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'The Water Dancer' by Ta-Nehisi Coates is Oprah Winfrey's first Apple TV+ book club selection

Oprah Winfrey announcing her Apple TV+ series earlier in 2019

Apple and Oprah Winfrey are launching a combined effort in the Apple Books store to supplement Winfrey's Apple TV+ series, and is starting it with "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Winfrey's first book selection is "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The title is available for pre-order on Apple Books in both ebook and audiobook formats, and debuts on Tuesday. Coates will be interviewed for the first installment of Winfrey's Apple TV+ series, "Oprah's Book Club" which debuts alongside the launch of the service. Winfrey's conversation with Coates about "The Water Dancer" will be filmed in front of a live audience at Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C. at some point in October.

"I am who I am today because of the experience of learning to read at an early age. Reading opened up a whole world for me beyond the red dirt road and my grandmother's porch in Mississippi," said Winfrey. "I want to do that for everybody. And the opportunity to do this with Apple, to speak to people all over the world about the pleasures, the excitement, the tension, the drama that a good book can bring you I don't know what's better than that."

For every Oprah's Book Club selection sold on Apple Books, Apple will make a contribution to the American Library Association to support local libraries. Funds will be used for programs that give access to everyone and create lifelong readers at an early age.

"Few people in the world can bring us together like Oprah, whose compassion and grace celebrating the power of books are unmatched," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "It's our honor to provide a new platform for Oprah's Book Club and support the American Library Association in opening hearts and minds to the joy of reading."

News of Winfrey's deal with Apple broke in June of 2018. Winfrey was on stage with Cook during the March 25 Apple TV+ debut where she teased the launch of the book club.