Oprah Winfrey’s book club now has a podcast, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Apple, which for more than two years has partnered with Winfrey, launched a podcast version of her influential book club on Tuesday.
The first episode of the podcast, which centers around Winfrey’s latest book club pick, Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, is already live. It will be followed by seven more episodes, each featuring Winfrey, Wilkerson, and several guests discussing the book.
Caste was one of the most anticipated books of the year even before Winfrey gave it her imprimatur last month. The book has drawn raves from critics; a reviewer for Kirkus called it “a memorable, provocative book that exposes an American history in which few can take pride.”
On a preview for the podcast, Winfrey said, “[Caste] is the most important book I have ever selected for my book club, because this is a moment, this is an awakening, and it’s a time for a conversation about how we got to where we are: the America we are and hope it can be.”
In the first episode, Wilkerson describes how she felt reading Dwight Garner’s rave review of Caste in the New York Times. “I was overwhelmed,” she said. “I was so thrilled to have this recognition, and someone who really, truly immersed himself in the book and got what I was trying to do.”
New episodes of Winfrey’s podcast will be released on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
