Totally Booked with Zibby

"I think my work defines me. I feel as though if I'm not writing, who am I?" Mary Kay Andrews — bestselling author of 26 novels — joins Zibby to talk about her two latest books, The Newcomer and The Santa Suit. Mary Kay shares how the pandemic both changed her writing habits and inspired her and a few fellow writers to start "Friends and Fiction." The group livestreams their conversations and interviews to an audience that has grown to well over 50,000, and they encourage listeners to continue supporting independent bookstores. Mary Kay also tells Zibby what she learned during her career that has allowed her to remain such a prolific author.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3m2ED0XBookshop: https://bit.ly/2ZGrxPL** 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 Mira Jacob to talk about her latest book, Good Talk, which was named one of the best books of 2019 by the New York Times Book Review. The graphic memoir was the result of Mira's attempts to answer her young son's questions about race in America while dealing with the political developments of 2016 — especially those that took place within her own family. Mira tells Zibby how she was able to assemble this book despite not being an illustrator or a memoirist and how her husband's family has received her side of their shared story.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3m10EgUBookshop: https://bit.ly/2ZDyXTJ** 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.

Writer and poet Bethany Saltman didn't set out to write a memoir but when her research into the life and studies of Mary Ainsworth overlapped with her own childhood, she knew she had to delve into her past. Bethany tells Zibby about how Ainsworth's attachment theories apply to the often complicated relationship she had with her older brothers, in which ways her familial past has affected her connection to her own daughter, and what the dynamic with her mother is like today.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3EQZ49XBookshop: https://bit.ly/3zK2eIQ** 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 Phoebe Robinson — stand-up comedian, co-creator of 2 Dope Queens, and founder of Tiny Reparations Books — to talk about her latest essay collection, Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes. Phoebe shares what inspired her to write a series of essays about the pandemic that did not give readers a simple play-play-play of her quarantine life, why writing an essay about her decision not to have children felt so necessary, and how becoming a boss offered her a new level of empathy for others.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/2XUUYwwBookshop: https://bit.ly/3lYlMnQ** 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.

Although Jayne Allen has been writing all of her life, it wasn't until 2016 when she adopted a pseudonym that she finally felt comfortable publishing her debut novel, Black Girls Must Die Exhausted. Now, Jaunique Sealey (the woman behind Jayne Allen) serves as Vice President of Strategy & Community for Zibby Books and her novel is Target's October Book Club pick. Jaunique and Zibby talk about the importance of creating complex characters, why they both like drafting individual scenes first and stitching them together after, and how Jaunique found time in her busy career to write such a beautiful and necessary story. Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3kpD7FnBookshop: https://bit.ly/3jlR34a** 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.

After years spent writing within the world of her bestselling book, Wonder, R.J. Palacio's new novel Pony is a stunning change of pace. Set in the American frontier in the 1850s, the "quick epic," as R.J. calls it, grapples with big themes like life, death, and family. R.J. tells Zibby about how her own orphanhood inspired elements of the story, why she scrapped the first version of her manuscript after two years of work and began it from scratch, and the role music played in helping her complete the novel. Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yhsoSlBookshop: https://bit.ly/2Wq5rzl** 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.

Paula Hawkins, the bestselling author of The Girl on the Train, joins Zibby to discuss her latest novel, A Slow Fire Burning which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Paula shares how she found her way to thriller writing after working as a business journalist and a rom-com ghostwriter for years, as well as why she has always been drawn to darker stories. The two also talk about how Paula's writing process helps her create such intriguing characters, where she used to go pre-pandemic when she needed inspiration, and what she wants to do next that's not writing.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/38igPjaBookshop: https://bit.ly/2WspwoW** 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.

"This whole notion that learning needs to be difficult to be effective is just bullshit. I always used to say a laughing child is a learning child— science proves it now." Gregg Behr, co-author of When You Wonder, You're Learning, and Joan Koenig, author of The Musical Child, come together to talk to Zibby about the importance of emphasizing wonder and creativity in young kids' lives. The three all share ideas about how to make imagination a daily habit in the classroom and at home, which of Mister Rogers' lessons are still essential to teach young children today, and why it is so important that your kids see you express joy.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon (When You Wonder): https://amzn.to/3CGYB8aAmazon (The Musical Child): https://amzn.to/2ZpYP5rBookshop (When You Wonder): https://bit.ly/3i19wSdBookshop (The Musical Child): https://bit.ly/2W6x54p** 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 Brian Platzer and Abby Freireich, two Manhattan teachers who also run New York's only tutoring company fully staffed by professional classroom teachers, to talk about their new book, Taking the Stress Out of Homework. Brian and Abby share their top tips for how parents can assist with homework in non-invasive ways, the importance of teaching young students how to back-plan their schedules, and why their book doesn't offer a one-size-fits-all approach to learning.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3BimZfBBookshop: https://bit.ly/3DoVp2u** 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.

Although Renée Rosen's latest book is a work of fiction, she manages to tell the incredible true story of the feud between Alva Vanderbilt and Caroline Astor in The Social Graces. Set during the Gilded Age, the book comments on the societal absurdities and paradoxes of the era and examines how women were able to create their own way in the world at a time when they had few guaranteed rights.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3sMcwpWBookshop: https://bit.ly/2WsZHoH** 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.