Bound Together

As a lifelong reader and passionate advocate of new literary talent, Sarah Jessica Parker has launched her own imprint. Erica Wagner meets the actor-turned-publisher and her first author, the debut novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza..

It’s a rainy afternoon in the West Village, but I’m not bothered about the downpour. I’m happily ensconced at a cosy bistro table with Sarah Jessica Parker and Fatima Farheen Mirza, talking about books. What could be better? Mirza—27 years old with wide, dark eyes and a ready smile—is the talented debut author whose novel, A Place for Us, launches SJP for Hogarth, a new publishing imprint curated by Parker. What comes across most clearly in the course of our conversation is the high regard and real affection that these two women clearly have for each other, and how serious each of them is—in her own way—about the power of literature to change lives.

Parker, of course, is a bona fide global star. But follow her on Instagram and you’ll see frequent posts about her reading matter: Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, and Jonathan Miles’s Anatomy of a Miracle can all be found in her feed,

the latter a pick of the American Library Association’s Book Club Central, of which Parker is the honorary chair. Reading is a fundamental part of her life.