live very far away from the U.S. (I am currently in Kyrgyzstan). My first book in English, The Mountains Sing was launched into the pandemic as it was released in March 2020. My national U.S. book tour to 14 cities, which I had spent six months organizing with my publicist, was canceled. I was devastated, but many independent booksellers and librarians came to my rescue by holding virtual events and book clubs for me. There are too many people to name here and I just want to say how thankful I am to be alive so that I can experience the magic of people’s kindness and compassion.
The last book you raved about:
Kristin Harmel’s The Paris Daughter (to be published on June 6, 2023). I had the honor of reading an advanced readers copy and written a blurb. Here is my full blurb: “Brilliantly crafted and heart-shatteringly beautiful, THE PARIS DAUGHTER is one of the best historical novels I have ever read. With a poet’s pen and a mother’s heart, Kristin Harmel has painted and sculptured a masterpiece depicting the lives of women, children and men who were pulled into the vortex of World War II and whose extraordinary stories remind us how precious it is to be able to hold our family close. This is a timeless book of survival, strength, courage, a forever lasting song calling for peace.” This book is really incredible and I can’t wait to celebrate it with you all.
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
My third novel in English, tentatively entitled Rice Lullaby, deals with human trafficking and human smuggling, a major issue faced by our world today.
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Subscribe to the Friends & Fiction 2023 First Edition Subscription Box!
Purchase of this special 2023 Friends & Fiction First Edition Subscription Box includes each 2023 NEW & SIGNED hardcover release from ALL FOUR of the Friends & Fiction host authors plus a fun, small gift included with the first shipment—a kitchen towel that reads, “Dinner can wait. It’s time for Friends & Fiction!”
Subscribers will receive four shipments around each book release:
May 2023—Patti Callahan Henry's The Secret Book of Flora Lea
June 2023—Kristin Harmel's The Paris Daughter
July 2023—Kristy Woodson Harvey's The Summer of Songbirds
Sept 2023—Mary Kay Andrews's Bright Lights, Big Christmas
Subscription price of $125 includes tax and all shipping charges. Sign up now at Booktowne.com!
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming this Friday, March 17th—Ron & MKA talk to Jenny Jackson about her debut novel PINEAPPLE STREET, just released to rave reviews and named a GMA Book Club pick.
Out Now! WB_S5E10—Ron and Patti talk to author Jessa Maxwell about her book The Golden Spoon, which has been described as Only Murders in the Building meets The Maid. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S5E9—Ron & Meg talk to bestselling author Rebecca Makkai (whose The Great Believers was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award) about her brand-new novel, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU. LISTEN NOW!
Listen, download, subscribe, rate, review & share wherever you get your podcasts!
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News from the Zibby Award-Winning Friends &Fiction Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa
We’ve got some great events coming up! Take a look at our book club schedule and be sure to save the dates. All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
Coming up:
Grab these books and start reading now!
If you missed it:
Watch our Feb 9th happy hour with Ron Block HERE.
Follow us!
We are on YouTube! View previous book club discussions and happy hours at your leisure. Subscribe to our channel HERE!
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Join us on Facebook. We would love to have you!
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The F&F 2023 Reading Challenge!
We have announced the 2023 F&F Reading Challenge! This year the challenge is being run by the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa. Join in on all the fun on their Facebook group page. Each month there is a different category prompt designed to get all of us reading outside of our comfort zone. Let’s have fun together all year long reading books from lots of different genres. On the book club’s Facebook page, there will be ideas shared for each category and the chance to talk with fellow members about your reading selections. The timeless F&F Reading Journal makes the perfect companion piece to this or any reading challenge, helping you keep track of all the books you read all year long. Grab your reading journal HERE.
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F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
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Did you miss the March 8th episode with Jennifer Rosner and Julia Kelly? If so, you can watch it on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show on YouTube every Wednesday night at 7pm ET. And every episode since our show’s inception can be found there too. So if you ever miss one, or in case Facebook is being difficult, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode and get alerted every time we post new content. We also have book trailers and highlight clips on our channel, too! Watch the March 8th show HERE.
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
SHOP THE F&F MERCH STORE!
BOGO T-SHIRTS IN THE F&F MERCH STORE!
Our figure-flattering, cozy cotton v-neck T-shirts with our signature Friends & Fiction logo are now on sale Buy One Get One FREE! ORDER T-SHIRTS HERE. Use Code FFBOGO at check-out to claim your FREE T-shirt when you purchase one!
Also available:
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Announcing the SIBA Katie Trocheck Abel Award
NOMINATE A SOUTHERN INDIE BOOKSELLER!
As you may know, last February, our beloved Mary Kay Andrews lost her 39-year-old daughter, Katie Trocheck Abel. Katie had a huge heart for community outreach, lending countless hours of support to organizations such as No Kid Hungry, Atlanta's Free99Fridge, and Atlanta's Helping Mamas, which has named a car seat donation program in her honor. Katie was also a fierce supporter of her mom, and of the many booksellers who support MKA.
In Katie's honor, and to celebrate the often unheralded acts of kindness that take place all the time in our bookselling world, SIBA will award $500 to a SIBA bookseller who has gone above and beyond in their local community.
Do you know an indie bookseller in the southern US whose kindness, generosity, and dedication is a huge asset to their local community? If so, nominate them! The nomination form is open now through May 1, 2023 with the winner announced on July 3, 2023.
Find more details and the nomination form HERE.
The winner will be chosen by Mary Kay Andrews and her Friends & Fiction co-hosts Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, and Patti Callahan Henry.
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Join Us on Fable!
Introducing Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book
Have you joined F&F on Fable yet?! We are taking our immersive reading experience a step further by partnering with this unique social platform to form the “Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book” Premium Book Club! Let’s discover, read, and talk about great books together! Download the FREE Fable app for your phone or tablet. Join MKA, Kristin, Kristy & Patti as they talk about their own books, the books they love, and books they're just discovering together. They’ll feature a new book selection every month, plus special club events, exclusive content, and more! Join our Premium Club for just $5/month! JOIN TODAY!
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CONNECT WITH THE FRIENDS & FICTION HOST AUTHORS! |
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