Hadassah Lieberman piques Zibby's interest in transgenerational trauma in today's episode as she recounts the need she felt to share her family story. Born to Holocaust survivors and married to a former U.S. Senator, Hadassah has had an extraordinary life and carries the weight of others' narratives with her: after finding and translating her mother's diary, she knew this memoir could not be just hers alone.
Zibby moderated a conversation with actress Tovah Feldshuh about her memoir, Lilyville, as part of the Authors in Conversation @ Home series with the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC in Houston. Tovah answered questions about both her story and her mother's, what her experience was like as a first-time writer, and why she decided to structure her memoir as though it were a theatrical performance.
When former ESPN reporter Kate Fagan's father was diagnosed with ALS, she knew she had to make some changes in her life in order to show up for her family. Despite the wall that had grown between Kate and her father after years of things left unsaid, the two find their way back to their old dynamic, learning some new life lessons along the way.
Zibby did a Facebook Live with bestselling author Jennifer Weiner to celebrate the launch of her latest summer read, That Summer. Jen recently lost both her mother and her father-in-law. She and Zibby discussed the illness, how blindsided she was by its speed and ferocity, how she’s managing a book launch through it all, and the parts of their mental make-ups they’d prefer their daughters didn’t inherit.
Zibby moderated a conversation between Emmy-nominated comedy writer, Bess Kalb, and author of I Am My Mother’s Daughter, Dana Kurtz, as part of the Florida JCC's Author Series. The recorded panel, released here as a podcast, focuses on how Bess and Dana both processed the grief of losing the most influential female figures in their lives through writing as well as the lessons that have been collectively passed down through generations of Jewish women.
The bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada, which became a smash box office hit with Meryl Streep and is now in development with Elton John and Paul Rudnick as a Broadway musical, Lauren Weisberger launched her latest — and already bestselling! — novel with Zibby at a Barnes & Noble virtual event. And they did it in person! They discussed sisterhood, breaching trust, suburbs vs. the city, the college admissions scandal, and how Lauren coped with the success of her first novel in her early twenties. There were a lot of laughs!
Zakiya Dalila Harris tells Zibby about how she knew it was the right time to leave her job in the publishing industry to focus on her own writing, the unsettling workplace encounter that inspired her debut novel, The Other Black Girl, and what her experience has been co-writing Hulu's adaptation of her book with Rashida Jones.
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon, is back with another amazing novel, Instructions for Dancing. Nicola and Zibby discussed her family’s illness, how she wrote part of this book literally in the hospital caring for sick loved ones, and how she coped through writing. They also discussed the theme of the book: ’tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Christine Mangan walks Zibby through her worldly life story and how her experiences have directly led to a number of plot points in her writing. The two discuss the inspiration for Christine's latest novel, Palace of the Drowned, and why she wanted to write empowered female characters in a story set during the 1960s.
Zibby did an Instagram Live for @gmabookclub with bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell about his new book, The Bomber Mafia, already a New York Times bestseller! His five previous books have also “hit the list:" The Tipping Point, Blink,Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. Malcolm is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that the amazing audiobook version of The Bomber Mafia, which Malcolm intended to be an audiobook first, physical book second.
Author and photographer Emily Lauren Dick joins Zibby to discuss her latest book, Body Positive, and the multi-year process it took to create. Their conversation touches on teaching children to eat intuitively, how diet culture and fatphobia are constantly perpetuated in our society, and the importance of discovering the "why" at the center of your desire to feel better in your body.
"I have a voice at this moment in time. I have a voice that I can use for good. I intend to keep using it as long as I can." Cindy McCain joins Zibby to discuss some of the things she reveals in her new memoir, such as why she tried to keep her opioid addiction hidden from everyone, what it was like to adopt her daughter Bridget and watch their relationship become politicized, and how her home life with her late husband, Senator John McCain, and their children was no different from that of anyone else.
Zibby is joined by narrative nonfiction author Daniel James Brown to talk about his latest book which has already hit the New York Times bestseller list, Facing the Mountain, which looks at the story of a Japanese-American combat unit fighting at the height of World War II. Daniel shares how his wife helped him conduct over five years of research for the book, what he uncovered when studying first-hand accounts of life in Japanese incarceration camps, and why it was just as important to feature the soldiers' stories as well as those of their families back home.
"Asking for help does not make us weak. It's honestly probably the strongest thing that we can do." Paralympian swimmer Mallory Weggemann takes Zibby through the first few months of her paralysis and how the lessons she learned then have shaped the forward-thinking mentality she carries with her to this day. She shares her incredible story in her new book, Limitless, with the hope that it will empower readers to find the limitless potential we all have inside of us.
"There's a lot of darkness, but there has to be some sort of sliver of light that we keep going. I do think these stories help us feel less alone. I do." Amanda Fairbanks explains how her career as a journalist shaped her approach to both researching and writing her first book The Lost Boys of Montauk. She also shares what the experience taught her about grief, trauma, and personal histories.
"It's very hard to demonize someone you know and care about. It's very easy to objectify someone you know nothing about. We really need each other." Rabbi Steve Leder recently joined Zibby for an Instagram Live conversation to discuss this month's hostilities between Israel and Palestine and how the violence is now manifesting in America. The two discussed the importance of building genuine relationships with those who are different from us as well as why this is an essential lesson to teach children, and why more Americans need to condemn the rising tide of anti-Semitism when they see it.
Zibby is joined by Carol Orange to talk about her debut novel, A Discerning Eye, and the rich art history at its core. The pair discuss Carol's career shift from the art world to the literary, their shared appreciation for the study of art history, and the Gardner Museum robbery that inspired this book.
Jessica Anya Blau joins Zibby to discuss her latest novel, Mary Jane, which was written in part over FaceTime with friends during the pandemic. The two talked about Jessica's journey to becoming a writer, the ways in which her own adolescence figured into motherhood, and how dancing around her empty kitchen to the biggest hits of 1975 helped her write the book.
Gabriela Garcia joins Zibby to talk about her debut novel, Of Women and Salt, which was a Good Morning America pick for April. The two discuss the variety of mother-daughter dynamics the book captures, why Gabriela wanted to portray immigrant characters in a particular way, and the importance of setting the story in her hometown of Miami.
