Episode
Patchett, Kingsolver & Lee on the Art—and Uncertainty—of Being a Modern Novelist
On with Kara Swisher · Oct 19, 2026 · 1 h 14 min
For literary fiction fans, 2026 has been a banner year, with new novels from award-winning American authors Barbara Kingsolver (“Partitia”), Min Jin Lee (“American Hagwon”), and Ann Patchett (“Whistler”). But amid shortening attention spans and fears that the ‘end of reading’ is fast approaching, what role do novels still play in modern life, and what does it take to find success as a writer…
