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Friends & Fiction

Watch our LIVE show with Mary Kay Andrews TONIGHT!

Watch our LIVE show with Mary Kay Andrews TONIGHT!

Friends & Fiction: Episode 185 – Sarah Pekkanen

Sarah Pekkanen

On tonight’s LIVE episode of our Wednesday night web show, we are excited to host two incredible bestselling authors, Sarah Pekkanen and Etaf Rum!

Sarah Pekkanen is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of four novels of suspense including THE GOLDEN COUPLE and THE WIFE BETWEEN US. A passionate volunteer for rescue animals, she serves as an Ambassador for RRSA India, and works hands-on in India to heal and vaccinate street dogs. She joins us from her home outside of Washington, D.C. to discuss her new novel, GONE TONIGHT (St. Martin’s Press, Aug 1), which Harlan Coben calls “a wild ride.”

The daughter of Palestinian immigrants, born and raised in Brooklyn, Etaf Rum is an undergraduate literature professor in North Carolina. She runs the Instagram account @booksandbeans, and is a Book of the Month Club Ambassador, showcasing her favorite selections each month. We first met Etaf in F&F’s tech-challenged early days when she came on the show to discuss her acclaimed New York Times bestselling debut novel, A WOMAN IS NO MAN. She joins us to discuss her highly-anticipated new novel, EVIL EYE (Harper, Sept 5).

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 184 – Denene Millner

Denene Millner

On tonight’s LIVE episode of our Wed night web show, we have two incredible author guests in store for you!

J.R. Ward is the author of more than 60 novels, including those in her #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood. There are more than 20-million copies of her novels in print worldwide and they have been published in 27 countries. After law school, Ward worked in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as Chief of Staff of one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers. She joins us to discuss her thrilling coming-of-age novel, THE ST. AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, which Gallery Books published in July under the pseudonym Jessica Ward, and which is described as “Heathers” meets The Secret History.

Denene Millner is an Emmy-nominated TV host, an award-winning journalist, and the New York Times bestselling author of 31 books, including Taraji P. Henson’s AROUND THE WAY GIRL, and the picture book EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. Millner is also the editorial director of Denene Millner Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, whose awards include two Caldecott Honors, a Newbery Honor, the Kirkus Prize, and a Southern Book Award. A MacDowell Fellow, Millner has written essays for the New York Times, Glamour and NPR, and hosted the acclaimed podcast, “Speakeasy with Denene.” She joins us from her home in Atlanta to discuss her multi-generational epic triptych on Black motherhood, ONE BLOOD (Forge, Sept 5).

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 183 – Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo

On this live episode of our Wed night web show, we are thrilled to introduce you to the National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, Elizabeth Acevedo!

Elizabeth Acevedo is the author of THE POET X, which, among other honors, won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the Carnegie medal. She is also the author of WITH THE FIRE ON HIGH, named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, and Publishers Weekly, and CLAP WHEN YOU LAND, which was a Kirkus Prize finalist. A National Poetry Slam Champion, Elizabeth holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. She joins us from her home in Washington, DC, to discuss her much-buzzed-about, highly-anticipated first novel for adults, FAMILY LORE (Ecco Press, Aug 1), which is the August GMA Book Club Pick.

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 182 – Tracey Lange

Tracey Lange

On tonight’s LIVE episode, we’ve got two great authors in store for you!

We first met New York Times bestselling author Tracey Lange in 2021 when she joined us on our podcast to discuss her debut novel WE ARE THE BRENNANS. Born and raised in New York City, Tracey earned a degree in psychology from the University of New Mexico and owned a behavioral healthcare company for fifteen years. She completed the Stanford University online novel writing program while writing her debut novel. Tracey joins us from her home in Bend, Oregon to discuss her highly anticipated novel THE CONNELLYS OF COUNTY DOWN (Celadon Books, Aug 1), a story about fierce family loyalty, good intentions gone awry, and the consequences of improbable love.

Aimie K. Runyan is a bestselling author of historical fiction who writes to celebrate history’s unsung heroines. An active educator and speaker in the writing community, Aimie has been honored as a Historical Novel Society Editors’ Choice selection, as a three-time finalist for the Colorado Book Awards, and as a nominee for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer of the Year. Aimie joins us from her home in Colorado to discuss her latest captivating historical novel A BAKERY IN PARIS (William Morrow, Aug 1), in which a simple bakery in a tiny corner of Montmartre brings together two fierce women of the same family generations apart

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 181 – Ann Garvin

Ann Garvin

On this episode we’ve got two fabulous and super fun authors in store for you!

Ann Garvin is the USA Today bestselling author of five funny and sad novels about people who do too much in a world that asks too much from them. A nurse with her Ph.D., Anne taught for thirty years in the University of Wisconsin system and currently teaches creative writing at Drexel University. The founder of Tall Poppy Writers and a sought-after speaker on writing, leadership and health, Ann is committed to helping women writers succeed. We welcome her back to the show to discuss her latest novel, THERE’S NO COMING BACK FROM THIS (Lake Union, Aug 8), which our own Kristy Woodson Harvey calls “impossible to put down” and gave “five huge stars!”

We are thrilled to welcome Ally Carter to the show for the first time. Ally is the bestselling author of the Gallagher Girls series, and, for more than a decade, her name has been synonymous with hilarious action-adventure and heart-pounding romance for young adults. Her first original screenplay, A Castle for Christmas, was recently No.1 on Netflix. Now she is bringing her trademark style and voice to the adult rom-com market with her new novel THE BLONDE IDENTITY (Avon, Aug 8). She joins us from her home in Oklahoma to discuss the book that Ali Hazlewood calls “unique, delightful, hilarious, unputdownable,” and which Susan Elizabeth Phillips says is “a delightful, delicious joy ride of a romp!”

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 180 – Adrienne Brodeur

Adrienne Brodeur

Tonight’s episode is our Fall season premiere! We’ve got two amazing authors in store for you!

Adrienne Brodeur is the author of the memoir WILD GAME, which was selected as a Best Book of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post and is in development as a Netflix film. She founded the literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story with Francis Ford Coppola, and currently serves as executive director of Aspen Words, a literary nonprofit and program of The Aspen Institute. She joins us from her home on Cape Cod to discuss her debut novel LITTLE MONSTERS (Simon & Schuster, June 27) which was an Amazon Best Book of July 2023, the July Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick, and called “an absolutely captivating read” by Elin Hilderbrand.

Melanie Benjamin is a prize-winning author of nine books, including the New York Times and USA Today bestselling historical novels THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE, about Truman Capote and his society swans, THE AVIATOR’S WIFE, about Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and MISTRESS OF THE RITZ, based on the true story of the American woman who ran the Ritz during WWII. Her novels have been translated in over fifteen languages and optioned for film. She joins us from her home in Chicago amidst her ongoing book tour to discuss her latest novel CALIFORNIA GOLDEN (Delacorte Press, Aug 8) which has been named a Best Book of the Summer by Entertainment Weekly, called “a breath of bracing salt air” by Beatriz Williams, and about which Shelby Van Pelt said it “left me breathless….will stay with you long after the last page.”

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 179 – Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand

Welcome to our Summer Season Finale! Who better to spend it with than beach-reads royalty, Queen of Nantucket Island, total rockstar author, and dear friend of the show, Elin Hilderbrand?!

After publishing her first work in Seventeen Magazine in 1991 while a senior at Johns Hopkins University, Elin worked in publishing for a bit, attended the Iowa Writers Workshop, earned her MFA, and never looked back, publishing her first novel, THE BEACH CLUB, in 2000. Her 2019 novel, SUMMER OF ’69 was her first novel to debut at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. She has said that her Summer 2024 book will be her swan song. We are eager to hear what comes next, and to talk to her all about her new podcast Books Beach and Beyond with Tim Ehrenberg, as well as her latest instant #1 NYT bestselling phenomenon, her 29th novel, THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND which Little, Brown published on June 13th.

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 178 – Steven Rowley

Steven Rowley

What a summer treat we have in store on this episode! First, we welcome author Steven Rowley, the author of one of the F&F community’s most buzzed about books of all time. For a double-dip of summer fun, we will also meet up with the best-friend writing pair, Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke!

Steven Rowley is the New York Times bestselling author of LILY AND THE OCTOPUS, a Washington Post Notable Book of 2016, THE EDITOR, an NPR Best Book of 2019, and THE GUNCLE, winner of 2021’s Thurber Prize for American Humor. His fiction has been published in twenty languages and all of his books are in development for feature film or television adaptation. He joins us from his home in Palm Springs to discuss his latest instant NYT bestseller, June’s TODAY Show Read With Jenna Book Club pick, THE CELEBRANTS (Putnam, May 30).

Liz & Lisa have been best friends for more than three decades. They’ve co-authored eight novels, including the Amazon Charts bestseller, THE GOOD WIDOW. In addition to writing books, they created the podcast, We Fight So You Don’t Have to: Lessons from a Thirty-Year Friendship, and appear monthly on a San Diego news station to share their favorite book club picks. They join us from their homes in San Diego to discuss their latest book, FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE (Alcove Press, July 11).

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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Friends & Fiction: Episode 177 – Kristy Woodson Harvey’s “The Summer of Songbirds” Launch

Kristy Woodson Harvey’s “The Summer of Songbirds” Launch

Are you ready to play the Feud? Survey says…YES! We are all in for big summer-camp-style family fun on this episode as the Fab Four gather to celebrate the launch of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS.

F&F’s Managing Director Meg Walker steps in to play game show host, leading Kristy, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel & Patti Callahan Henry in a rousing game of Family Feud featuring all questions about summer camp in an homage to Kristy’s fictional Camp Holly Springs, the setting of her brand-new novel which just hit stores from Gallery Books.

The crew also talks to Kristy in depth about THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS and we learn all about her inspirations and research for her tenth novel. Tune in for all the fun and games—and to learn why perennial #1 bestseller Emily Henry says “put this book in your beach bag immediately!” Who are we to argue with an author who dominates the bestseller list week after week and clearly knows a perfect beach read when she sees one?!

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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