Oprah is expanding her digital portfolio through her ongoing partnership with tech giant Apple to launch her new podcast, “Oprah’s Book Club,” reports The Hollywood Reporter.
According to The Wrap, starting today “Oprah’s Book Club” will release weekly episodes twice on both Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each episode will feature Oprah — and an author — in talks with various big-name guests to discuss a popular book or novel.
As part of its first installment, the eight-part miniseries will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson. The two will discuss Wilkerson’s best-selling book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” — a nonfiction work that illustrates the hidden hierarchy of human ranking that defines America.
“I am honored and thrilled that ‘Caste’ has been chosen for Oprah’s Book Club and that its humanitarian insights will now reach a wider audience,” Wilkerson shared in a statement. “This work shows that the term racism may be insufficient in our current era. We need new language, a new framework for understanding our divisions and how we got to where we are (and) ‘Caste’ gives us this language.”
According to a press statement from Oprah, “Caste” is one of the “most profound books” she’s ever read. She also stated that Wilkerson’s book “provides a new way of seeing racial inequality, giving rise to countless ‘aha’ moments and helping us truly understand America as it is now and how we hope it will be.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the multi-year deal Oprah secured with Apple back in 2018 included a relaunch of “Oprah’s Book Club” as a multi-platform initiative.
The Hollywood Reporter also shared that Oprah’s exclusive podcast deal with Apple is one of many for the tech platform as it continues to cultivate original podcasts and add to its running list of creative content.
Additionally, they reported that Apple’s in-house podcast efforts are tied to other endeavors including “The Zane Lowe Interview Series,” daily news roundup “Apple News Today,” and more.
Listen to the podcast trailer and first episode here.
