Totally Booked with Zibby

Journalist and author Denene Millner is living every writer's dream: her imprint, Denene Millner Books, has just released their first season of books with Simon & Schuster. Focusing on stories for children that celebrate Black families and firsts, Denene has begun to cultivate a community and a platform just as she did when she started her column, My Brown Baby. She talks with Zibby about finding time for her own writing while serving as a doula for others' projects, and the role her own family plays in the stories she wants to tell.https://simonandschusterpublishing.com/denenemillnerbooks/** 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.

When author Hannah Mary McKinnon experienced a professional failure, she realized she had an opportunity to pursue what she had always wanted to do: write a book. With her fifth book now out, it's clear that everything works out for a reason. Hannah's latest novel, You Will Remember Me, was inspired by a news story about a man who suffered retrograde amnesia and what happens to the people in his life that he forgot.Purchase a copy on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ywnyCgBookshop: https://bit.ly/3bIEivZ** 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.

Jen Spyra, a former writer for The Onion and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, joins Zibby to talk about her new book of short stories, Big Time. Jen shares how she wanted to write stories that weren't TV-friendly (and that wouldn't be rejected in a writer's room), as well as how she drew inspiration by recalling events from her life and asking, "What if this had turned out differently?"Amazon: https://amzn.to/3oDHEG5Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3yA45Rc** 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 was left with an outline and a mission and the question of, 'Do I continue with this thing?' What does it mean to write a book with somebody who was so well-known and so beloved and who is no longer here?" Zibby is joined by Laurie Woolever, assistant to the late Anthony Bourdain and co-writer of their new atlas guide, World Travel. Laurie talks with Zibby about what the world was like in Bourdain's orbit, how their guide manages to capture all of his irreverence, and the mark he's left behind on the global culinary community.Purchase on Amazon and Bookshop:Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xumT3pBookshop: https://bit.ly/3nnoxiU** 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.

"When I'm drawing pictures for children in picture books, I know they're going to get stuff that maybe they don't have the actual vocabulary to articulate, but they will take in the story on a really deep level." Zibby talks with Marla Frazee, the author, and illustrator for favorites like Boss Baby and The Farmer and the Circus, about how she always knew she wanted to work with picture books. Marla also shares how adult emotions like heartbreak have inspired her children's books and the advice she tries to pass on to all of the artists who take her illustration class.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop:Amazon: https://amzn.to/348cCg4Bookshop: https://bit.ly/2SiYRsl** 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 three very special guest hosts to interview Meredith Badger and Hilary Rogers, the duo behind Maddy Mara. Zibby and her kids ask about how the pair began their partnership, what it's like writing together while in different parts of the world, and how many Dragon Girls books they plan to write.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vo8wwnBookshop: https://bit.ly/3hZ53AB** 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.

Former magazine editor and teacher Lindsey Palmer joins Zibby to discuss how her engagement —and the period of life when she felt like everyone was getting engaged and married— inspired her latest novel, aptly named Otherwise Engaged. The two talk about Lindsey's creative approach to writing universal experiences, the ways in which the feedback she received on her past two novels inspired elements of her third, and how the book's cover is truly just the surface.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/2T9NKSKBookshop: https://bit.ly/2RD6Al5** 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.

Naima Coster's latest novel, What’s Mine and Yours, was an instant New York Times bestseller, not to mention both a Read with Jenna and Book of the Month Club pick. Naima talks with Zibby about the ways in which her intergenerational trauma has led her to write more optimistic familial dynamics, how it took her two years of deferring medical school to admit she wanted to be a writer, and why her self-doubt is essential to her writing process.Purchase a copy on Amazon or BookshopAmazon: https://amzn.to/2SePJEYBookshop: https://bit.ly/3ysUKue** 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.

"What would you do if the one who got away came back?” This question inspired Tia Williams’ latest novel, Seven Days in June. She talks with Zibby about the invisible struggle of living with debilitating chronic pain and discusses how the publishing landscape is changing for black voices.Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ws4K5iBookshop: https://bit.ly/3bHp7Dx** 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.

Danielle Henderson talks with Zibby about her incredibly moving new memoir, The Ugly Cry. She details how reading helped her cope, shares her present-day family dynamics, and explains the roundabout way she ended up writing for television.  Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yMFcBBBookshop: https://bit.ly/2RSkf7F** 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.