Totally Booked with Zibby

New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Kingdom Meghan O’Rourke sits down with Zibby Owens to talk about her new, slim, poetry anthology The Story of the Body, a collection of 82 poems about illness, pain, and recovery.

Meghan talks about her own experience of falling ill in her early twenties and navigating the onset of symptoms that eventually led to a diagnosis a decade later. She also discusses the process of compiling the anthology with her students at Yale and the magic and power of poetry as a way to make sense of the world.

Learn more about Meghan O’Rourke here and follow her on Instagram @meghanor. The Story of the Body can be purchased here.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Israeli novelist and contributor to On Being Jewish Now Noa Yedlin speaks with Zibby Owens about her novel House Arrest, a story about a Jerusalem family and the scandal that leads to their downfall.

Noa discusses how she first approached writing the book and how it is not just an Israeli story but also a family one, focusing on the relationship between parent and child: a relationship everyone can relate to in one way or another. She also talks about her journey as a writer and her perspective on life in Tel Aviv versus Jerusalem.

Learn more about Noa Yedlin here and follow her on Instagram @noayedlin. Purchase House Arrest here.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-authors Christine Pride and Jo Piazza join Zibby Owens to discuss their new book I Never Knew You At All, the story of Simone and the investigation into her husband’s grandfather that exposes secrets, traumas, and moral dilemmas around her interracial marriage.

Christine and Jo talk about the secrets we keep from not only others but from ourselves, how family can serve as a mirror for self-realization, and the throughline of friendship in their stories.

They also share their exploration of ‘what if’ in this story, writing about dementia, and why they add gray areas to their characters.

Learn more about Christine Pride here https://www.christinepride.com and Jo Piazza here https://www.jopiazza.com, and follow them both on Instagram @cpride and @jopiazzaauthor.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special double episode, Zibby Owens talks to author Kate Hash and podcaster Kara Infante about book clubs, the power of community, and how reading can change lives.

First up, Kate Hash tells Zibby about her new book The Mother-In-Law Book Club, a story of friendship, unexpected chances, and found family. Kate talks about exploring empathy in this book, how she collects real stories to use in her novels, and the way homes shape both lives and stories. She also shares the power of women getting together for a book club, the reinvention required when starting a new chapter, and what she is working on next.

Then, Zibby talks to Kara Infante about her literary podcast Bookish Flights which features reading recommendations, author interviews, and genre-sorted episodes. Kara shares how she went from physical therapist and military wife to podcaster, the rediscovery of her childhood love of reading, and how audiobooks saved her. She also discusses the steps she took to launch the podcast, the show’s most common and most surprising genres, and her advice to anyone wanting to start something similar.

Learn more about Kate here https://www.kate-hash.com and Kara here https://www.bookishflights.com/about, and follow both on Instagram @katehashwrites and @bookishflights.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bonnie Garmus joins Zibby Owens to talk about her new novel Peck & Peck, the story of recent graduate Batter Gray who struggles with what to do with his arts degree after college, only to find himself at a prestigious poetry quarterly in the midst of a secret war between two editors.

Bonnie discusses why poetry continues to evade extinction, the themes of theft and dishonesty explored in this book, the plagiarism of AI in writing, the importance of reading, and why she doesn't outline her stories.

She also talks about dealing with the weight of expectation after the phenomenal success of Lessons in Chemistry, the question of ownership in literature, her dream to complete an Arctic swim, and how she accepts “killing her darlings” during rewrites.

Learn more about Bonnie here https://www.bonniegarmus.com and follow her on Instagram @bonnie_garmus_author.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julie Orringer sits down with Zibby Owens to discuss her new novel Luna, Phoenix, Queen, a multiple narrative story about a husband who steals his wife’s novel while she suffers from early-onset Alzheimer’s and the people in the orbit of this betrayal.

Julie talks about the reason for showing readers a sympathetic version of a character before revealing their moral faults, how writing fiction has given her the control that real life often denies, and the positivity her husband brings in light of his own early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

She also shares how the seed of this book started as a short story that didn’t make it into the final novel, her transition from playwright and short story writer to novelist, and the importance of a writing practice for aspiring writers.

Learn more about Julie here https://julieorringer.com and follow her on Instagram @jorringer.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maria Shriver and Zibby Owens speak in-person at Zibby’s Bookshop about their life and work inspired by Zibby’s new book Between Chapters and Maria’s poetry collection I Am Maria.

Zibby talks about how starting a podcast was a turning point in her life, the fear of unfulfilled dreams at any age, the shame surrounding changing your identity, and her hope that this book helps start the conversation for people going through similar struggles.

Maria shares her post-First Lady identity struggles, her commitment to her friends and family, and how faith gets her through.

Learn more about Maria Shriver here https://mariashriver.com and follow Maria and Zibby on Instagram @mariashriver and @zibbyowens.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Endocrinologist and longevity expert Dr. Florence Comite joins Zibby Owens to discuss Invincible, her new book that dives deep into genetics, aging, longevity, and reclaiming your health.

Dr. Florence Comite talks about how having an identical twin made her realize that genetics wasn’t the only answer, learning about disease in medical school instead of health, how a person’s life tells the story of how their genes will react, and the importance of health security over even financial security.

She also shares the experience of testing a GLP-1 on herself twenty years ago, how food noise is actually a survival technique, the importance of quality sleep, why protein is vital before any meal, and the magic of books.

Learn more about Dr. Florence Comite here https://florencecomite.com and follow her on Instagram @drflorencecomite.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Audrey Niffenegger sits down with Zibby Owens to talk about her new novel Life Out of Order, a follow-up to her bestselling book The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Audrey discusses how she ended up returning to this story years later, her artistic childhood, the themes of loss and love in her work, and the novel’s exploration of people trying to teach each other.

She also shares the biological mechanism to her characters’ time traveling, writing’s attempt to create a tunnel between the mind of the author and reader, and how composition is largely deciding what to leave in versus what to leave out.

Learn more about Audrey here https://www.audreyniffenegger.com and follow her on Instagram @aaniffenegger.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Releasing today in honor of the third anniversary of the October 7th attacks, Shai Davidai joins Zibby Owens to discuss his book American Intellectual Antisemitism, the story of how he went from Columbia business professor to accidental activist.

Shai shares the shock he experienced regarding Columbia’s reaction to the attacks, what led to his remarks going viral, how hatred starts in the syllabus, and how regaining agency has driven his activism.

He also talks about his attempt to separate his public image from the message, how the first version of this book was a letter to his son, and what gives him hope for the future.

We are holding everyone in our hearts today.

Learn more about Shai here https://www.shaidavidai.com and follow him on Instagram @shaidavidai.

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A story for the messy middle. Zibby's essay collection Between Chapters is out now!

Love to listen? She narrated the audiobook.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.