Oprah Winfrey announced in December that she has selected Ayana Mathis's debut novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, for "Oprah's Book Club 2.0."

Ayana Mathis is a 2011 graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a Copernicus-Michener Fellow. She will return to teach in the Graduate Fiction Workshop for the Spring, 2013 semester.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Harding describes the book as "beautiful and necessary from the very first sentence." In her video announcement today, Winfrey praised the book, "The spirit of sacred truth leaped from the pages." Addressing the members of her Book Club, she said, "To be able to read this book for the first time - I envy you."

For more information:
Oprah Book Club 2.0 Announcement
Novelist's Debut Is Newest Pick for Oprah's Book Club