Today show co-host Jenna Bush Hager’s popular book club is getting a new chapter.
Hager has signed a production deal with Universal Studio Group to adapt her club’s selections for film and television, Variety reports.
“We just realized there is such an opportunity to make sure we are doing the best we can to highlight these authors and make sure their books live in other areas,” Hager said.
Hager launched her monthly book club in March of 2019 with Tara Conklin’s The Last Romantics. Her selections since then—mostly novels, and mostly by women authors—have included Linda Holmes’ Evvie Drake Starts Over, Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House, Abi Daré’s The Girl With the Louding Voice, and, most recently, Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake.
Universal Studio Group Chairman Pearlene Igbokwe praised Hager’s enthusiasm for books as “infectious.”
“As an author and avid bibliophile, Jenna is uniquely tapped into the stories that resonate most with people and influence our culture,” Igbokwe told Variety.
Hager will still talk books, and other subjects, on the Today show.
“I’ll continue to be on the show every day, doing the same thing,” Hager said. “This will just be an expansion of my work. I will work a little harder after the show.”
She shared news of the deal on Twitter, writing, “Long time coming…so looking forward to this next chapter!”
Long time coming…so looking forward to this next chapter! https://t.co/W5hecqZkBg
— Jenna Bush Hager (@JennaBushHager) February 14, 2022
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.