Ta-Nehisi Coates set to be first guest on Oprah’s new Apple TV+ show

Oprah Winfrey will now have a show on Apple TV+.  The partnership between the queen of talk shows and Apple was announced last year, and her new show, “Oprah’s Book Club”, will be premiering on November 1.

In the new series, Oprah will be interviewing authors along with selecting their books for her book club.  First author up is Ta-Nehisi Coates with his book “The Water Dancer”.

Coates’ debut novel, “The Water Dancer” is set in slave times and combines history and fantasy.

The main character of the “The Water Dancer” is Hiram, a man born into slavery who meets Harriet Tubman. He learns that they both share a magical power to teleport enslaved people to freedom.

What inspired Coates to combine these genres was his fascination with Harriet Tubman and her almost un-human ability to free slaves through the Underground Railroad in spite of all the hurdles she faced.

“It just seemed wild,” Coates told NPR in an interview about his book. “Who is this person who had fainting spells and yet has never lost a passenger? Who is this black woman in the 19th century who, when somebody is scared and wants to turn back pulls out a gun and made threats, “You ain’t turning back!’? Who is this person who just strides through history?”

 

Speaking on her new show, Oprah said: “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 give you… I don’t know what’s better than that.”

Oprah will interview  Coates about his book in front of a live audience at Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C.

The show is set to premier exclusively on Apple TV+ November 1.