Indie Next List Interview

Gary Fisketjon, Kent Haruf’s longtime editor and friend, talks about the author’s final novel, Our Souls at Night, and his legacy as a writer.

Booksellers chose Pieces of My Mother, a memoir by Book Passage events coordinator Melissa Cistaro, as an Indie Next List pick for May. In the book, Cistaro writes about her mother’s disappearance from her life at a very young age and how she came to terms with this fateful choice as an adult.

Distinguished poet Elizabeth Alexander is the author of The Light of the World, a heartbreaking memoir about the sudden death of her husband and the memories that make up a family. 

Debut novelist Aline Ohanesian discusses growing up in a family where both sets of grandparents were Armenian Genocide survivors; how it feels to find success so early in her writing career; and the two mysterious sentences that sparked her imagination to begin writing Orhan’s Inheritance.

Booksellers have named Ian Caldwell’s The Fifth Gospel, a book that has been in the works for more than a decade, as their top Indie Next List pick for March. Here, Caldwell talks about his many years of research, his aim to provide readers with an unprecedented level of realism, and more.

The debut novel by bookseller Jeremy Hawkins of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been named to April's Indie Next List. The Last Days of Video tells the tale of Star Video's quirky staff and owner, who try to keep their store in business after a Blockbuster moves in next door.

Kristin Hannah talks about her new book, The Nightingale, which booksellers chose as their top Indie Next List pick for February. The novel, set in Nazi-occupied France, follows two estranged sisters who reconnect during the war as each demonstrates bravery, sacrifice, and compassion in her own way.

Debut novels by Porter Square’s Josh Cook (An Exaggerated Murder, Melville House) and Turnrow’s Jamie Kornegay (Soil, S&S) are among the titles on the March 2015 Indie Next List, which previews this week.

Christopher Scotton, the debut author of The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, talks about what inspired him to write a novel, the real-life experiences he brought to the story, and how he learned about the people and places of the book’s setting, the Appalachian Mountains.

In an interview with Bookselling This Week, David Nicholls, author of Us, this month’s top Indie Next List Pick, sheds light on many of his influences and preferences as a writer.

In his memoir, Not My Father’s Son, actor Alan Cumming shares the details of his difficult youth and the discovery of his family’s true history. Cumming recently spoke to BTW about the decision to share his story.

Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time (Ballantine Books), discusses why she chose to write about elephants, how she researched their behavior, the strength of mother-daughter bonds, and the role independent booksellers have played in her career.

David Mitchell, the author of The Bone Clocks, recently spoke with Bookselling This Week about the inspiration for his latest bestseller, some of the characters readers might recognize from previous novels, and his own experience working in a bookstore.

Malcolm Brooks, author of Painted Horses, recently spoke to BTW about what inspired his interest in history and archaeology, how he views the struggle of sacred spaces versus human progress, and how his interests came together in vivid detail in his debut novel.

Erika Johansen, the author of The Queen of the Tearling, recently spoke to BTW about her inspiration for the novel, strong heroines in literature, and the importance of books in society.