Jenna Bush Hager is a powerhouse in the publishing industry with her incredibly popular book club, Read with Jenna, and the recent launch of her imprint, Thousand Voices.
The Today star joined forces with two other publishing bigwigs on Tuesday at a Q&A for the new book from Amy Griffin, The Tell.
The event was hosted by Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and the pair were joined by none other than Oprah Winfrey in a surprise appearance.
As the book club founder joined the fun, she gave a special shout-out to Jenna in the crowd, who was sitting next to A-list actress Reese Witherspoon, creator of another hugely successful book club.
Oprah gushed over the book, telling the audience that Amy’s story was “so powerful that never before have I been anywhere where Reese Witherspoon’s book club, and Jenna’s book club and my book club are all in the same room.”
Jenna and Reese then joined Oprah on stage to the cheers of the crowd, taking photos with the novel in a surprising collaboration for the trio.
© Instagram“When a book is so important it brings @reesesbookclub, @readwithjenna, and our book club together to celebrate it!” the former talk show host wrote in an Instagram caption after the event.
Following Jenna’s appearance, her co-anchor Savannah Guthrie gushed with excitement for her friend.
“Listen to what had happened,” she said on Today. “In the same room, last night at this book event, Oprah comes and she sees Reese and Jenna sitting in the audience and calls them up. Three iconic book divas right there under one roof. How neat is that?”
© Getty Images for Amy Griffin“It was so cool,” Jenna chimed in. “When Oprah said that, I turned crimson. I couldn’t believe it. She’s like, ‘Only Amy Griffin who wrote this book, The Tell, who is [a] friend of Savannah and mine, could get all three of us in the room. Y’all come up.‘ It was so cool.”
She later took to Instagram to share a sweet snap of the trio, writing, “BOOK nerds UNITE! @oprah @reesewitherspoon and I got together to celebrate @amygriffin and her new book! I admire these queens SO MUCH!”
Reese also shared her joy at the surprise meeting, writing, “Everything got even MORE exciting with an unexpected run-in with the Queens who love Book & Authors as much as I do @oprah @jennabhager I love you both so much…and of course ALL you amazing readers that [make] my every book club so magical!”
Amy’s memoir follows her healing journey after experiencing harrowing trauma, and is Oprah’s March pick for her book club.
The billionaire shared that she was “floored” after reading the book because it spoke about how “powerful the desire to forget is, and also how powerful the desire to remember is and how your life can change when you reconcile the two.”
Meanwhile, Jenna recently celebrated the sixth anniversary of her book club, which boasts over 260,000 followers on Instagram.
© Getty ImagesRead with Jenna began after a “dare” from Today producer Libby Leist, according to the mother of three.
“She had seen two conflicting articles, one of which said that people were reading more than ever, and the other saying that my generation wasn’t reading,” she told Publishers Weekly.
“I was like, ‘I’m telling you, we’re reading more, and people still love to read. So let me start a book club and see how it goes.‘ And the first book, The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin, shot up on Amazon from basically oblivion to number two.”
