Friends & Fiction Episodes

Lori Rader-Day

On tonight’s LIVE episode, we meet crime fiction author Lori Rader-Day!

Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award-nominated and Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of seven novels including DEATH AT GREENWAY, THE BLACK HOUR, and THE DAY I DIED. A past president of Sisters in Crime, Lori is co-chair of Midwest Mystery Conference, and teaches creative writing at Northwestern University. She joins us from her home in Chicago to discuss her latest chilling suspense novel, THE DEATH OF US (William Morrow, Oct 3), which Mary Kubica calls “unputdownable.”

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Jean Kwok

On tonight’s LIVE episode of our web show, we sit down with the incredible Jean Kwok.

Jean Kwok is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown, and the instant New York Times bestseller and Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick Searching for Sylvie Lee. Her work has been published in twenty countries and is taught in universities, colleges, and high schools across the world. She has been selected for numerous honors, including the American Library Association Alex Award and the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award. With a bachelor’s from Harvard and an MFA from Columbia, Jean is fluent in Chinese, Dutch, and English. She joins us to discuss her highly-anticipated, brand-new novel THE LEFTOVER WOMAN (William Morrow, Oct 10) which was named to most-anticipated lists by The New York Times, Elle, TIME, People and many more.

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Thrity Umrigar

On tonight’s live episode, we are excited to talk to Thrity Umrigar about her highly anticipated new novel, THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES.

Thrity is the award-winning and bestselling author of nine previous novels, including HONOR, which was a Reese’s Book Club Pick, as well as three picture books and a memoir. Her books have been published in more than 15 countries and in several languages. A former journalist, she has contributed to the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She joins us from her home in Cleveland to tell us all about her compelling family drama THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES, which Algonquin Books published on Sept. 26th.

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Jessica Knoll

On this episode, we introduce you to Jessica Knoll and her incredible new book, BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN.

Jessica Knoll is the New York Times bestselling author of LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE and THE FAVORITE SISTER. She also adapted and executive produced the film Luckiest Girl Alive, starring Mila Kunis, which was released on Netflix in 2022. A former editor at SELF and Cosmopolitan, Jessica’s books have been published in more than forty languages. She joins us from her home in Los Angeles to discuss her third novel, BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN—the instant New York Times bestseller with starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus—which was published by Simon & Schuster / Marysue Rucci Books on September 19th.

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Mary Kay Andrews’ BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS Launch Party

This episode of our Wed night web show is the launch celebration for our own Mary Kay Andrews’s BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS!

Who’s ready to join in the reindeer games? Put on your Santa (er, thinking) caps and get ready for some holiday themed trivia! We’ve got lots of cheer and merriment in store as emcee Meg and referee Ron oversee the Fab Four in a rousing Christmas-themed game show. We follow that with an insightful interview with MKA about her fifth Christmas novel, which is hot off the presses and in stores everywhere now, ready for your early holiday shopping.

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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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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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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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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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