NHPR's Check This Out features host and author Rachel Barenbaum in conversation with emerging writers about their latest work.
Shannon Sanders’ debut novel, “The Great Wherever,” is full of ghosts, humor, and family.
It follows a young woman who has just been through a breakup and is still grieving the death of her father. She retreats to a family homestead in Tennessee where she's watched by the opinionated ghosts of her ancestors.
“I was interested in trying to write a multi-generational story that explored what it would be like for a family to carry a piece of shared property through generations and try to navigate some of that,” says Sanders.
Sanders did years of research for her debut novel but didn’t want it to read like a text book.
“I wanted to tell that story through these individual perspectives of these people actually living it, and having their lives and their relationships and their troubles and challenges and their moments of joy as well,” she said.
Current issues in publishing on the the Book Biz
On the Book Biz segment, Barenbaum unpacks the trends shaking up the publishing world.
Jane Friedman is one of the leading experts on the business of publishing. She's the former publisher of Writer's Digest, the author of “The Business of Being a Writer” and the editor of The Bottom Line, a newsletter covering the publishing industry.
In this conversation, Friedman covers the changing nature of agents, the rise of the no-advance deal, and AI in publishing.
Check This Out from NHPR Books airs Saturdays at 3 p.m. on NHPR and NHPR.org, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts.
Check This Out is made possible with support from Sourcebooks, an independent, women-led publisher built on the belief that books change lives. It is also sponsored by C&S Wholesale Grocers family of companies and the podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, the award-winning daily author interview show.
