A good weekend to you. I’m lucky to interview so many fine authors. We’re often asked how we choose among them for Weekend Edition, so I posed a few questions to our books producer, Samantha Balaban.
Scott: What are some of the honors received by authors Weekend Edition recently interviewed? Samantha: This year alone, you interviewed two authors (Karen Joy Fowler and Hernan Diaz) who are on the Booker Prize longlist, and another two on the shortlist (Percival Everett and NoViolet Bulawayo). Also, Olga Tokarczuk, the Nobel laureate. Maybe you'll win something, too, someday.
Scott: What makes you want to book an author? Samantha: I want to read their book! I love books with unique, unusual characters (see: Elizabeth Zott and her dog, Six-Thirty, in Bonnie Garmus' Lessons In Chemistry). Also, authors with atypical back stories (Bud Smith, who wrote Teenager, also works in heavy construction). I am drawn to really striking writing (every sentence in Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra). And books by people who we might think we know but shed new light (like Delia Ephron's beautiful memoir, Left On Tenth).
Scott: Do you try to strike a balance between debut novelists and Nobel laureates? Samantha: Yes! But also, funny books and serious books, long books and novels in verse, fiction, and memoir. There are so many new, exciting voices out there. But it can also be comforting and interesting to hear from a well-known author.
Scott: What books do I like to read? Samantha: Books about France, Chicago, memoirs, literary fiction, second novels, Brit lit, Indian novelists. Publishers should know I only allow you one baseball book per quarter.
Scott: Harrumph.
Both books on our show this week center around friendship: Hua Hsu’s memoir, Stay True LINK, and Kamila Shamsie’s novel, Best of Friends LINK. And this week’s essay LINK: As fall begins, we think of the gift of ... worms.
For more book talk, check out NPR's Book of the Day podcast.
Scott Simon is one of NPR's most renowned news anchors. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and one of the hosts of the morning news podcast Up First. Be sure to listen to him every Saturday on your local NPR station, and follow him on Twitter.
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