A group of “award-winning novelists” has sent a letter to Oprah Winfrey “begging her to resume picking new novels for members of her popular book club.” As a Reuters wire story by Mark Egan reports, the letter was sent out by Word of Mouth, “a loose alliance of women’s authors.” According to the letter, “fiction sales really began to plummet when the The Oprah Winfrey Book Club went off the air. When you stopped featuring contemporary authors on your program, Book Club members stopped buying new fiction, and this changed the face of American publishing.” So, the letter continues, “The readers need you. And we, the writers, need you. Oprah Winfrey, we wish you’d come back.” Among the 158 signers: Amy Tan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Francine Prose, Mary Gordon, Kathryn Harrison, Gish Jen, and Ann Beattie. However, according to the Reuters report, a Winfrey spokeswoman “poured cold water on the idea,” saying, “There are no plans to change the focus of the book club at this time.” Meanwhile, Winfrey continues to champion classic books in her revived Book Club.