March 8, 2023 | Issue #133 |
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Patti Callahan Henry had a great weekend in Monroeville with MKA speaking about writing, and brainstorming their next books! On Instagram you can see pictures of them both in the famed courthouse of To Kill a Mockingbird! Patti is announcing her book tour live on the show this week, and so happy to finally be seeing some of you face to face after all this time — 25 cities in 18 days (can someone pack for her please?). Monday, she will be with Kristy in Boston and she is thrilled to spend some time in that city again after so many years.
Kristy Woodson Harvey is really excited to celebrate her first ever paperback launch of THE WEDDING VEIL. Kristy loved every minute of researching the incredible lives of Edith and Cornelia Vanderbilt of Biltmore Estate and couldn’t be more proud to get to bring them to you again in this new format!
Kristin Harmel is beyond grateful to everyone who showed up last night for the Adventures by the Book breast cancer fundraiser, featuring more than SEVENTY authors! Whoah! If you missed it, you can catch the replay on Adventures by the Book’s Facebook page. Adventures by the Book is an indie bookstore (though they host events and don’t have a physical location), and if you order the latest book from any of the authors at the event (including books by the Fab Four!) through this link by the end of March, 20% will be donated to Susan G. Komen to fund research and mammograms for the uninsured. Kristin is thrilled to see Kristy’s THE WEDDING VEIL hit stores in trade paperback this week, and she hopes that if you didn’t read it in hardcover, you’ll buy it now in its new format! Today, Kristin is also celebrating the final day of her final round of chemotherapy. (YAY!!!) Next up: radiation, beginning the week after next.
What Kristin is reading: Hell of a Book by Jason Mott (listening on audiobook while driving to/from medical appointments!)
Mary Kay Andrews made her first (and hopefully not last) visit to the Monroeville Literary Festival last weekend. She resisted the temptation to sit in the judge’s chair while in the literary landmark Monroe County Courthouse where pivotal scenes in To Kill A Mockingbird are set. Now she’s back home planning this Saturday’s Team Trivia Night to raise funds for the Katie Trocheck Abel Scholarship, and trying to get back in the writing groove.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Jennifer Rosner!
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I came to creative writing late in life. My training was in academic philosophy, and the writing I did was very analytic. Then we had our first daughter, Sophia. She was born deaf, which came as a shock, and I found myself journaling for the first time about my feelings and thoughts and hopes and fears. It was so nourishing! I kept at it, and eventually, some of the snippets from my journals turned into scenes for my first book, a memoir called If A Tree Falls: A Family’s Quest to Hear and Be Heard. I always think: my daughter led me into this new world of writing (and so much else!), and I love it very much.
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
When I began researching my family tree, trying to understand the inherited deafness—both Sophia and her younger sister, Juliet, were born deaf—I found several deaf ancestors. Two great great aunts (sisters, like my girls) lived in Eastern Europe before coming to Brooklyn. From talking to relatives, I learned a most valuable anecdote: when these great great aunts became mothers, they tied strings from their wrists to their babies at night, so that when the babies cried in the darkness, they’d feel the tug and wake to care for them. This was incredibly meaningful, but I couldn’t find out much else about their lives, other than some “cold” facts such as one finds on Census reports. I wanted to weave the stories of Sophia and Juliet with their stories, but to do so, I had to fictionalize the details of their lives. I came to appreciate this opportunity because, in making up their stories, I was able to work through many of my worries and fears about our girls growing up deaf. And I discovered that I love writing fiction!
Do you have any writing rituals?
The only real ritual I have, if you can call it that, is to write daily. I don’t write at a specific time, or for a specified length of time; I don’t impose word counts, etc. But I need to engage with the work every day, so that it can simmer. (Otherwise, it goes cold!) I love to drink hot mango tea with frothy milk, and I love dark-chocolate apricots, and these are rituals that accompany my writing (though, honestly, I’d probably have them even if I wasn’t writing)! Lately, I’ve been taking “writing walks,” which have been very helpful. Ideas often come while I’m wandering among the trees.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
I‘d love to shout-out The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts! They support authors, readers, and our whole community in so many wonderful ways. I launched my picture book, The Mitten String, at The Odyssey, as well as my debut novel, The Yellow Bird Sings. And I’m so excited to be going back for the launch of Once We Were Home. Also beloved is our charming, local library: Leverett Library!
The last book you raved about:
I just read and loved The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. It’s about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, which is fascinating. It’s also about the disenfranchisement of certain speakers (mostly poor, mostly women), the women’s vote, and so much more!
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
I am returning to the subject of deafness in a new novel. It’s a story about a young Parisian girl whose father works as an ear doctor at the time when cochlear implant technology is first being developed. She eventually comes to live in Los Angeles, where the politics of deafness rages between those who Sign and those who use technology to hear and communicate in a spoken language. She falls in love with a Deaf man, even as she works in a medical office that provides implants to young children, and conflict ensues... So much of what has been written about deafness is biased in one way or another, and I want very much to show all sides of the debates.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Julia Kelly!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
Once upon a time in a land far, far away (i.e. New York City), I was a journalist. I loved the fast-paced work and never knowing what would come across my desk every day. I credit journalism with teaching me the discipline that I’ve needed to write novels, especially when it feels tough to get words on the page.
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
Since I left my day job to write full-time, I think people believe that all I do every day is write. I wish that was the case! Instead I’m often juggling many different things like writing email newsletters to market my next book and paying invoices. Some days it’s a real struggle to carve out the time to work on my manuscript, but I try my best to make writing my priority because it’s what I love to do.
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
I think that my first story was a mystery. (I have very early memories of being obsessed with the theme music from Mystery on PBS, which is probably partially to blame.) I wrote a three-paragraph mystery on that old gray paper with light blue lines that seemed to be stocked by every school when I was a kid. It might have been an incredibly short story, but my mystery had a beginning, a middle, and an end so I think it counts!
Do you have any writing rituals?
Before I start writing, I like to take a few minutes and quickly jot down what will happen in the next three scenes of my manuscript. I find that gives me enough of an idea of what should come next that I don’t need to stop and think things through as I’m writing.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
I grew up in Pasadena, CA, and anyone from the area will tell you just how great Vroman’s Bookstore is. I actually took my fiancé there for the first time on our trip to Los Angeles last autumn. Vroman’s is exactly the same as I remember from the friendly staff to the hand-written recommendation cards.
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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 10th—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.
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!
Out Now! WB_S5E7—Ron & MKA talk to Kristen Mei Chase about her debut novel A THOUSAND MILES TO GRACELAND, a road trip rom-com that explores mother-daughter relationships and what it means to be mixed-race in America. 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 1st episode with Hank Phillippi Ryan? 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 1st show HERE.
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
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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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