Sarah’s Bookshelves Live

Hosted BySarah Dickinson

Sarah’s Bookshelves Live is a weekly show featuring real talk about books and book recommendations from a featured guest. Each week, Sarah of the blog Sarah’s Bookshelves will talk with her guest about:

- 2 OLD BOOKS THEY LOVE
- 2 NEW BOOKS THEY LOVE
- 1 BOOK THEY DON’T LOVE
- AND 1 NEW RELEASE THEY’RE EXCITED ABOUT

I’m getting real about all things books and serving you up a bit of snark on the side.

Ep. 64: Catherine Adel West (Author of Saving Ruby King)

Catherine Adel West (author of Saving Ruby King) talks about how she found her agent, the strong women of Saving Ruby King, and how she decided to make the church a narrator.

This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

Highlights

  • How different her first draft was from the final book.
  • The story of how she found an agent (via a Twitter contest for marginalized writers!) and Saving Ruby King was bought by a publisher.
  • The exact tweet she used to pitch Saving Ruby King in the Twitter contest.
  • Her advice to querying writers.
  • Saving Ruby King‘s original title and Ruby’s original name.
  • The message Catherine wanted to share about the strengths and struggles of black women through her story and her characters.
  • What growing up on the South Side of Chicago was like for Catherine.
  • How she decided to make the church a narrator.
  • How her own relationship with her faith and church shaped the book.
  • Her Dad’s (he’s a pastor and the character of Jackson Potter is based on him) reaction to the book.
  • The prequel to Saving Ruby King that Catherine is currently working on…and the possibility of this being a 4 book series.
  • How Catherine got Leesa Cross-Smith to blurb Saving Ruby King.
  • A bit about the lack of diversity in the publishing industry and the #publishingpaidme hashtag.

Catherine’s Book Recommendations [31:30]

Two OLD Books She Loves

Two NEW Books She Loves

One Book She DIDN’T LOVE

One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About

Last 5 Star Book Catherine Read [48:47]

Other Books Mentioned

Other Links

About Catherine

Website | Instagram | Twitter

Catherine graduated with both her BA and MA in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her work has been published in Gay Magazine, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Five2One, Better Than Starbucks, and others. Catherine was born and raised in Chicago. Saving Ruby King is her debut novel.

Next Episode

There will not be a new episode next week since the podcast is on a bi-weekly schedule.

The following week will be the Fall 2020 Book Preview episode with Catherine from Gilmore Guide to Books (airing September 2).

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