Meet Ann Patchett TONIGHT!
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—June 10, 2026
Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!
Join us Wednesday, June 10th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett to discuss her new Katie Couric and Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick, Whistler, a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.
Ann Patchett is the author of ten novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, five works of nonfiction, and three children’s books whose work has been translated into more than thirty languages. A winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the Book Sense Book of the Year, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine, and was awarded the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture by President Biden. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She joins us from her home in Nashville—where she is the owner of Parnassus Books—to discuss her new novel Whistler, which has earned a trifecta of starred reviews from Booklist (“entrancing, radiant, and heart-seizing”), Publishers Weekly (“beautiful and generous”), and Kirkus (“death-defying, heart-opening”).
Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 6/10 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 6/12.
Meanwhile, order Ann’s new book—along with all of our guests’ and hosts’ books—at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org!
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!
Latest News from the Fab Four!
MARY KAY ANDREWS is endlessly grateful for the support for her new novel ROAD TRIP, which launched with a bang in Atlanta, followed by a second big-bang F&F live event in Savannah with Kristin Harmel, PCH and, of course, Meg Walker and Ron Block. Tour stops so far have included Myrtle Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Greenville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Bluffton, Charleston (where MKA was in conversation with PCH), the Jersey Shore, the Delaware beaches, Severna Park, MD, Cleveland (with Ron Block), Columbus, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. Lots more events to come—get the deets here. And did you see the Homeworthy tour of Ebbtide, MKA’s Tybee Island, GA beach house? Now you know what she does with all her estate sale finds! And there was also a recent feature in Woman’s World magazine about MKA’s weight loss. Meanwhile the tour rolls on with Fairhope AL on Thursday and then on up to the northeast for a string of events.
KRISTIN HARMEL had the best time hanging out with MKA, Patti, Meg, and Ron in Savannah last week for MKA’s ROAD TRIP launch event with E. Shaver Bookseller! They all missed Kristy, though! Last night, Kristin got to chat with Eliza Knight about her new novel, LOST IN THE SUMMER OF ‘69, with Writer’s Block Bookstore in Winter Park, FL. Today, she’ll be cutting the ribbon at 10am for the grand opening of a new Barnes & Noble store in the Lake Nona area of Orlando. She’s looking forward to hitting the road in less than seven weeks for her MEET ME IN PARIS book tour; see the full schedule here.
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is SO THRILLED that Joanna Garcia Swisher (she’s not sure if she loves her more as Maddie in Sweet Magnolias or Cheyenne in Reba!) chose SUMMER STATE OF MIND as her Rolling Clover Reads for June! She is also getting excited about being on the Friends & Fiction book club live next Monday at 7 pm! She hasn’t gotten to talk about spoilers yet and that is her favorite part! She is so excited because today… She began something new! An idea she had on tour that she can’t wait to share with you. She started it on the beach this morning and let’s just say, this was a strange book to start on the beach! Is that a hint?! And, FALLING FOR PEACHTREE BLUFF has a huge, 40-copy giveaway over on Goodreads! Enter here! Overall, let’s just say that Kristy is in a SUMMER STATE OF MIND and hopes you’ll pick up her new book so you can be in one too!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY loved being on part of MKA’s road trip through Savannah and Charleston. Now she’s back home readying for a trip to New York to meet with her publisher and editor about next year’s novel because the planning starts early! Have you checked out her latest instagram post where she talks about what she’s reading and looking forward to reading? And she’s so excited for all of you to watch this week’s episode with Ann Patchett (spoiler: Patti loved Whistler).
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!
Upcoming Events
MKA is on tour now for Road Trip. See her full book tour HERE.
Kristin will be touring in July/August for her forthcoming book, Meet Me in Paris. Stay tuned to her events page HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristy’s upcoming events HERE.
Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!
In Case You Missed It
On our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Mary Kay Andrews welcomed New York Times bestselling author Annabel Monaghan to discuss her brand-new novel, Dolly All the Time—the GMA Book Club pick for June—in which a hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion.
You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.
Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show
All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.
Already aired: Joshilyn Jackson, Missing Sister
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lucy Score, Mistakes Were Made
WATCH | LISTEN
SPRING 2026 SCHEDULE:
Already aired: Virginia Evans, The Correspondent & Allen Levi, Theo of Golden
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Evelyn Clarke, The Ending Writes Itself
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Tana French, The Keeper
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lynn Cullen, When We Were Brilliant & Priya Parmar, The Original
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Summer State of Mind
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Christina Baker Kline, The Foursome
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kathryn Stockett, The Calamity Club
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Mary Kay Andrews, Road Trip
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Annabel Monaghan, Dolly All the Time
WATCH | LISTEN
Ann Patchett, Whistler
Watch: 6/10 | Listen: 6/12
Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
Watch: 6/17 | Listen: 6/19
Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
Watch: 6/24 | Listen: 6/26
F&F 2026 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
The 2026 FRIENDS AND FICTION Subscription Box is available for purchase now, exclusively from our friends at Oxford Exchange.
This subscription includes three separate shipments:
1. MAY 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s forthcoming book SUMMER STATE OF MIND!
2. JUNE 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews!
3. AUGUST 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of MEET ME IN PARIS by Kristin Harmel!
Get your subscription NOW from Oxford Exchange!
F&F Merch Store
We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We also have other items like wine tumblers, reading journals, and our original white v-neck logo tees available through Oxford Exchange.
We’ve added TWO NEW COLORS for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts. We now have them in a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books out in May, June & July! Get yours now and dress to match the books when you come out to Kristy, MKA & Kristin’s tour events!
F&F Official Book Club & 2025 Reading Challenge
Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Wade Rouse about his new novel, That’s What Friends Are For. Mark your calendars for June 15th for their next author guest, Kristy Woodson Harvey, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Summer State of Mind. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The April prompt is to read a book recommended by a favorite librarian and for May it’s to read a book about a female detective.
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