I created The Current during the COVID-19 shutdown as a solution to a new problem facing Hachette and its authors: book promotion had traditionally relied heavily on appearances, events and in-person interviews, and virtually all of that disappeared overnight.

Authors still had books to promote, and we still needed compelling author-driven programming. Rather than filling our channels with endless webcam interviews, I developed The Current as a remotely produced video podcast.

Clive Priddle, VP and Publisher of PublicAffairs, was the natural host. He already had relationships with an extraordinary roster of nonfiction writers and journalists whose expertise intersected directly with the events unfolding around us. Although he had never hosted a program like this before, I worked with him to translate those relationships into a conversational interview format.

I recorded the interviews remotely using Wirecast, edited the episodes and created the title sequence, motion graphics and supporting imagery that gave the video edition a visual identity beyond simply watching people talk through their computers. The project was initially conceived as a video podcast and later expanded into both video and audio.

The Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar interview became an especially striking example of why the format worked. We recorded it only hours after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, while the country was still processing what had happened. A conversation about their experiences with racism was suddenly taking place in the middle of another consequential moment in American life.

The Current gave us a format flexible enough to promote books while also allowing authors and journalists to engage with history as it was happening—even when none of us could be in the same room.