Tune in at 7pm ET for TONIGHT’s episode! Join us Wednesday, August 6th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Patti Callahan Henry & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome TWO debut novelists! We love the discovery of new voices on F&F, so this week we are thrilled to bring you two first-time authors—Laura Dickerman whose Hot Desk will hit stores on September 2nd and Morgan Pager whose The Art of Vanishing came out on July 1st.
With an MA in English from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School, Laura Dickerman has taught high school English at the Hopkins School, the Collegiate School, and Germantown Friends. She joins us from her home in Atlanta to discuss her rollicking, sparkling, and funny novel that spans decades and generations of a family in the publishing industry. A fresh take on the workplace rom-com, Hot Desk is described as Younger meets Writers & Lovers. Morgan Pager is a publishing professional and the content creator behind NYC Book Girl. A graduate of Duke University, Pager joins us from her home on the Upper West Side to discuss her “wildly inventive” (Jodi Picoult) debut The Art of Vanishing. This stunningly original love story between a museum employee and the man in a masterpiece hanging on the walls is a breathtaking debut about time, art, and the enduring power of love. We are excited to introduce you to both of these first-time novelists! Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 8/6 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 8/8. Order Laura’s book and Morgan’s book on Bookshop.org! Latest News from the Fab Four!
MARY KAY ANDREWS continued her birthday celebration by taking her granddaughter and daughter-in-law to New York City for a weekend of theater-going and sightseeing. Somehow, they managed to fit in a tour of the glorious John Singer Sargent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Circle Line Tour that took them past Ellis Island (where some scenes from MKA’s upcoming book take place) and the Statue of Liberty, a shopping trip to Greenwich Village (where MKA’s Bright Lights Big Christmas was set) and tickets to see two blockbuster Broadway shows, Gypsy and Just In Time. F&F managing director Meg Walker (and her mom Kathy and daughter Grace) joined in the fun at the performance of Gypsy. Of course, MKA squeezed in brunch with her publicity and marketing team from St. Martin’s Press. This weekend promises to be just as fun-packed, with MKA headlining the Friends & Fiction Book Club 5th Anniversary celebration at the Margaret Mitchell House on Saturday night, along with F&F fave authors Colleen Oakley, Kimberly Brock, Vanessa Riley and Lauren Connolly. Buy tickets here. On Sunday, MKA will be in conversation with Karin Slaughter at Woodstock Arts Theatre in Woodstock, GA to mark the publication of Karin’s riveting new novel We Are All Guilty Here. Tickets are available through FoxTale Book Shoppe here. KRISTIN HARMEL is finally home after a whirlwind two weeks of travel–just in time to get her son Noah prepared to start fourth grade this coming Monday! Where did the summer go? She was thrilled to celebrate the 70th anniversary of her grandparents-in-law on Saturday night at the Sunset Country Club in St. Louis with her husband’s entire extended family, which was awesome. Yesterday, Kristin met with the other members of the search committee for Orlando’s third Poet Laureate at Orlando’s City Hall to nominate three finalists for the position, and next week, she’ll be hard at work on the revision of her 2026 novel! KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had a really fun week traveling for a Blue Cross Blue Shield event! For some fun impromptu news, Kristy will be signing Beach House Rules and all her other books at the Beaufort Farmers Market this Saturday from 9:30 am until 11:00 am. If you are in the area, she would love to see you! Kristy is soaking up the last little bit of summer with her favorite boys and hopes you are all doing the same! If you are looking for one more book to squeeze in this year The Summer of Songbirds is an Amazon Kindle Monthly Deal! Yay! $1.99 all month long. PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY spent the week in the (rainy) NC mountains with family and friends and is loving every minute of the less-than-90-degree temps! She is researching and writing and eeking out the very last of summer. She loved interviewing Laura and Morgan for this week’s show and she hopes you love it too! 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
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.
If you’ll be in the Atlanta area this weekend, join in on the amazing festivities that the Friends & Fiction Book Club has planned to celebrate their 5th anniversary! Brenda & Lisa have lined up a special group rate on hotel rooms at Le Meridien Atlanta Perimeter in Dunwoody (details HERE) and ensured non-stop bookish fun with events from Friday 8/8 – Sunday 8/10: 📚FRI 8/8, 7pm — Happy Hour with guests Ron Block, Meg Walker, and author Emily Carpenter at Lazy Dog in Dunwoody. Details HERE. Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!  In Case You Missed It
On last week’s episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Patti Callahan Henry & Mary Kay Andrews welcomed #1 NYT-bestselling author Susan Wiggs to discuss her wrenching but life-affirming new novel, Wayward Girls, based on a true story of survival, friendship, and redemption set in the turbulent Vietnam era in Buffalo, New York. 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: F&F June Pick of the Month—Kristin Harmel, The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau Already aired: Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter Already aired: Jess Walter, So Far Gone Already aired: Fourth of July “Best-of” Kristin Hannah, The Women Already aired: Meg Waite Clayton, Typewriter Beach Already aired: Adriana Trigiani, The View from Lake Como Already aired: LIVE! July Pick of the Month: Lisa Scottoline, The Unraveling of Julia Already aired: Susan Wiggs, Wayward Girls Celebrating Debuts! Morgan Pager, The Art of Vanishing & Laura Dickerman, Hot Desk Victoria Benton Frank, The Violet Hour LIVE! August Pick of the Month: Francesca Serritella, Full Bloom Christina Baker Kline & Anne Burt, Please Don't Lie Sarah McCoy, Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? LIVE! September Pick of the Month: Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham, The Academy Hank Phillippi Ryan, All This Could Be Yours Jane Hamilton, The Phoebe Variations F&F 2025 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
The 2025 FRIENDS AND FICTION Subscription Box is available for purchase now, exclusively from our friends at Oxford Exchange. This subscription includes three separate shipments: *Optional add-on: A paperback, signed, first edition of SUMMERS AT THE SAINT by Mary Kay Andrews (coming in paperback June 3)! 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. Tees in New Summer Colors!
We’ve added two fun, new summer colors to our Bonfire merch store in our signature Name List apparel line. These are perfect for attending Kristy & Kristin’s upcoming events. How fun to dress to match the books?! 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 more than 38,000 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 novel, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau. Mark your calendars for August 18th for their next author guest, Eliza Knight, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Confessions of a Grammar Queen. The Book Club is also hosting the 2025 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The July prompt is to read a book set in France and for August it’s to read an author’s sophomore book. Stay in Touch!Subscribe to our PODCAST. Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.
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