Books That Matter: Shannon Sanders on JAZZ by Toni Morrison

Welcome to the FictionMatters Podcast. I’m your host Sara Hildreth and this is Books That Matter. In this series, I’ll speak with writers I admire to learn about their lives as readers and deep dive into a book that matters to them. Shannon Sanders is the author of The Great Wherever (Holt, July 2026) and the linked short story collection Company (Graywolf, 2023), which won the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, was named one of the best books of 2023 by *Publishers Weekly* and Debutiful, and was shortlisted for the 2024 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including *One Story*, *The Sewanee Review*, *Virginia Quarterly Review*, and *Electric Literature*, and has received a PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and three sons. In today’s episode, Shannon joins me to talk about **Toni Morrison’s** *Jazz*, and I felt honored to unpack this complicated and beautifully rendered novel with her. Then we dive into Shannon’s new novel *The Great Wherever*, which is out Tuesday, July 7th, and yes that is **tomorrow** if you’re listening to this episode the day it drops. I had the great privilege of reading an early copy of *The Great Wherever* and I have to say it’s one of the best family novels I’ve read in a long time and I loved the originality Shannon brings to the narrative structure. While we do get into some specifics about *Jazz*, we don’t include any spoilers for *The Great Wherever* and you can listen to the episode without yet having read either book. **You can find** *The Great Wherever* **in your favorite bookshop on July 7th.** I also have to give a strong push for Company, Shannon’s linked short story collection which was one of my favorite books of 2023. Aubrey’s family appears in Company as well so if you fall in love with them, you need to pick a copy of that as well! \* *The Great Wherever* by Shannon Sanders \* *The Westing Game* by Ellen Raskin \* *The Wayside School Series* by Louis Sachar \* *Holes* by Louis Sachar \* *The Babysitters Club* by Ann M. Martin \* Mary Downing Hahn \* *The Great Gatsby* by F. Scott Fitzgerald \* *Lord of the Flies* by William Golding \* Toni Morrison \* Octavia Butler \* Chinua Achebe \* Agatha Christie \* *The God of the Woods* by Liz Moore \* Tana French \* *Company* by Shannon Sanders \* Jamel Brinkley \* Deesha Philyaw \* Pemi Aguda \* *Three Women* by Lisa Taddeo \* *Ghost Lover* by Lisa Taddeo \* *The Final Revival of Opal and Nev* by Donnie Walton \* *Homegoing* by Yaa Gyasi \* *Gone Girl* by Gillian Flynn \* Ann Patchett \* Jonathan Franzen \* *Jazz* by Toni Morrison \* *Beloved* by Toni Morrison \* *Paradise* by Toni Morrison \* *On Morrison* by Namwali Serpell \* *The Bluest Eye* by Toni Morrison \* *Corregidora* by Gayl Jones \* *Kindred* by Octavia E. Butler \* *Dominion* by Addie E. Citchens \* *The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois* by Honoree Fannone Jeffers \* *The World Doesn’t Require You* by Rion Amilcar Scott \* *The Devil Three Times* by Rickey Fayne ***\*This post contains affiliate links.*** This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe