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Actress Sarah Jessica Parker reflected on her early memories of reading during an event with 92NY in New York on Sept. 29Parker looked back on how her mother, Barbra Forste, always had a book with her, and how she and her siblings spent time in their local public libraryThe actress and publisher was in conversation with author Victoria Redel and edtior Adam Ross
Sarah Jessica Parker is looking back on how books have shaped her life.
During a Sept. 29 92NY event with author Victoria Redel (whose novel I am You is published under Parker’s book imprint SJP Lit) and editor Adam Moss at Kaye Playhouse in New York City, the And Just Like That… actress, 60, discussed how her mother, Barbra Forste, fostered an early love of reading.
Parker said her mom was an avid reader throughout Parker’s childhood, and would even pick up books in the car at stoplights.
“She read everything, from the time she was a little girl,” Parker said. “She went to a very good high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she somehow talked the librarians in her public school library, as well as our community library, into holding onto The New Yorker and The Sunday Times for her.”
Sarah Jessica Parker at a 92NY event in New York City on Sept. 29.
Michael Priest Photography | @MichaelPriestPhotography
Parker, who is one of eight children, also looked back on how there were never any children’s books in her house growing up, leading them to find reading material elsewhere.
“We were at our local public library all the time. That’s our only way of having books,” she said. “We didn’t buy books, we didn’t own books that were for our age. My parents owned books … We read just every great classic children’s book.”
Parker’s love of books has since expanded into her own publishing imprint, SJP Lit, which launched as part of Zando in 2022. The imprint publishes fiction like Redel’s novel, a historical romance set in 1600s Netherlands.
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“We try to find books that we’re really excited about, that really wow us immediately,” Parker said. “We hope we get the chance to publish them and either introduce a writer to readers or introduce a writer who’s debuting as a writer … every time a writer says yes, it’s a very big deal to us.”
Parker is also a judge for this year’s prestigious Booker Prize. She spoke about how she was an avid follower of the literary awards for years, and has since read over 150 books for Booker consideration since she took on the role in 2024.
Adam Moss, Victoria Redel (center) and Sarah Jessica Parker at a 92NY event in New York City on Sept. 29.
Michael Priest Photography | @MichaelPriestPhotography
“I required of myself a kind of discipline about it that’s different than reading a screenplay, where you can give up [if] you think it just didn’t get better after page 30,” Parker explained.
When asked by Moss about whether a character needs to be likable, Parker said that she wants “to be taken hostage” by a story’s protagonist, no matter who they are.
“I don’t want anybody writing for film or television or however we identify entertainment to ever worry about [whether] a character has to be likable or sympathetic,” she said. “In my world in particular, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked about a character I played for so many years, if she was sympathetic or likable. I I was like, ‘God, some of the greatest gangsters in cinema were murderers, but they were really great characters.’”
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“The thing that is most arresting is all these books that feel like they could not have been written by anybody else,” she continued. “I think for readers like me, and probably everybody in this room who are greedy, you want an experience where someone’s taking your breath away, where you really feel that they’ve done something special.”