Tag: Oprah Winfrey (1-10 of 20)

Jan 28 2013 03:42 PM ET

Oprah and Ayana Mathis talk 'Twelve Tribes of Hattie' -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

For those of you who love books, Oprah, and football (marry me?), maybe you should start your Super Bowl party early this year.

On Sunday, Feb. 3, as part of Super Soul Sunday on OWN, Oprah Winfrey is sitting down with 39-year-old debut novelist Ayana Mathis to discuss The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. Oprah’s selection of Hattie for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 put Mathis on the map in a big way. The novel has drawn comparisons to the work of Toni Morrison, and it has shot to the Top 20 Fiction best-sellers list. Check out a clip below to see Mathis talk about the awesomeness and pressure of being an Oprah’s Book Club pick: READ FULL STORY »

Dec 5 2012 09:13 AM ET

Oprah's next Book Club selection is...

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Oprah Winfrey rebooted the much-coveted Oprah’s Book Club earlier this year, proving that she didn’t need her network talk show to create a huge impact on the publishing business. Her endorsement of Wild by Cheryl Strayed helped the memoir skyrocket to No. 1 in Hardcover Nonfiction.

Today, Winfrey went back to her love of novels by announcing her newest selection, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by debut author Ayana Mathis, the release date for which as been moved up to tomorrow, Dec. 6. Winfrey doled high praise on the novel: “The opening pages of Ayana’s debut took my breath away,” she said. “I can’t remember when I read anything that moved me in quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison.” (I’ve read the opening pages, too, and they are indeed breathtaking).

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie follows one family over 60 years through the Great Migration, centering on Hattie Shepherd, a mother of nine children.

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Cheryl Strayed talks ‘Wild,’ ‘Tiny Beautiful Things,’ Oprah, and ‘Dear Sugar’
Oprah Winfrey sits down with ‘Wild’ author Cheryl Strayed — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

Aug 1 2012 11:44 AM ET

Cheryl Strayed talks 'Wild,' 'Tiny Beautiful Things,' Oprah, and 'Dear Sugar'

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Image Credit: Joni Kabana

When Cheryl Strayed initially set out to write about the three-month hike on the unforgiving Pacific Coast Trail that she took at the age of 26, she expected it to be a long essay. It turned into a memoir, Wild, somewhat on accident, and now it’s an Oprah’s Book Club pick, sitting at No. 1 on the Hardcover Nonfiction list.

Before Wild became a major best-seller, Strayed was an accomplished essayist and novelist (2006′s Torch), and she already had a large, passionate reader following in “Dear Sugar,” the terrific, at times brutally honest advice column she’s been writing for therumpus.net since March 2010. She wrote as Sugar anonymously until she outed herself in February of this year. Vintage has released Tiny Beautiful Things, a paperback collection of her advice columns, some of which haven’t been published before.

Very much in demand these days, Strayed has been traveling the country talking to fans of both her new books. She took a moment to talk about Oprah, Wild, and Tiny Beautiful Things. She also has some helpful advice to all the aspiring writers out there. READ FULL STORY »

Jul 18 2012 12:16 PM ET

Oprah Winfrey sits down with 'Wild' author Cheryl Strayed -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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Image Credit: George Burns/Harpo, Inc.

Last month, Oprah Winfrey resurrected her defunct Book Club specifically for Wild, a terrific memoir by Cheryl Strayed. In an in-depth, two-hour interview airing this Sunday at 11 a.m., Strayed will be discussing Wild and the events that led her to hike the harrowing Pacific Coast Trail alone at the age of 26.

While the book details her grueling physical journey on the trail, it’s really about loss — how the death of her mother emotionally gutted Strayed, and how she set out to mend the broken pieces of her life.

In the exclusive clip below, Strayed discusses the difficulty of writing about her mother without romanticizing her. Catch the full interview July 22 on OWN as part of “Super Soul Sunday.” READ FULL STORY »

Jun 4 2012 01:16 PM ET

Oprah's Book Club returns in a new, updated form

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Image Credit: George Burns/Harpo, Inc.

Since the end of her iconic daytime talk show last year, Oprah Winfrey’s sway in terms of TV ratings may have diminished, but it remains to be seen whether her influence on the publishing world is still intact. After a two-year hiatus, the popular Oprah’s Book Club is returning — no doubt to the relief of publishers, publicists, and booksellers everywhere. Winfrey’s first pick is Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which EW’s Melissa Maerz gave an “A” grade, calling it “a rich, riveting true story about a woman who has bottomed out emotionally and decides to do something wildly out of character — hike the Pacific Crest Trail — to get her life back on track.” READ FULL STORY »

Sep 20 2011 04:58 PM ET

Borders employees list grievances: 'Ode to a bookstore death'

Yet another artifact from the slow, painful death of Borders has emerged. A fascinating look inside a (justifiably) angry bookseller’s mind, this manifesto of sorts, “Things We Never Told You: Ode to a bookstore death” informs us of what those helpful Borders folks had to put up with. (I have to admit — seeing the list, I realize I’ve been a bad customer in the past.) Hopefully, we’ll learn from our mistakes and treat the Barnes & Noble people better. The statements from the list are re-printed below — which ones do you agree with? READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2010 06:58 PM ET

Oprah and Franzen finally meet: A little awkward, but don't worry, everything's good

frazen-oprahImage Credit: APNine years after a media storm erupted over comments Jonathan Franzen made in relation to his novel’s inclusion in Oprah’s Book Club, the Queen of All Media invited the author to her show today to discuss his new book, Freedom, as well as the kerfuffle now safely in their rearview mirror. You could have subtitled their discussion The Corrections; both Oprah and Franzen appeared eager to set the record straight about the sorta-feud. The two were a little tense during the minutes dedicated to going over that period in their shared history, with a commendably not-quite-contrite Franzen citing his unpreparedness with the soundbite-obsessed, controversy-hungry television media cycle as part of the reason why this particular molehill was turned into a mountain. “It was probably the big thing I learned from the experience, which was to have more respect for television,” he told Oprah. When asked about the impression of him as a “snob” he replied that he isn’t one at all, but rather a “Midwestern egalitarian.” Although, I’m not quite sure whether using the phrase “Midwestern egalitarian” actually helps or hurts him on this point.

Things were a little less awkward when they discussed the present day, hitting topics like Franzen’s 20-minute conversation with President Obama and his solitary writing process. For her part, Oprah was effusive in praising Freedom. What do you think, Shelf-Lifers? Happy to see the reconciliation, even nine years after the fact?

Dec 6 2010 11:54 AM ET

What the Dickens? Oprah chooses 'A Tale of Two Cities' and 'Great Expectations' as her next Book Club picks

oprah-dickensImage Credit: Daniel Boczarski/FilmMagic.com; London Stereoscopic Company/Getty ImagesAfter the amends-making choice of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, Oprah Winfrey has settled on another author whose work consists largely of social novels with extensive casts of characters. Only this one died 140 years ago. Two classic novels by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, will be receiving the coveted Oprah’s Book Club sticker, so if you only pretended to read them in high school English class, now is your chance to read them for real. Oprah will announce the selection during today’s show, which also features her reunion with Franzen following their 2001 Book Club-related falling-out.

This isn’t the first time Oprah has gone with a tried-and-true classic over a new release: Previous selected titles include Anna Karenina, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and East of Eden. The two novels are being released together in a special paperback edition by Penguin, but they are also available very cheaply in e-book format. But the question is: Was this the best of picks, or was it the worst of picks? Are you excited to (re-)read Dickens’ novels, or are you afraid they’ll be as stale as Miss Havisham’s wedding cake?

Sep 28 2010 09:10 AM ET

J.K. Rowling to appear on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' this Friday: What do you hope they discuss?

JK-Rowling-and-OprahImage Credit: Solarpix/PR Photos (2)Oprah has always had a magic touch when it comes to snagging hard-to-get author interviews. Just look at her extremely rare on-camera interview with Cormac McCarthy. Now, she’s secured a guest that also knows something about magic touches: J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter author will be stopping by The Oprah Winfrey Show for the first time this Friday to talk about her life, her fame, and writing one of the most popular book series of all time.

The interview already took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, so barring a Time-Turner, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to affect what questions Oprah poses to Rowling. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate. Personally, I hope she asks why there was so much camping in the last book. It may just be in my memory, but I feel like a third of the book took place in the woods. Some snippets of the interview have already been released. On dealing with her enormous and enthusiastic fan base, the author shares this anecdote: “There was this enormous Barnes & Noble, and I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ And the queue snaked up the street, up the Barnes & Noble, up through four floors and they took me in the back entrance.  They opened the door and they screamed. They screamed….That’s a real stand-out moment for me. I knew it was getting big in that there was press attention and so on, but at that point, that for me…was when it felt ‘Beatle-esque.’”

So, Harry Potter fans — and let’s be honest, aren’t we all? — what do you think Oprah and Rowling will talk about, just one billionaire gal to another? Any topics you hope they’ll touch on?

Sep 17 2010 11:38 AM ET

Oprah absolves Jonathan Franzen and picks 'Freedom' for the Book Club

Jonathan-FranzenImage Credit: Janet Mayer/PR Photos; Joe Kohen/Getty ImagesFor all the myriad words to describe Oprah Winfrey, predictable is certainly not one of them. A couple of weeks back, I presumptively quipped that the Queen of All Media would almost certainly not choose Jonathan Franzen’s new book for her Book Club, based on the “feud” the two had back in 2001. But, true to form, it looks like Oprah has surprised us all, choosing Freedom, his latest, as her first Book Club pick in nearly a year. While it won’t be officially announced until tomorrow, the AP reports that three separate book-sellers have confirmed the new pick.

For those who don’t remember the literary kerfuffle from nine years ago, Franzen had made somewhat disparaging remarks about the Club after Oprah named his novel, The Corrections, as her latest selection, which then led to Oprah rescinding the invitation to appear on her show. I can only imagine that after this display of Oprah’s capacity for forgiveness, James Frey is waiting in the wings with apology flowers and a box of chocolates.

UPDATE: Oprah officially announced today, incidentally 14 years to the day after announcing her first selection, that Freedom will indeed be her next pick, saying, “From the very first chapter, I declared it a tour de force.”

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