Totally Booked with Zibby

Poet and author Zoe Whittall joins Zibby to discuss her latest novel, The Spectacular. Zoe shares how her recent relationships inspired the multigenerational story, as well as how her experience of losing a pregnancy at the start of the pandemic deepened its significance. Zoe and Zibby also talk about the importance of writing commercially for and about the queer community, why grappling with anxiety is a core theme throughout all of her work, and what projects she's working on next.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3rTDaNwBookshop: https://bit.ly/3G9ZOGoSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zibby is joined by Judy Bolton-Fasman to talk about her debut memoir, Asylum, and the different threads throughout her life that led to that title. The two discuss the unique dynamic that existed between Judy's parents and how it fostered a number of secrets she sought to uncover throughout her childhood, as well as the different iterations this project has taken over the sixteen years it took her to write. Judy also openly shares her experience living with panic attacks in the book and in conversation with Zibby because she wants to destigmatize mental illnesses and the different ways we can manage them.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/340bH4SBookshop: https://bit.ly/3u7lYXzSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Executive editor of Electric Literature Halimah Marcus joins Zibby to talk about her new anthology, Horse Girls, which was inspired by her lifelong love of horses. The two discuss the unique dynamic that seems to exist between women and horses, how each essay — penned by an impressive roster of writers — captures a piece of this relationship, and what events in Halimah's personal history have endeared her to loving these animals forever. Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GbDsEGBookshop: https://bit.ly/32ELIPGSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Screenwriter Jenny Pentland joins Zibby to discuss her first memoir, This Will Be Funny Later, which largely looks at her life following the success of her mother Rosanne Barr's show. The two talk about the different ways seeking control has manifested in their lives, how motherhood often feels like a constant effort to not make the mistakes your parents made, and why it was cathartic to re-evaluate her traumatic childhood from her family's perspective. Jenny also shares how this book began as Tweets written to help calm her mind and the ways in which this project has been transformative for how she copes with her PTSD.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/33SDV1fBookshop: https://bit.ly/3FU6M2pSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zibby is joined by writer and journalist Margarita Gokun Silver to talk about her collection of essays, I Named My Dog Pushkin (And Other Immigrant Tales), which follows her journey from growing up in the Soviet Union to America. The two discuss the role Judaism played in Margarita's upbringing and family history in the USSR, how their time at Yale overlapped by a few years, and what efforts Margarita has made to parent her daughter differently than her parents raised her. Margarita also shares the heartbreaking news of her husband's passing and how this book stands as a testament to his life as well as her own.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3rMpX9fBookshop: https://bit.ly/3G02DK4Subscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Novelist Sarah Hall joins Zibby to discuss her not-quite-pandemic book, Burntcoat, which was just nominated for this year's National Book Critics Circle Awards. Sarah also shares how her role as a single mother inspired elements of this novel, the ways in which writing has allowed her to truly express herself throughout her life, and what notions of identity and relationships she sought to analyze. Sarah also wants readers to know that despite almost being about the pandemic, this book is actually very funny.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/33SAF61Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3u6mxkeSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New York Times best-selling novelist María Amparo Escandón joins Zibby to talk about her book, L.A. Weather, which was a Reese's Book Club Pick. The two talk about the things all mothers find themselves fearing, why María's father would call with weather reports for L.A. even though he lived in Mexican City, and what inspired her to start writing when she was in the second grade. María also shares how even though her children are grown adults, moms still don't have time to read books!Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3fVb9zqBookshop: https://bit.ly/3Aq5cUNSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bestselling author Allison Larkin joins Zibby to talk about her latest novel, The People We Keep, and its protagonist who Allison loves dearly. The two discuss the fifteen-year journey Allison went on to write this book, the reason she feels such a deep connection to the story, and why she didn't feel the need to create a main character who everyone finds likable. Allison also shares how her eclectic life story has influenced her writing and how her next project began with crayons and butcher paper.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Kz0FUwBookshop: https://bit.ly/32kp7YySubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zibby is joined by Ariana Neumann to discuss her award-winning first book, When Time Stopped, which is part memoir and part detective story about her father's family history. Although Ariana thought she knew the story of the Holocaust, in researching how her own family found inventive ways to survive the horrors they faced she learned there is still so much we don't know. Ariana and Zibby talk about some of these incredible stories, as well as how Ariana plans to help others tell their own stories and what she plans to work on next.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Kx3dT1Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3fNm2DqSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I've been the beneficiary and the lucky recipient of this extraordinary life that I never anticipated in a million years." Journalist, newscaster, and co-founder of Katie Couric Media, Katie Couric, joined Zibby for an event with the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center to discuss her memoir, Going There. Katie shares stories about her beloved parents, how she met her second husband after losing her first husband to cancer, and why she decided now was the time to publish her life story. The two also discuss Katie's incredible career and how she's tried to adapt with the changing media landscape, and then they takes questions from the audience.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KAHMkmBookshop: https://bit.ly/3FJMecRSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby’s Important People! As a Z.I.P., you’ll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby’s Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.