Totally Booked with Zibby

Zibby speaks to Jamaican poet and memoirist Safiya Sinclair about  How to Say Babylon,  a dazzling and powerful book about the author’s struggle to break free of her father’s oppression as part of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing. Safiya describes how her mother and her profound love of books and learning got her through a brutal childhood. She also talks about the mentor who betrayed he...

Zibby is joined by  New York Times  bestselling author Tara Conklin to discuss  Community Board,  a bittersweet, laugh-out-loud novel about a brokenhearted woman who goes back home to be cared for by her parents…only to find that they’re gone and she’ll have to lean on her community instead. Tara reveals that writing this novel was her quarantine escape, which explains the them...

Guest host Julie Chavez interviews author William Dameron about  The Way Life Should Be,  a tender and warm novel about two husbands enjoying their second-chance marriage after coming out…until their nearly-adult children descend upon their new seaside cottage. William reveals that this novel began as a memoir, sharing the details that stem from his own life (like the cottage rules!). He...

Zibby speaks to  New York Times  bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal about  Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club,  a heartfelt, gratifying, multi-generational story about a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota. J. Ryan talks about his and his partner’s struggles with infertility and his decision to incorporate the intense, painful journey...

Zibby is joined by  New York Times  bestselling author Lisa See to discuss  Lady Tan’s Circle of Women,  a meticulously researched and mesmerizing story inspired by the true love, life, and friendships of a woman physician in 15th-century China. Lisa describes how she conducted her research during the pandemic, her fascinating writing process, and the importance of female frien...

Zibby interviews  New York Times  bestselling author Etaf Rum about  Evil Eye,  a striking exploration of the expectations of a Palestinian-American woman, inter-generational trauma, and the ways our unresolved pasts affect our presents. Etaf shares how a lack of Palestinian-American representation on bookshelves inspired her to write fiction that pulls from her own experiences...

National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin joins Zibby to discuss  The Favor,  a wise and warmhearted story of two very different women who make an unexpected connection when one carries a baby for the other. Adele describes how her own fertility struggles and surrogacy journey inspired this story and then discusses the topics she enjoyed exploring, from unconventional female friendships...

Zibby interviews Michael Lewis — his second time on the podcast — about his latest masterpiece of narrative nonfiction,  Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon . This time, he followed crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried who, while still under age 30, became worth more than $20 billion, only to lose it all and stand trial — which started yesterday! Michael Lewis says the story was like a...

Zibby Books author alert! Zibby interviews debut author Brittany Means about  Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways,  a breathtaking, harrowing, soulful memoir about the homelessness, abuse, and instability that enveloped her childhood and the inspiring resilience that got her through it. Brittany describes her writing journey, from elementary school poems to Iowa MFA, and then explains how w...

Zibby is joined by boxing coach, stand-up comedian, and debut author Harold Rogers to discuss  Tropicália,  a sizzling and fearless story of a Rio de Janeiro family and the chaos that ensues in the days before a New Year’s Eve party in Copacabana Beach. Harold describes his childhood living between Ohio and Rio, the theme of loss and coping with absence in his novel, how much of his own...

Zibby speaks to creative writing professor and author Jane Wong about  Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City,  an incandescent, blazing memoir that she describes as a lovesong to her mother and to growing up in a low income, working-class Chinese American immigrant family. Jane talks about her family’s immigration story and fractured American Dream; her father’s gambling addiction; her beauti...

Zibby (and Zibby Books author Alisha Fernandez Miranda) interview  New York Times  bestselling author and beloved Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby about  XOXO, Cody: An Opinionated Homosexual’s Guide to Self-Love, Relationships, and Tactful Pettiness , an inspiring memoir that chronicles his journey from a childhood of poverty in the South to fitness stardom in New York City. Cod...

Zibby interviews author Beth Nguyen about  Owner of a Lonely Heart, a  powerful memoir of a mother-daughter relationship fragmented by the Vietnam War and resettlement. Beth shares her immigration and refugee story, revealing that her mother did not flee to the United States with the rest of their family and has, since then, spent less than 24 hours with her. Beth also talks about mother...

Zibby is joined by author and journalist Dina Gachman to discuss her compassionate and compelling new essay collection,  So Sorry for Your Loss: How I Learned to Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns.  Dina describes the grief she felt after losing her mother and sister only two years apart and what it was like to put her experience on paper. She also talks about her sister’s alcohol...

Brandon J. Wolf, a passionate LGBTQ+ activist and survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting, speaks to Zibby about his raw, daring, and breathtakingly honest debut,  A Place for Us: A Memoir.  Brandon shares his story, from being a queer, mixed-race kid in a conservative town and losing his mother to finding community in Florida and experiencing the 2016 tragedy that killed his friends. H...

Zibby interviews author Andrew Ridker about  Hope,  a hilarious, heartfelt, and impeccably written novel about a year of crisis for a seemingly perfect, affluent Jewish family of four. Andrew talks about his book's relatable family dynamics and humor; the inspiration behind the story; the college poetry class that started his writing career; and the topic of his next novel. He also share...

American journalist Damien Cave joins Zibby to discuss his impactful and gripping new parenting book,  Parenting Like an Australian: One Family’s Quest to Fight Fear and Dive into a Better, Braver Life.  Damien discusses the parts of Australian parenting he has adopted–from letting his kids take risks to trusting his community to help. He also describes his international career in journa...

Zibby interviews  New York Times  bestselling author Steph Catudal about  Everything All at Once,  a heart-wrenching, sincere, and lyrical memoir about her experience with grief. Steph describes what it was like to lose her father to lung cancer at fourteen and then endure her husband’s battle with the same disease during COVID. She also talks about how writing has always helpe...

Zibby is joined by  New York Times  bestselling author Elise Loehnen to discuss  On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good,  a groundbreaking, stunning exploration of the ancient rules women unwittingly follow in order to be considered “good.” Elise explores how the deadly sins continue to circumscribe women’s behavior, including her own (fo...

GMA Book Club Pick alert! Zibby speaks to debut author Elizabeth Castellano about Save What’s Left, an irreverent, hilarious, and unexpectedly tender novel about a sixty-year-old woman who moves to a small beach town looking for peace, only to find herself in an all-out war with her neighbors. Elizabeth describes her upbringing in a tiny Long Island beach town (her elementary school had nine stude...

Zibby interviews art historian and author J. Vanessa Lyon about  Lush Lives,  a deliciously queer novel about bold women unafraid to fight for what they love, set in the high-stakes world of art and auction in New York City. J. Vanessa describes her lifelong love of art as the daughter of an artist and antiques dealer. She also shares what it was like to work at an auction house right af...

Superstar comedian Aparna Nancherla joins Zibby to discuss her hilarious and strikingly astute memoir in essays,  Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome.  Aparna describes her writing process (as a “procrastinating perfectionist”), her relationship with her body, her history with anxiety and depression, and her unexpected, unplanned career as a stand-up comedian. Purchase...

Zibby interviews  New York Times  bestselling author Douglas Brunt about his fascinating new book,  The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I . Douglas shares what inspired him to investigate the century-old mystery of Rudolf Diesel, the famous inventor who disappeared from a ship at sea, and the extensive research that brought him...

Zibby speaks to debut author Alice Carrière about  Everything, Nothing, Someone,  a mesmerizing, intense, and breathtakingly honest coming-of-age story about identity, family, trauma, survival, mental illness, and psychiatric malpractice. Alice describes her life as the daughter of two self-destructive artists in the bohemian 90s and how that led to a dissociative disorder and ten years...

Zibby interviews debut author Shastri Akella about  The Sea Elephants,  an utterly immersive and spellbinding queer coming-of-age novel set in 1990s India, about a young man who joins a traveling street theater troupe as he tries to outrun the dark secrets of his past. Shastri shares how this novel suddenly became a queer love story (thanks to his professor!) and helped him come out in r...