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| Amy Poehler, George R.R. Martin and Seth Meyers play Game of Thrones trivia. | |
NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers, "has become a haven for writers, particularly novelists, with the host welcoming more than a dozen authors in the past year. Meyers has interviewed Joshua Ferris and Marlon James as well as seasoned bestsellers like George R.R. Martin and Stephen King," the Wall Street Journal wrote, adding that with Meyers "behind the desk, the show has morphed into something of an intellectual salon, with authors and biting political commentary as well as celebrities."
"I think this is somewhat of an experiment for them," said Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life and a recent guest on the show. "For writers who never get any attention anywhere, it's a great boon."
"We're used to kind of scraping for any kind of attention for literary fiction," said Riverhead Books publicist Claire McGinnis, who described Meyers's enthusiasm as "absolutely thrilling."
"Writers are just naturally great storytellers," said Meyers. "[W]hen an author comes out more often than not you've never seen them, you don't know anything about their personality. The fun for me and the fun for the audience is just realizing how many different kinds of people write books."
Meyers "also actually has to read the novel--and assume the audience hasn't," the Journal noted.
Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, said he was astonished to receive the Late Night invitation (Meyers had read the book on vacation and loved it.): "I first just thought, well, my publicist is working overtime, which she is. But the idea that behind his booking was simply that he fell in love with these books just kind of blew my mind. It's just not one of those things you expect."