Category: Author Interviews

Opportunities to Hear Author Interviews

It occurred to me that some of you might not be aware of the multitude of opportunities online to hear and see authors being interviewed live online. I have found so many this spring that I created a calendar on which to pencil in the events so I won’t miss one.

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SIBA’S Reader Meet Writer Author Series

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) has many author interviews scheduled. In fact, they’re so prolific they’ve named the shows the Reader Meet Writer Author Series. They’re often publicized through the social media platforms of independent bookstores. They are free.

You just need to register through SIBA or your favorite independent bookstore’s website. Reminders are usually emailed to registrants the day of the interviews. Most are aired at 7pm on weeknights, but a few are during the day or on weekends.

Author Wiley Cash is the primary interviewer for the Reader Meet Writer Author Series. The SIBA Reader Meet Writer Author Series webpage is https://sibaweb.com/mpage/readermeetwriter, You can find past Reader Meet Writer Author Series interviews on YouTube.

Independent Bookstores’ Author Interviews

Look up the websites of various independent bookstores and check their events schedules. Then, sign up for their newsletters and/or their social media. You will then receive announcements of author interviews they’ve scheduled. As I write this, most of these are online-only events. It will be interesting to see how these events

Evolve as we come out of the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope even as in-store author events return, they will also be live-streamed so a greater audience can take advantage of them.

Friends and Fiction

I’ve mentioned this weekly Facebook Live group before, but it bears mentioning again. Friends and Fiction is a group of five authors (Mary Alice Monroe, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, and Patti Callahan Henry) who meet virtually at 7:00 p.m. ET every Wednesday to discuss books and writing. They have a guest author almost every week.

You can find them on Facebook and join their page in order to get their occasional announcements. I look forward to this week’s segment because Pam Jenoff, one of my favorite authors, is the guest author.

You may recall that I blogged about Ms. Jenoff’s book The Orphan’s Tale on August 7, 2017 (Late July Reading)  and The Lost Girls of Paris on May 3, 2021 (5 Historical Novels I Read in April 2021.) I’m on the waitlist at the public library for her new historical novel, The Woman with the Blue Star.

Just announced: You can now find the Friends and Fiction interviews anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Author Websites and Their Social Media

Go to the websites of the authors that interest you, and click on “Events.” You’ll not only find information about any of their upcoming in-person appearances but also their virtual appearances. You can follow your favorite authors on social media and learn of their appearances that way, too.

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A Sampling of Authors I’m Hearing This Week

Yesterday I heard Dr. Jane Woodall in conversation with Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees and his new book, The Heartbeat of Trees) via Eventbrite, thanks to Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. It was fantastic and inspiring! It was organized by the Miami Book Fair. I blogged about The Hidden Life of Trees on June 2, 2017 (You Need to Read These Books!) People all over the world took advantage of this event. They signed in from The Netherlands, Austria, South Africa, Germany, Canada, and the United States. (And those were just the comments I noticed in the chat sidebar.)

I signed up for a Virtual Lunch with Mary Adkins (Privilege) today at 12:30 p.m. ET through Hub City Books in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I haven’t read any of Ms. Adkins’ books, so I look forward to learning about her and hearing her speak. She’s an author and a book coach.

As I mentioned above, on Wednesday night I’ll get to hear Pam Jenoff thanks to Friends and Fiction on Facebook Live.

Thursday at 11:00 I’ve signed up to hear Susan Meissner. I blogged about The Last Year of the War in my March 8, 2021 blog (4 Books I Read in February 2021) and The Nature of Fragile Things in my May 3, 2021 blog (5 Historical Novels I Read in April 2021.) I thoroughly enjoyed both these historical novels and I look forward to hearing her speak for the first time. She’ll be live online at 11:00 a.m. ET thanks to the Warren County District Public Library in Ohio.

Mary Alice Monroe will be interviewed and live-streamed via Zoom on YouTube at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday. I learned about this event through Tattered Cover Books in Denver, Colorado. I blogged about one of Ms. Monroe’s books, The Butterfly’s Daughter in my September 7, 2020 blog (Books Read in August 2020.) Her new novel is The Summer of Lost and Found.

Next week I’m signed up to listen to an event about diversity in books and the power of books via Zoom and sponsored by Room to Read.

My in-person social calendar is still sparse due to the pandemic, but my online social calendar is full. Some days I have to choose between two author events that are scheduled for the same time.

Since my last blog post

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta announced that those of us who are fortunate enough to have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely go without face masks indoors and outdoors, except when visiting a business or facility that still requires masks. It was great to go to church yesterday and not wear a mask. It’s wonderful to see others’ smiling faces once again. It was great and strange all at the same time.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. As usual, I have several books going. I’m reading several, listening to one on CD, and yesterday started listening to one on Playaway so I can “read” while I walk or do yardwork. And yes, sometimes the story lines get confused. Or maybe I’m the one who gets confused.

Remember: This is Get Caught Reading Month, so try to get caught reading this week.

Janet

Q is for Author Quote

On the 17th day of the A to Z Blog Challenge, the featured letter is “Q.” For today’s blog post I will quote author Toni Morrison. I saw her interviewed on “Charlie Rose,” my favorite interview program on PBS.

Ms. Morrison said there were three things she decided she could say when she reached the age of 84:

“No!          Shut up!           Get out!”

I don’t think I can wait 20 years to say any of those. At least not the first one.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. If you’re a writer, I hope you have quality writing time.

Janet

J.D. Vance – Notes from an Author’s Interview

Charlie Rose is my favorite interviewer. He welcomes people from all walks of life to his PBS program, “Charlie Rose,” and once in a while he interviews an author.

On October 18, 2016, Charlie Rose interviewed J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Born in Kentucky, Vance grew up in the culture of Appalachia. When he went to Yale Law School, he was possibly the only middle class white guy there. He said nothing was ever personally directed toward him, but he felt like there was a feeling of disdain for Appalachia among the people at Yale.

Vance talked about the destructive  attitude that people in Appalachia acquire from their communities. As a teenager, he started sensing that the people were cynical and frustrated. They were distrustful of the people who represented them in government.

At the age of 14, Vance started living with his grandmother. She instilled in him the importance of hard work and study. She worked to overcome the negative influences that she knew would try to pull him down.

Vance talked about the cultural divide in the United States and how the 2016 Presidential election has hit a nerve with many of the people of Appalachia. He said, “Their pride is disappearing because their jobs are disappearing.” (I think I got that quote right. The interview moved along faster than I could take notes.)

He said there’s not enough dialogue between the people of Appalachia and the people from other parts of the country. He thinks more communication would go a long way toward erasing some of the misconceptions outsiders have about Appalachia and its people.

Charlie Rose did not ask Vance anything about the craft of writing or how he goes about writing. That is what I most look for when I hear or read an interview with an author, but I guess such questions are reserved for fiction writers. The point of Mr. Rose having J.D. Vance on his program was to discuss the cultural divide and to get Vance’s firsthand assessment of it.

Until I blog again in a few days, I hope you have a good book to read. If you’re a writer, I hope you have quality writing time.

Janet