Interviews With Professionals! - Olivia Fierro of Good Morning Arizona - About Olivia’s Book Club!

Welcome to Interviews With Professionals! where I get to chat with talented folks in any artistic, literary, or media industry. I have the great honor of interviewing a very special person today…Olivia Fierro! If you're from Arizona, you know who she is! Her beautiful smile and personality has been gracing televisions across the valley for years. She's currently a news anchor with Good Morning Arizona on 3TV, and also has a very exciting role in the literary world via Olivia's Book Club! I greatly admire her passion, hard work ethic, and perspective she brings to everything she does! Along with all of her other talents, she's a fantastic writer (I think she should write a book)!

So without further ado, let’s begin the interview!

Tell us about you!

I’m a news anchor with Good Morning Arizona, book club & podcast host, wife and mom. California native who first moved to AZ to work with this station in 2003(!), UCLA graduate, who loves travel, practicing yoga, and cheering loudly for my little boy when he’s playing soccer.

Tell us all about your amazing book club!

I first started Olivia’s Book Club in January 2019. We meet (now virtually) every other month to discuss our book of choice, and have built up a wonderful community through Facebook, generally talking books and sharing recommendations between readers. Our first book was Liane Moriarty’s 9 PERFECT STRANGERS, and I knew I wanted to only pick a book every other month so that slower readers would have plenty of time to finish, and voracious readers would have plenty of time and freedom between selections to work their way through their own TBR stacks.

What made you decide to start a book club in the first place?

I have always loved reading and have been part of various book clubs over the years. Book clubs are a wonderful way to meet new people, and the calendar date helps you prioritize making time to read. I started this book club to connect with our viewers in a different way. It has been challenging in a lot of ways (I’ll never get over the fear that NO ONE will participate!) but have never regretted the time and energy it takes. I think the connections that come with sharing a book makes us all better, and I love the community we’ve built. We’ve also had the pleasure of being joined by authors for some of our discussions (T.J. Newman, Steven Rowley, Colleen Hoover) and the readers always appreciate hearing directly from the writer. We Zoom our conversations and stream them over Facebook, and partner with Changing Hands Bookstores to offer the book we are currently reading on a discount.

Do you feel that people getting together and talking about a good book enhances the experience of the story? If so, how?

There is always something to gain when listening to another person’s take on a book you’ve read. Different themes, feelings, even frustrations over a book or character are as unique as every reader. Often, I’ll have an “ah ha!” moment, listening to someone else’s take on the book. Conversations about books are stimulating, educational, and entertaining. Some of my favorite book club moments over the years are listening to someone describe why they thought a particular book was terrible! That always makes me laugh. Reading for me is about enhancing your view of the world, experiencing life in someone else’s shoes, and discussing the emotional connection with others only makes a book more valuable.

What are your top 3-5 favorite titles you’ve read so far through your book club?

Among my favorites were THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid, THE GUNCLE by Steven Rowley, Kristin Hannah’s THE NIGHTINGALE and Liz Moore’s LONG BRIGHT RIVER.

Have you always been an avid reader? What are some of your earliest experiences with falling in love with books?

I’ve always loved reading, and I used to hold big books and “read aloud” even before I could read! Some of my favorite books from childhood were Beverly Cleary’s RAMONA QUIMBY series, Scott O’Dell’s ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS, and LITTLE WOMEN.

What do you feel makes a likable protagonist whose story you want to keep on reading?

The best books to me center on a character who is complex, believable, and unique. I can embrace a book with an unlikable or unreliable protagonist, as long as the character is multi-dimensional and feels alive on the page, like the narrator in Ashley Audrain’s THE PUSH or the title character of Gail Honeyman’s ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE.

What do you feel makes a compelling story?

I like stories that focus on characters who are flawed and have secrets. I gravitate most to Thrillers, Contemporary Women’s Fiction, and Historical Fiction. For example, THE NIGHTINGALE felt like the perfect book to me, a fresh take on WWII with the focus on two French sisters who are both shouldering unique burdens through the Nazi occupation. It was emotionally gripping, heartbreaking, and beautifully written. I remember many of us crying while talking about it in book club- and that’s saying something!

What do you feel makes a book memorable and/or considered a literary classic?

Like I mentioned above with THE NIGHTINGALE, or likewise WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, Angie Thomas’ THE HATE U GIVE, or the memoir WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR, examples of books that makes you feel so much, those emotions stay with you long after you’ve read the last pages. When a story stays with you, becomes a part of you almost as part of the fabric of your own memories, it’s a classic to me.

If you were stuck on an island for one year with only one book to read, what would it be?

That’s so tough! I think for only one book I’d probably go a collection of short stories and something to distract from the monotony, like ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY from David Sedaris, who always makes me laugh out loud.

Do you feel that your experience as a respected newscaster has impacted your view of storytelling? If so, how?

I think I have a deep appreciation for the talents of writers, always have. Like many avid readers, I have a dream of writing fiction one day, but because I adore books so deeply, it feels out of reach. There are so many talented voices out there, thinking of contributing something worth reading seems way out of reach!

As a newscaster who uses her beautiful voice to inform the audience in a compelling way, would you ever consider recording an audiobook or a podcast?

YES and YES! I already have a weekly Olivia’s Book Club Podcast, interviewing fantastic authors and recommending books. It has been an amazing opportunity to completely geek out and find out what makes great storytellers tick. In TV news time is always crunched -think 3 minutes for a live interview- so the freedom to have a fulfilling, relaxed chat with interesting, creative people has been wonderful. Please subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platforms, and you’ll also find the full video interviews on our Arizona’s Family YouTube page, just look for the Olivia’s Book Club playlist. As a format, I love that they don’t expire, so readers who are looking for a new book or wanting to know more about an author they’ve just read can now find these interviews at any time, no spoilers! Sally Hepworth, Jennifer Weiner, Riley Sager, Rebecca Serle, Kristin Harmel, the list goes on! They are prolific writers and fascinating people!

Regarding audiobooks, it would be a dream to dip a toe in that business and combine two passions of mine. Only time will tell if this will ever be an opportunity, but I’m certainly open to it.

Olivia, thank you so much for joining us today! May God bless you in all that you do!