Oprah Winfrey’s book club series for Apple TV+ takes shape

Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey in March

Oprah Winfrey and Apple have shed light on the structure of the media tycoon’s global book club and series for the forthcoming streamer, first announced in March. 

Winfrey – who first launched a book club on her talk show in 1996, transforming obscure titles into global bestsellers – is to interview authors of selected books on her Apple TV+ series Oprah’s Book Club, which is to debut on 1 November, when the service launches.

A new episode of the series will launch every two months.

Winfrey’s first book selection is The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who will be interviewed for the debut episode.

Authors will be interviewed at various locations. While the conversation with Coates will be filmed in front of a live audience at Apple Carnegie Library in Washington DC next month, others will be filmed elsewhere.

Oprah’s Book Club will also be promoted on Apple Books, while the titles themselves will be made available for pre-order via Apple.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said: “Few people in the world can bring us together like Oprah, whose compassion and grace celebrating the power of books are unmatched. It’s our honour to provide a new platform for Oprah’s Book Club and support the American Library Association in opening hearts and minds to the joy of reading.”

Winfrey added: “I am who I am today because of the experience of learning to read at an early age. Reading opened up a whole world for me beyond the red dirt road and my grandmother’s porch in Mississippi.

“I want to do that for everybody. And the opportunity to do this with Apple, to speak to people all over the world about the pleasures, the excitement, the tension, the drama that a good book can bring you. I don’t know what’s better than that.”