Meet Ariel Lawhon TONIGHT
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—September 23, 2026
Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!
Join us on Wednesday, September 23rd at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome New York Times bestselling author Ariel Lawhon to discuss her brand-new instant NYT-bestselling novel, The Pirate Queen, a sweeping historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O’Malley, the legendary Irish folk heroine who risked everything to defend her people.
Ariel is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, bestselling author of seven works of historical fiction including Code Name Hélène, The Wife the Maid and the Mistress, and I Was Anastasia. Her 2023 novel, The Frozen River was a Good Morning America Book Club pick and an NPR Book of the Year that has sold more than a million copies and spent more than 40 total cumulative weeks on the NYT bestseller list, with film rights optioned by Trudie Styler’s Maven Screen Media. Ariel’s books have been translated into more than 40 languages. We can’t wait to venture onto the high seas with Ariel to chat about this keenly observed, action-packed novel that channels the untamed beauty and harsh realities of sixteenth-century Ireland as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine.
Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 9/23 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 9/25.
Meanwhile, order Ariel’s new book — along with all our guests’ and hosts’ books — at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where your purchases support our show and indie bookstores nationwide!
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!
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had the BEST launch week for Falling for Peachtree Bluff! She is just so honored and wowed by your massive enthusiasm for this book and has loved every second of this spectacular tour so far! She is in Alabama today, will be at Page and Palette tonight with her friend Julie Cantrell. This weekend, she’ll be at the Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem with Sarah Addison Allen. She has lots of tour dates to come, so check out her website for more info. She wants to thank each of you from the bottom of her heart for all the book love. It’s been so amazing!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is excited for y’all to watch this week’s show with Ariel and her instant NYT bestseller, The Pirate Queen. Meanwhile, Patti spent part of this week outside Boston talking to booksellers about her newest book, Heart of the Wild, out next April. Then on to her alma mater to watch her Auburn Tigers get beat by Kristin’s Florida Gators (but she’s still an Auburn fan to the core). This coming week, she’ll be in Nebraska for the first time and is so looking forward to speaking to the library and teaching a class.
MARY KAY ANDREWS spent a whirlwind 24 hours in High Point, NC last week to speak to the High Point Literary League–and she even managed to fit in a little shopping. On Saturday she and Mr. MKA hosted a homecoming picture party for granddaughter Molly and three dozen friends, which was exhausting but fun. She will NOT gloat about her UGA Dawgs’ win over Arkansas. (This is her not gloating.) She’s excited to speak to the authors of two of her fave recent reads, Lucy Foley, author of Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, and Annie Hartnett, author of The Road to Tender Hearts later this week for upcoming F&F segments.
KRISTIN HARMEL is in New York today for a quick visit with her publisher (Gallery Books) to talk about future plans, and then this weekend, she’s off to Amelia Island for a conversation with author Savannah Carlisle at the Amelia Theater to benefit the Amelia Island Book Festival. Kristin also watched the UF-Auburn game last weekend (from afar) and it was such a great game…either team could have won (although she’s glad it was the Gators, in the end!). Five more weeks until the Gators go head-to-head with MKA’s Georgia Bulldogs on Halloween (and just three more weeks until Patti’s Auburn and MKA’s UGA play on Oct. 17!), so prepare for plenty of (friendly) trash talking between the Fab Four from now through the end of October!
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Upcoming Events
See Kristy’s full tour for Falling for Peachtree Bluff HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristin’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, Ron Block & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcomed award-winning, NYT-bestselling author Chloe Benjamin to discuss her new novel and this month’s Good Morning America Book Club pick, Under Story, an intimate yet epic love story that’s also a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery.
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: 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
Already aired: Ann Patchett, Whistler
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
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Already aired: Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: John Searles, Single Girls
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Ben Reeves, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kristin Harmel, Meet Me in Paris
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Christina Lauren, The Romance Revival
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
WATCH | LISTEN
Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
Watch: September 23 | Listen: September 25
Stay tuned for the reveal (coming soon!) of our Fall 2026 (Oct–Dec) guest line-up!
The NEW F&F 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!
F&F Merch Store
We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!
F&F Official Book Club & 2026 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 Kristin Harmel about her new novel, Meet Me In Paris. Mark your calendars for September 28th for their next author guests, Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt, when they’ll discuss their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. 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 September prompt is to read a book that takes place over a week and for October it’s to read a southern gothic novel.
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