Ann PatchettEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

On tis episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett to discuss her new Katie Couric and Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick, Whistler, a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time. Ann Patchett is the author of ten novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, five works of nonfiction, and three children's books whose work has been translated into more than thirty languages. A winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Women's Prize for Fiction, and...

If you want to live in a world where people read, novelist Ann Patchett has news for you: it's your job to help create that reality. Tracing her path from a chance airport encounter through a career writing iconic novels and opening a beloved independent bookstore, she makes the case that reading isn't a private pleasure but a civic act that builds empathy, sustains a "long-format brain" and pulls people out of isolation. Ready to lose yourself in a book? (Following her talk, Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, interviews Patchett on the joys and challenges of owning a bookstore. They also discuss whether audiobooks count as reading, the inefficiency of book banning, and how to raise young people to be readers. Patchett also teases the books she’s excited about in 2026.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On todays episode, host Michael Hoffman speaks with Ann Patchett, an award-winning novelist who has earned many accolades for her books and business ventures, including being named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Ann discusses her unique contract style, her relationship with technology, and her bookstore, Parnassus Books. She shares her experience during the pandemic as a bookstore owner, where she started the Lay Down Diaries to promote new shipments every week and how it became a huge success. Listen in to hear more about Ann Patchett’s experience as a renowned writer and bookstore owner. Her writing process 2:16 Mainstream ideas in Ann’s books and technology 5:53 Her movie and the buyout 10:46 The book writing process and getting publishers 14:30 Structuring contracts 18:28 How technology has affected her 21:28 Opening a bookstore 23:14 Working with a partner and establishing a good relationship 28:54 What Ann is doing now 34:10 “There are a lot of people who believe that you should never get a royalty, that you should get an advance that is so beyond what your book is going to earn out. I think that is really detrimental to the business as a whole. I’m very interested in the health of the industry, so I don’t want an amount of money that I’m not gonna pay back, but I also want a higher royalty rate. So what I do is something called profit share, which means I don’t take any money up front, but I get 50% of my royalties after expenses.” 19:20 www.annpatchett.com