Sarah Jessica Parker to Appear at Winter Institute in Conversation With Pamela Paul

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Actress Sarah Jessica Parker will appear in conversation with New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul at Winter Institute 13, where she will discuss her new literary fiction imprint with Penguin Random House, SJP for Hogarth, and her life as a lover of books and reading.

Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker (photo by Kimberly Butler Photography)

The January 23 keynote breakfast, “Sarah Jessica Parker in Conversation With Pamela Paul,” will be held at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee, where the American Booksellers Association’s 13th Winter Institute will take place from January 22–25, 2018.

Pamela Paul
Pamela Paul (photo by Earl Wilson)

In her new role at the imprint, launched in partnership with Molly Stern, publisher of Crown and Hogarth, Parker will acquire and curate works of fiction that reflect her own taste as a reader. The American actress, producer, and designer, who currently stars in the HBO comedy Divorce and serves as honorary chair of the American Library Association’s Book Club Central, will be directly involved in the editorial and publishing process for each book issued under her imprint, with her vision providing the editorial foundation for each publication.

Parker will be interviewed by Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Review and overseer of book coverage at the New York Times. Paul is the host of the weekly podcast Inside the New York Times Book Review and the author of four books, including her latest, My Life With Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues (Henry Holt and Co.). Paul recently spoke with Bookselling This Week about the upcoming conversation with Parker.

“SJP is a booklover and she is a big reader and she is a book club member and now, of course, she has her book imprint, so we’re going to talk about her love of books and her desire to be a part of the creative process with books,” said Paul. “We’ll be approaching [the discussion] as a reader, first and foremost, and through her love of reading, but we’ll also be talking about why she’s making this move to a more active role in the publishing process.”

The first book from SJP for Hogarth, to be released June 12, 2018, will be A Place for Us by debut writer Fatima Farheen Mirza, which tells the story of an Indian Muslim family in America and their children’s search for belonging and fulfillment.

Paul said her conversation with Parker may also include some questions similar to those often featured in the New York Times Book Review’s weekly “By the Book” feature, where authors and celebrities are asked a series of questions about their favorite books or books that are personally notable.

“I am interested in — and I think a lot of people in the industry and fellow readers are interested in — her life as a reader. We’ll talk about the books that have shaped her, influenced her, inspired her, and the books that she’s enthusiastic about,” said Paul. Booksellers can hear Parker speak about the importance of books in her life in this video interview posted on Penguin Random House’s Facebook page to promote SJP for Hogarth.

Paul, who as “a huge bookstore fan and constant customer” is personally excited to attend the institute, said she will also be talking about indie bookstores with Parker. “I know that she has her own favorite bookstores,” said Paul, so the conversation will cover that “and the role that bookstores have played in her reading life and in helping guide her selections as far as her new work [with SJP for Hogarth].”

The keynote breakfast “Sarah Jessica Parker in Conversation With Pamela Paul,” will run from 7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 23, in Ballrooms A & B at the Memphis Cook Convention Center.

Winter Institute 13 is made possible by the generous support of lead sponsor Ingram Content Group and from publishers large and small. See the full Winter Institute program here. 

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