Making It Up with Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt, author of Please Don't Lie

“The whole concept of working together started when we were in a writer's room—a Hollywood production company writer's room—and we learned how to create cliffhangers.”  – Christina Baker Kline 

Christina Baker Kline is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including Orphan Train, The Exiles, Please Don’t Lie (with Anne Burt), and the forthcoming The Foursome (May 2026). Published in more than 40 countries, her novels have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among others. 

Anne Burt is the coauthor of the thriller Please Don't Lie. Anne’s debut novel, The Dig, was an American Booksellers' Association Indie Next pick and the Strand Bookstore's mystery selection of the month. Her essays and fiction have appeared in numerous publications including Salon and NPR, and she is a past winner of Meridian’s Editors’ Prize in Fiction. 

Among other things, Christina, Anne, and Carter discuss how their friendship and writing relationship formed, trying to write with a unified voice in a co-authored novel, and balancing thriller “tropes” with realistic plots. At the end of their conversation, they make up a descriptive story using a line from Wendy Walker’s Blade.