The Open Book with David Steinberger Podcast

The Open Book Podcast
with David Steinberger

A behind-the-scenes look at books and publishing

Join us for wide-ranging discussions with publishers, editors, authors, journalists, thinkers, executives, and other makers of culture, hosted by David Steinberger, CEO of Open Road Media and Chairman of the National Book Foundation.

Listen Now:

Apple Podcast Icon
Spotify Podcast Icon
Amazon Music Icon

Current Episode

This Could Be the Best Book I’ve Ever Read Sally Kim Episode Image

This Could Be the Best Book I’ve Ever Read

Sally Kim

Publisher, Little Brown

Sally Kim is the Publisher of Little Brown, a famed imprint of Hachette Book Group originally founded in 1837, with a catalog that boasts authors like JD Salinger, Louisa May Alcott, Malcolm Gladwell, Nelson Mandela and David Sedaris, to name a few. Sally’s journey from intern to editor and then publisher is both fascinating and comprehensive—she is one of the few people in the industry to work at all of the Big 5 publishing houses.

INTERVIEWED ON: January 22nd, 2025

Books discussed:

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

The Tea Rose is a towering old-fashioned story, imbued with a modern sensibility, of a family's destruction, of murder and revenge, of love lost and won again, and of one determined woman's quest to survive and triumph. East London, 1888-a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

Such a Fun Age by Kylie Reed

Such a Fun Age by Kylie Reed

A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Previous Episodes

A Book Bought in a Good Bookstore is a Better Book James Daunt Episode Image
Name as Destiny Madeline McIntosh Episode Image
Stealing Crumbs from the Giant Andy Hunter Episode Image
Name as Destiny Madeline McIntosh Episode Image
Truly Global Brian Murray Episode Image
9,400 Miles Amandeep Kochar Episode Image
Placing Bets All the Time Jon Yaged Episode Image
Publishing for the Next 100 Years Christie Henry Episode Image
Living Above the Shop David Shelley Episode Image
Simon Lipskar Episode Image
Otto Penzler Episode Image
Maria Laurino Episode Image
Ted Conover Episode Image
Allison Dobson Episode Image
John Sargent Episode Image
Lisa Lucas Episode Image
Morgan Entrekin Episode Image

Press

Publishers Lunch
Shelf Awareness
Publisher's Weekly
RSS Feed