"We always just pretended like we knew each other for a hundred years because that's what it felt like.” In her moving interview with Zibby, Adriana Trigiani lovingly recalls her late friend and fellow writer, Dorthea Benton Frank. Between anecdotes, Adriana discusses her experience of growing up in Appalachia, her decades of reinvention, and the art of drama.
"I actually got so carried away with some scenes that I'm like, 'Wait, what's the point of this scene again?' It was the most fun that I've ever had writing a book." Jesse Q. Sutanto joins Zibby to talk about her book, Dial A for Aunties, which is currently the #1 book in Humorous American Literature on Amazon. The two discuss Jesse's global experience, how she has four books coming out next year, and why it is so important to have writer friends.
"If there were any means by which I could get some control over this out-of-control story, it had to be through writing." Vince Granata talks with Zibby about how writing helped him contend with his family’s unimaginable past trauma: Vince’s brother murdered his mother in their childhood home. They discuss living with grief, the necessity of continued support systems, and the value of writing mentors.
"We Westerners are the exception. This conflict-ridden existence between parents and children is not super universal and not actually really common at all." NPR Correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff traveled around the world and documented the different ways parents communicate with their children. She shares these tools to help de-escalate family tensions and incentivize children to take initiative in her book.
"Parenting doesn't start when you have a child. It already started when you were a child." When journalist Lynn Berger found out she was pregnant with her second child, she realized there weren't any books combining research on family structures and sibling dynamics with anecdotes about having multiple children, so she wrote Second Thoughts: On Having and Being a Second Child. Lynn joined Zibby to discuss her findings and how her own experience raising two kids shaped the book.
Happy Independent Bookstore Day!!!! Author and owner of Books Are Magic Emma Straub answers all of ZIbby's questions about owning an independent bookstore like how she and her husband got started, what the book-buying process looks like, and their plans for Independent Bookstore Day today. Emma also shares what is different about doing a tour for a paperback release and drops a few hints about her next novel.
Alena Dillon joins Zibby to talk about the research on USA Gymnastics that went into her new book, The Happiest Girl in the World, as well as her upcoming memoir about pregnancy. The two share what they wished they had known going into motherhood and discuss the effects of parenting habits both on and off the page.
Sociologist and author Gail Crowther joins Zibby to talk about her latest book, Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath & Anne Sexton, and the incredible history behind it. Gail shares the ghostly experience she had while conducting archival research, why she wants to argue against stereotyping these two poets as crazy women, and the story of how she first fell in love with Sylvia Plath.
"One of my great hopes for the movie and for the book is that when people have been inside a different experience, that when they look at people, they’ll wonder what those people have to say in terms of what their story is rather than just trying to kind of slot them in this American caste system." Zibby is joined by journalist, author, and screenwriter Jessica Bruder to talk about her book, Nomadland, and its recent Best Picture Golden Globe-winning movie adaptation. Jessica tells Zibby about living on the road, her career in journalism, and why she thinks we need to change the conversation around homelessness and houselessness.
Alison Hammer joins Zibby to talk about her new book, Little Pieces of Me, as well as the other six projects she has going on at the moment. The two talk about how Alison's experiences participating in the National Novel Writing Month challenge have resulted in multiple finished novels, as well as how they both have novels stored away, waiting to be revived one day.
