Totally Booked with Zibby

I had the best conversation with Natalie Jenner who is a debut author of The Jane Austen Society. Her historical fiction depicts eight extremely different people at the end of World War II who are all dealing with trauma and loss in different ways, and bond over an unknown shared love of Jane Austen. It’s based on an account of the actual formation of the first Jane Austen Society during World War II. Her book is transportive, and you can feel how inspired she was writing it. Plus, her own life story about opening a bookstore with her husband before finding out he was sick gives a unique perspective on hope.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Esther Safran Foer. She is the author of the beautiful memoir called I Want You to Know We're Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir, which she wrote to explore her family's history, preserve their names, and share the past with her children, grandchildren and their grandchildren. We talked about how optimism and resilience are entwined with survival and overcoming unspeakable darkness, the task of self-reflection and the liberation of opening up about tragedy, plus how to keep memories. I hope you get as much out of our conversation as I did. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adrienne Bankert is the author of Your Hidden Superpower: The Kindness That Makes You Unbeatable at Work and Connects You with Anyone. She is also an Emmy Award-winning journalist and currently serves as a New York-based national correspondent for ABC News. Her book is incredibly compelling, as was our conversation. Adrienne and I talked about embedding kindness into our identity and harnessing it as a universal language, what it means to be yourself and show people your gifts, and attracting the kind of career and relationships in your life that you want and need. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maria Quiban Whitesell greets millions of Los Angeles viewers daily each morning as Fox 11's meteorologist, and wrote an amazing memoir called You Can't Do It Alone: A Widow's Journey Through Loss, Grief and Life After. It is heartfelt and inspiring, and also a supportive roadmap for readers facing their own hardships. Maria and I talked about her love story with her late husband Sean, parenting through grief, the catharsis of writing and conversation, and how important it is for people going through grief to build a village of support. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donna Hemans is the amazing, Jamaican-born author of award-winning novel River Woman and most recently, Tea by the Sea. Her short has been featured in Caribbean Writer, Witness and other publications and anthologies. Tea by the Sea is a heartbreaking and inspiring story about a young mother whose baby was taken from her at birth and we talked all about how she pieced this novel together, that her biggest takeaway from her MFA program was learning how a reader understands your story, and the process of writing and evoking emotions that you haven't experienced yourself.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I loved interviewing Maria Russo. She is the former children's books editor of The New York Times Book Review, and she and co-author Pamela Paul wrote How to Raise a Reader, which is right up my alley. It was just great to talk about someone who is equally passionate about reading and teaching children to cultivate a lifelong love of reading. Maria talks about how the difficult part is ensuring children have access to a lot of different and diverse books and that's where parents can really take action, how important librarians are, and how reading is the ultimate way for us to reflect and connect. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I'm re-releasing my conversation with legendary writer, award-winning novelist, and professor Jamaica Kincaid. Jamaica is most recently the author of children’s book Party, illustrated by Ricardo Cortés. She has written nearly a dozen books, was a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine for over twenty years, and teaches in both the English and African and African American Studies Departments at Harvard University. I was honored to speak to her last year about her esteemed body of work. One of the interesting pieces for me as I revisit this episode is Jamaica talking about how Party is adventurous and beautifully illustrated - as well as a layered interpretation of white privilege through the eyes of the young characters in a coming-of-age story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm re-releasing my episode with Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes, which I was honored to record with her a number of months ago. She is an award-winning and best-selling author of many books including her most recent, Black Brother, Black Brother. She is such a rock star, and you'll hear more about her impressive background in our episode. We talked a lot about her books, which combine historical fiction and uplifting narrative while exploring challenging themes like colorism and prejudice. One of the most powerful things she said was about what her grandmother taught her: "Everybody is related. Everybody is kin. This whole idea that color would be a determining factor for someone to discriminate against you has got to stop." I couldn't think of a better message to share right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Six weeks ago, I interviewed Dr. Casandra Henriquez ("Coach Cass”) for my Instagram Live show. We had a great time talking about her children's book, Princess Zara's Birthday Tradition. My almost-7-year-old daughter is a huge fan of Princess Zara’s! I was able to include Princess Zara's Birthday Tradition in an article I wrote for The Washington Post where I did a roundup of some really great children's books that have come out recently. This week I invited Coach Cass to come on my podcast to have an open, honest discussion about race, the Black Lives Matter movement, and what she thinks everyone can do to help. It was raw, emotional, intimate, and inspiring. I hope you’ll listen and agree.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To amplify voices of color, I'm re-releasing my episode with Glory Edim which we recorded in person earlier this year. Glory is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and online community that celebrates the uniqueness of black literature and sisterhood. She originally started this platform on social media as a way to discuss black women writers, non-binary writers and writers of color and to create conversations about what it means to be a black woman in the world. As her platform grew, Glory organized the first-ever Well-Read Black Girl literary festival and became the editor of the anthology Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Stories, Discovering Ourselves. She is a role model of mine and what she shares about the importance of bringing black authors to all readers, her love of independent booksellers, and the value of direct contact and discussion is important.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.