Oprah Winfrey picks Ayana Mathis debut book for next Book Club selection
Ayana Mathis got a boost for her debut novel that any first-time author would love to get. Her book was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and is the latest selection for Oprahs Book Club 2.0.
According to The New York Times, Mathis The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, which is published by Knopf, was Winfreys latest selection, the former talk show host said Wednesday. In response, Knopf announced that it will publish an additional 125,000 copies.
Knopf also moved up the release date. It wasnt supposed to come out until next month, but copies of the book will now be available tomorrow.
The chief executive of OWN said that she was impressed by The Twelve Tribes of Hattie from page one. The opening pages of Ayanas debut took my breath away, Winfrey said. I cant remember when I read anything that moved me in quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Mathis has written for Essence and Glamour magazines, but was relatively unknown until Winfreys announcement. Amazons page for the book actually crashed after the announcement.
Winfrey revived Oprahs Book Club over the summer, adding a multimedia component, since her talk show is no longer! on air.
Winfreys interview with Mathis will air on Feb. 3 and Goodreads will have exclusive content on Mathis novel between now and then. The interview will also air on Sirius XM and streamed on Oprah.com and the OWN Facebook page. A Twitter hashtag #OprahsBookClub has been set up to discuss the book.
Oprah Announces Her Second Pick for Oprah's Book Club 2.0
This masterful debut novel was so astonishing that Oprah had to share it with the world. Watch to find out what Oprah loved so much about Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.
Learn more about how you can participate in Oprah's Book Club 2.0.