I have the best job in the world, but Charlotte Gill's exuberant and stylish Eating Dirt, a Fall 2012 Discover selection, made me want to drop everything, ditch NYC, and head out into the wilderness -- and I'm hardly the only selection committee reader who felt that way. Charlotte discusses planting trees, writing about natural history, and wanting to be transported by fiction, among other things, with Discover Great New Writers.

Highlights from the media's coverage of Fall (and Summer) 2012 Discover Great New Writers selections.

Amanda Coplin discusses writing about the natural world, the evolution of central Washington State's landscape, and how loss and longing inform The Orchardist's narrative, among other things, with Discover Great New Writers.

Two of our favorite authors, Ayad Akhtar (American Dervish) and Maria Semple (Where'd You Go, Bernadette) speak with one another about the joys (and limitations) of family, what writing novels demands, and keeping perspective, among other things.

David K. Randall, author of the Fall 2012 pick Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep, discusses his inspiration for writing the book, what scientists are just now learning about sleep, and how dreaming fits into the science of sleep, among other things with Discover Great New Writers.

Vaddey Ratner, author of the Fall 2012 selection In the Shadow of  the Banyan, discusses why she chose fiction over memoir to tell her family's story and her incredibly broad range of literary influences, among other things with Discover Great New Writers.

Katie Kitamura, author of Gone to the Forest and the '09 Discover pick The Longshot recommends 3 great reads.

Maria Semple, the author of the superbly witty & equally wise Fall 2012 Discover pick Where'd You Go, Bernadette? discusses the undeniable appeal of reading other people's mail, the differences between writing a novel and writing for TV, recognizing glimmers of comedy in her own misery, and a writer "whose sentences are so beautiful it almost hurts  to read them" with Discover Great New Writers.