Totally Booked with Zibby

"The idea that people value what you wrote enough to give you that time to read it...what a privilege that time was spent with your book." Zibby is joined by debut novelist Xochitl Gonzalez to talk about her book, Olga Dies Dreaming, out this week. The two talk about Xochitl's thirteen-year career as a luxury wedding planner as well as when she knew it was time to make a change, which led her down a path to publication. Xochitl also shares why her protagonist is like her if she had never started therapy, which aspects of the book were inspired by her real life, and how important it was for her to be involved in the Hulu adaption of the novel.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HWvEaVBookshop: https://bit.ly/3nmgrICSubscribe 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.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joins Zibby to discuss her debut memoir, My Broken Language, which tells both the story of how she became an artist and a woman in the world. Quiara shares the biggest differences between her home life growing up and the culture that existed when she arrived at Yale, how music has shaped her life, and what the continued popularity of her playIn the Heights has been like.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ngwcAQBookshop: https://bit.ly/3jhs8yzSubscribe 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.

Journalist Erica C. Barnett joins Zibby to discuss her debut memoir, Quitter, about her recovery from alcoholism. The two talk about the connection between addictions and other forms of maladaptive behaviors, how progress starts when you give yourself achievable goals, and why Erica is not a writer who likes to write. Erica also shares how relapsing taught her to stop seeing herself as a failure, as well as why she has no regrets after publishing this book.Purchase on Amazon.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3K0ifkfSubscribe 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 best-selling author and speaker Agapi Stassinopoulos to talk about her latest book, Speaking with Spirit. Agapi shares how these 52 prayers were a result of the pandemic and her shift from public speaking to a period of deep introspection, and why they work the best when read aloud. Agapi reads her prayer about perfectionism that not only touched Zibby but will also enlighten any reader who may feel the same.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/33nslukBookshop: https://bit.ly/3F81QqhSubscribe 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.

Jacqueline Friedland joins Zibby to discuss her latest novel, He Gets That from Me, which was inspired by an article about a surrogacy mix-up that she read while procrastinating work on another project. Jacqueline shares the detailed and compassionate research that went into this project, why she wanted to look critically at the nature-versus-nurture argument, and how her own mother told her not to take a genetics test as her characters do in the book. The two also talk about the importance of the author community as well as what Jacqueline is working on next.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FSGjCyBookshop: https://bit.ly/3p4RNMASubscribe 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 humor writer Anna Lind Thomas to talk about her first collection of essays, We'll Laugh About This Someday. Anna tells Zibby about the years of work she put in honing her craft after telling her mother that she would be a published author someday, and what chance occurrences led to her going viral online. The two also talk about how Anna's essays serve as a form of therapy for her as she works through once uncomfortable situations and the various projects she is working on now.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xztSsmBookshop: https://bit.ly/31aogcgSubscribe 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.

"To all of you writers who are struggling and aspiring out there, it's not an instant-gratification profession but it is the most rewarding thing when something that you make gets out into the world." Author and co-founder of A Mighty Blaze Jenna Blum joins Zibby to talk about her memoir, Woodrow on the Bench, and the beloved dog who inspired it. The two discuss the ways in which Jenna's dog Woodrow helped her manage the grief of losing her mother in 2018, why her journey to publication was far from linear, and the commitment both Jenna and Zibby have to uplifting members of the literary community. Read Jenna's essay for Moms Don't Have Time to Write's Grief column here.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xxHBA4Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3lj0t0GSubscribe 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 the former mayor of Stockton, CA, Michael Tubbs, to discuss his debut memoir, The Deeper the Roots. Michael shares how his mother's approach to life helped propel him to become the youngest mayor of a major city in American history, why it is so important for authority figures to encourage students in their various pursuits, and what prompted him to file a lawsuit with the NAACP against a former teacher. Michael and Zibby also talk about what the experience was like for Michael to meet his father who is incarcerated and how he and his wife, Anna Malaika Tubbs, are the only married coupled to have both been on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xJbo96Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3I25FjpSubscribe 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.

Award-winning novelist Francine Prose joined Zibby for a Women on the Move event with the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center to discuss her latest novel, The Vixen, which centers around the Rosenberg Trial. Francine shares some highlights from her research and which pieces of history were stranger than fiction. She also tells Zibby about the way she approaches and teaches writing, how her decades-long career inspired pieces of this story, and why this book took so long for her to write.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3EUHKQbBookshop: https://bit.ly/3qOE5ykSubscribe 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 Scarlett Thomas joins Zibby to discuss her debut memoir, 41-Love, about how she tried to play tennis competitively to put off her need to grow up. The two talk about their shared love for the game, how Scarlett wove a number of other sports stories into her own, and what happened in her life after quitting tennis that shaped the trajectory of the book. Scarlett also shares her fears about releasing such a deeply personal story into the world and whether or not she'd go through this experience again.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3o2cycvBookshop: https://bit.ly/3xzukH4Subscribe 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.