© 2024 WUGA | University of Georgia
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Political Rewind: Author Karin Slaughter On Writing Thrilling — And Timely — Fiction

Credit: Alison Rosa

Monday on Political Rewind: We were joined by New York Times and internationally bestselling author Karin Slaughter.

Her newest novel, False Witness, incorporates many timely issues into its narrative. Set in Atlanta during the pandemic, Slaughter tells the story of an up-and-coming attorney in Atlanta balancing single parenting with the responsibilities of a demanding job. Meanwhile, an important court case involving a powerful man accused of sexual assault places this story in the all-too-familiar context of the #MeToo era.

Slaughter spoke to us about weaving real-world issues into her narratives. When writing about violence against women, she has sought to depart from troubling patterns in the depiction of misogyny in fiction.

"I want to tell women's stories and I don't want to do what I had been seeing in a lot of crime novels, which is sort of sexualizing violence and making it titillating," Slaughter said. "I wanted to write about it in a frank way and to talk about what it leaves behind."

Published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe, Slaughter’s novels include Cop Town and Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.

Panelists:

Karin Slaughter — Best-selling fiction author, False Witness

Copyright 2021 Georgia Public Broadcasting

Bill Nigut has been a program host and producer at Georgia Public Broadcasting since November, 2013. He currently hosts “Two Way Street,” a show that features long-form conversations with authors, artists, chefs, scientists and other creative people who have fascinating stories to tell. He is host and producer of “Political Rewind,” a twice-weekly political roundtable show featuring some of Georgia’s best-informed insiders weighing in on the big state and national political stories.
Emilia Brock is a producer for GPB's program, "On Second Thought."
Sam joined the Political Rewind team in 2019. He graduated American University in 2015 with a degree in journalism and spent time in North Carolina as a reporter at WCHL in Chapel Hill.