Joined by a live audience in Kobo's intimate event space, Michael Tamblyn spoke with novelist Leanne Toshiko Simpson, author of Never Been Better and winner of the 2025 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Never Been Better is the story of a group of three friends who met in a psych ward, but time has passed and now two of whom are about to get married while the third tries to figure out whether to swallow her feelings or let it all out.

Leanne Toshiko Simpson on self-care and writing a prize-winning rom-com