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Author News & Interviews

Author Talk: Dawn Tripp, author of Georgia: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe

Feb 11, 2016

Dawn Tripp is an award-winning author and frequent essayist, whose work has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, The Rumpus, Psychology Today and on NPR. Her fourth work of fiction, GEORGIA, is a biographical novel about Georgia O’Keeffe --- told in the first person --- that chronicles O’Keefe’s journey from unknown teacher to the most famous female American artist of the last century. In this interview, Tripp talks about why she wanted to write about O’Keefe, and what she wishes to add to the artist’s already extensive literary catalog and characterization. She also discusses the challenges in finding her heroine’s voice, as well as capturing the highs and lows of her tumultuous relationship with photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

Interview: Melanie Benjamin, author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue

Jan 28, 2016

Melanie Benjamin, the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as ALICE I HAVE BEEN and THE AVIATOR’S WIFE, is back with her latest foray into historical fiction: THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE, a triumphant novel about New York’s “Swans” of the 1950s --- and the scandalous, headline-making and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley. In this interview, Benjamin talks with Bookreporter.com's co-founder, Carol Fitzgerald, about Babe Paley and the Swans, “the first Real Housewives of New York” --- from their glitz and glamour to their complicated relationship with Capote and beyond.  

Interview: Shilpi Somaya Gowda, author of The Golden Son

Jan 28, 2016

Shilpi Somaya Gowda, the internationally bestselling author of SECRET DAUGHTER, now returns with her highly anticipated sophomore effort, THE GOLDEN SON. It’s the lovely, complicated story of Anil Patel, who makes the difficult decision to leave behind his Indian village to pursue a medical career in the U.S. --- only to be called back after the sudden death of his father to fulfill his duty-bound role as village arbiter. In this interview, Gowda talks to The Book Report Network's Bronwyn Miller about why she is and always has been so fascinated by the Indian tradition of a panchayat, and how that kind of justice system plays out on a personal and communal level. She also discusses why she is drawn to stories dealing with cross-cultural issues, how volunteering at an orphanage changed her life, and what she’d like readers to take away from THE GOLDEN SON.

Interview: Anne Girard, author of Platinum Doll

Jan 28, 2016

Anne Girard is the pen name of bestselling author Diane Haeger, which was adopted to distinguish her more recent historical fiction from her earlier works. Her latest book, PLATINUM DOLL, is about Harlean Carpenter McGrew, better known as silver screen legend and “the original platinum blonde bombshell” Jean Harlow, as she and her domineering mother take Hollywood by storm. In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Alexis Burling, Girard talks about what inspired her to write Harlow’s story and how she researches each of her books (including a trip to the city in which it’s set!). She also shares some fascinating details about the starlet’s life, including bits about her troubled marriage, her unquenchable free spirit, and her untimely death at only 26 years old.

Interview: Sally Hepworth, author of The Things We Keep

Jan 21, 2016

Sally Hepworth is a former event planner and HR professional, as well as a world-traveler and the bestselling author of THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES. She’s following up that success with THE THINGS WE KEEP, the story of Anna Forster, a 38-year-old woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease who checks herself into an assisted living facility, where she meets and connects deeply with another patient. In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Rebecca Munro, Hepworth discusses why she was moved to write about a protagonist suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s (and why it was crucial to tell Anna’s story in the first person), and why she believes deeply in the ability of love to trump disease.