Weekly Highlights
HAMNET wins!!
Congratulations to bestselling author Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet! Her film adaptation won Best Motion Picture, Drama, at the Golden Globes last night!
I interviewed Maggie about Hamnet in 2021. Our conversation is just as relevant today! You can watch us chat on YouTube or listen to the podcast episode. Maggie also recently came to Zibby’s Bookshop as part of the L.A. Hamnet book crawl and signed books. So thrilled for her!
Sadly my brother Teddy’s film Train Dreams didn’t win any awards, but it’s nominated for Best Picture at the Producers Guild Awards on February 28th. Stay tuned! You can listen to my podcast featuring Best Actor nominee Joel Edgerton, Teddy, and screenwriter Clint Bentley and watch the YouTube recording.
Totally Booked with Zibby
Doubles week! Four of my five podcast episodes this week will feature writing pairs.
• Monday: New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo and illustrator John Picacio discuss their new book The Invisible Parade about a young girl who loses her grandfather and finds solace in unexpected places.
• Tuesday: Debut author and New York mom Belle Burden shares her deeply personal account of her husband leaving her — and their daughters — on Martha’s Vineyard as Covid hit. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage is my February Book Club pick. SO GOOD.
• Wednesday: Former LinkedIn colleagues Camille Seigle and Ali Mann Stevens collected painful, optimistic, searing stories of the path to motherhood from many notables in their anthology, Maternal Hope: Stories of Unseen Struggles, Unexpected Resilience, and Untold Ways Families Are Made.
• Thursday: Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman discuss their second novel together, Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay, about a grieving novelist who believes what she writes might just come true.
• Friday: It girls Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill made All the Cool Girls Get Fired: How to Let Go of Being Let Go and Come Back on Top a smashing success. As former editors-in-chief of In Style and WSJ: Magazine, these powerhouses can even make rejection seem on trend. I interviewed them at Bloomingdales at an event organized by the Child Mind Institute.
In case you missed it, last week’s episodes included authors Laura Dave — this month’s Reese’s Book Club pick, Drew Daywalt, Betsy Fore, Alyson Richman and Donna Freitas.
Watch: The “Totally Booked” TV Show on JBS
Next new episode: Thursday, January 15th at 7:30 pm with Susan Choi, Flashlight, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize and longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction. (Watch live online or on TV.)
Did you miss last week with Suzy Welch? Check out all past episodes here!
The Zibby’s Voice Notes podcast
On my weekly members only podcast for Z.I.P.s (Zibby’s Important People), I’ll be sharing the behind-the-scenes of a recent podcast experience with Susan Lucci from “All My Children” — and how to rebound from setbacks.
Closing Announcement - and Last Event
Sadly, our Minnie Rose x Zibby’s Bookshop NYC pop-up ends this week. We’ve had the best time popping up in New York and meeting so many book lovers! All books are 30% until closing day January 15th. Visit Minnie Rose on 73rd and Lex and scoop up some deals.
For our final event, I’ll be interviewing Emma Tourtelot, No One You Know (which I LOVED!), on Thursday, January 15th at 11:30 am. RSVP here. Please join us!
Also this week: our Core Club event series event about health on Wednesday, January 14th at 11 am (register here) with Meghan Rabbitt, The New Rules of Women’s Health, and Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Eat Your Ice Cream.
I recommended both these two books plus three others on “Good Day DC” (Fox 5 DC) last week. Watch here!
We’re Hosting
Don’t miss our January 20th Totally Booked: Live event at the Whitby Hotel in New York with seven live podcasts broken into two sessions, morning and afternoon! Register here. Thanks to Book of the Month for being the lead sponsor!
My Upcoming Events
I compiled the next few months of my Jewish-themed events around the country including on January 26th at 7:30 pm at the 92NY over on the On Being Jewish Now Substack, our original essay platform. Details below.
Innermost Thoughts
I share personal essays on Wednesdays for Z.I.P.s only. This week I’m writing an essay called “Here in The Middle...” Can you relate?
Book Club
Our next Zoom author book club meeting is coming up on January 21st at 7:00 pm ET featuring Julie Doar, The Gallagher Place. (Note: Book club will become Z.I.P. Zooms for members only, but for the previously posted meetings now through May, sign up using the Eventbrite sign-ups launched last year here.)
Also, you can buy all my book club picks and have them sent right to your door by purchasing an Allstora subscription!
Item of the Week
Kyle got me an adorable tote from Alex Mill NY for the holidays. Obsessed. Check it out here!
About Our Membership
You’re all part of my community! But if you want to go deeper, please do! Z.I.P. stands for Zibby’s Important People. It’s the membership community for readers who want exclusive podcasts and events, private content, book discounts, member pricing, and more. It’s also for anyone who wants to support what I’m doing — uplifting authors, connecting readers, and speaking up. This weekly newsletter will always be free for all subscribers. Have a great week!
Lots of good stuff. 🙏🏻👏❤️
I was sad to see that Train Dreams didn’t win last night! What a beautiful and precious movie that I can’t stop talking about. All the best for awards season!