"She read everything": Sarah Jessica Parker reflects on her mother’s influence in shaping her passion for reading

Sarah Jessica Parker attended a 92NY event on September 29, 2025, and she opened up about her formative years and the books that shaped them. The Sex and the City actress spoke with author Victoria Redel and editor Adam Moss about how her mother made her develop a love for reading at an early age.

She described how her mother enjoyed reading as a child:

“She read everything, from the time she was a little girl. She went to a very good high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she somehow talked the librarians in her public school library, as well as our community library, into holding onto The New Yorker and The Sunday Times for her.”

Parker, dressed in a black shirt and grey jeans, recalled how she and her siblings were frequent visitors to the local public library:

"We were at our local public library all the time. That's our only way of having books,” she said. “We didn't buy books, we didn't own books that were for our age. My parents owned books … We read just every great classic children's book.”

"Every time a writer says yes, it's a very big deal to us”: Sarah Jessica Parker

Parker, who launched her publishing company SJP Lit in June 2023, spoke to 92NY attendees about how writing projects excite her. She detailed the process behind getting a new story out there, adding that they searched for good stories and tried to get them published:

"We hope we get the chance to publish them and either introduce a writer to readers or introduce a writer who's debuting as a writer … every time a writer says yes, it's a very big deal to us.”

The 60-year-old actress and bibliophile is a judge for the 2025 Booker Prize. She revealed that she had followed the literary awards for years and read over 150 books for consideration.

Before this, she served as Editorial Director of SJP for Hogarth, where she published several New York Times bestsellers.

Parker gave advice to writers. She stated that whether they were writing for film or television, they shouldn’t be bothered about whether a character was likable or not.

She quipped:

"God, some of the greatest gangsters in cinema were murderers, but they were really great characters.”

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