Winfrey chooses Richard Powers' 'Bewilderment' for book club

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Oprah Winfrey’s new book club pick is Richard Powers “Bewilderment,” his first novel since the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Overstory" and already on the fiction longlist for the National Book Awards.

“My next selection is from one of our country’s greatest living writers, Richard Powers, who writes some of the most beautiful sentences I’ve ever read,” Winfrey said in a statement Tuesday.

The 64-year-old Powers, whose other books include “Orfeo” and “The Echo Maker,” winner of the National Book Award in 2006, said in a statement that he was "honored and moved to be named an 'Oprah Book Club’ selection.”

”‘Bewildered’ doesn’t begin to describe it," he added. "This is among the most rewarding recognitions I’ve received over my 40-year career.”

Winfrey’s interview with Powers will air Oct. 22 on Apple TV Plus. Powers is known for complex narratives that often center on science, technology and the environment. “Bewilderment,” published last week, tells of a widowed astrobiologist and his struggles to raise his 9-year-old son.

The announcement Tuesday comes just over a month since Winfrey's previous book club choice: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ debut novel “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois."