Totally Booked with Zibby

Latest Episodes:

Zibby Owens on Between Chapters, Her New Essay Collection Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

Live from Matchmaker Bookshop in Highland Park, IL! Bestselling author Renée Rosen interviews Zibby Owens about her new book Between Chapters, a heartfelt and candid collection of essays centered around her decade of extreme change and where it all led.

Zibby discusses overcoming intense social anxiety as a young girl, the impact of her first published piece in Seventeen Magazine after her parent’s divorce, her editing process, and launching a Between Chapters essay platform on Substack featuring stories from her community.

She also talks about the overwhelming aspects of motherhood, the rocky journey with weight loss and food noise that ended with Mounjaro, the pain and devastation of the Palisades wildfires, the start of her podcast, and navigating the online hate after speaking about October 7th.

Order Between Chapters here https://zibbymedia.com/products/between-chapters or follow Zibby on Instagram @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.

Laura Moriarty on her Read with Jenna pick Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

Laura Moriarty sits down with Zibby Owens to discuss her new novel and August 2026 Read With Jenna Pick Sunlight Finds You, a deeply felt love story set in 1949 that ends in heartbreak and shame, and changes the course of seventeen-year-old Nora’s life forever.

Laura talks about the book’s look into dealing with uncertainty, her extensive research into the time period, and the conversations with her mother that shed light on both the joys and challenges of being a woman during that time.

She also shares the hardship of being diagnosed with oral cancer while writing this book, letting go of writing expectations to free the story, and her gratitude for the perspective into life that reading gives us.

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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.

NYT Bestseller Harlan Coben with the Best Writing Advice Ever Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

NYT Bestseller! Harlan Coben sits down with Zibby Owens to discuss his new book Plot Twist, a memoir that blends personal narrative and writing advice, acknowledging that both are inevitably connected.

Harlan talks about the importance of critical thinking in fiction, incremental ambition, accepting adaptations as a different perspective, and how insecurity makes good writers.

He also shares personal experiences, from loving and losing his parents, his time at Amherst College, navigating the blurry line between memoir and fiction, and the magic behind creating from a blank page.

Learn more about Harlan here https://www.harlancoben.com and follow Harlan on Instagram @harlancoben

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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.

Dara Horn on Antisemitism, History, and Hope Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Instant New York Times bestseller!

Dara Horn joins Zibby Owens to discuss her new book The Final Solution to the Jewish Question, an exploration into the lies of antisemitism throughout history and her vision for the future.

Dara discusses how Holocaust education fails to do its job, her surprise at finding so much more ignorance than malice, how the hate movement has taken over AI, and the big lie of antisemitism.

She also shares her own personal experiences, from serving on Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group to wrestling with how to help herself, and the struggles her son has already faced. But Dara also leaves us with an important, hopeful reminder: “the opposite of hate isn’t love, it’s curiosity”.

Learn more about Dara at https://www.darahorn.com.

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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.

Sona Movsesian on Being the World's Worst Mom Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

USA Today bestseller Sona Movsesian sits down with Zibby Owens to discuss her new book The World’s Worst Mom, a funny and relatable look into motherhood.

Sona discusses her experience with IVF and the conversations that it demands, her obsession with mortality after having kids, the trauma of losing her home in the 2025 Southern California wildfires, and betraying her preconceptions about motherhood.

She also shares the need for laughter, her experience working with Conan O’Brien for over seventeen years, and how she hopes her sons will see her in twenty years.

Follow Sona on Instagram @sonamov.

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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.

Elizabeth Castellano on Her Follow-Up Novel to the GMA Book Club Pick Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

Elizabeth Castellano joins Zibby Owensto talk about her new novel Proof of Progress, the humorous story of B-list actress and comedian Maria Astorini whose second book is thirty-seven years overdue.

Elizabeth shares how this book was inspired by her own difficulties while writing her second novel under contract, the impact of pressure on her writing, and the pieces of real life that made it into the story. She also discusses unconventional friendship, debunking the myth that book deals are impossible, and imparting little truths through humor.

Learn more about Elizabeth here https://www.elizabethcastellano.com.

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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.

Amy Chozick, live from CMEE, on Her Friendship Novel Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

Live from the Children’s Museum of the East End, Amy Chozick sits down with Zibby Owens to talk about her new psychological thriller With Friends Like You. In the novel Emily, a struggling new mom in Manhattan, embarks on the search for her long-lost friend Daisy who disappeared years ago. But when Emily finally finds her, the question becomes: Is Daisy saving her life or destroying everything?

Amy discusses how her own experiences have influenced her characters, the resentment in postpartum that has nowhere to go, female friendship, and the unique challenges of raising kids in New York City.

She also recounts her career as a journalist, the piece she wrote on Stormy Daniels three weeks postpartum, the fascinating collision of new motherhood and sex work, and her current work as a TV writer.

Follow Amy on Instagram @amychozick.

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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.

Lea Vale on Her Ode to 9/11 Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

Lea Vale joins Zibby Owens to discuss her new novel Blue Sky Black, the second-chance romance told across two timelines that she wrote as a love letter to the friend she lost on 9/11.

Lea shares her own experience in New York City that day 25 years ago, the trauma of having to cope with a loved one simply disappearing, and the importance of talking about tragedy. She also recounts how the romance genre finally allowed her to write this story, infusing hope and light into such a difficult subject.

Learn more about Lea Vale at https://leavale.com and follow her on Instagram @leavaleauthor

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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.

Zibby’s 9/11 Essay Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

Zibby was one of the countless people who lost a loved one on 9/11. Stacey Sanders, Zibby’s college roommate, worked in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. To process the loss, Zibby wrote an essay for her business school newspaper, The Harbus, two weeks after it happened. She reads it here to pay tribute to the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

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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.

Kara Kavensky on Finding Joy Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Kara Kavensky sits down with Zibby Owens to talk about her memoir Tell Me About Joy, inspired by WWII veteran Bob who shared with her his greatest regret: “I missed out on marrying the love of my life. Her name is Joy.”

Interwoven with her own personal story, Kara writes about her journey to find Bob’s long-lost love and how it changed her life. She touches on her own healing after being married to a narcissist, the human face of war, sharing stories of resilience, the heaviness of losing a child, and ultimately, finding joy again.

Learn more about Kara here https://www.karakavensky.com/home and follow her on Instagram @karakavensky.

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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.