Weekly Highlights
Events and podcasts galore!
So get this. If you were to attend all my events this week in New York, Houston, Palm Beach and on Zoom, and listen to all my new podcasts plus watch my TV show, you’d get to know 19 authors and notables. Just this week! Why should you? You’ll learn something — and feel something — during every conversation. And you’ll have fun! I know I do.
Totally Booked with Zibby
• Monday: From Working in Publishing to Entrepreneur (and Author!): It Can Happen! Founder of the Next Big Idea Book Club Panio Gianopoulos discusses his career in publishing and what led him to lead a non-fiction book subscription business, including the failures along the way. Plus, find out what SNL’s Kate McKinnon has to do with his trajectory. (Bonus points: Can you guess who Panio’s wife is? I had no idea!)
• Tuesday: The Private Treatment Facility of Celebs Revealed. Alyssa Sheinmel, author of Such Sheltered Lives, shares a fictitious but all too real-sounding ultra-lux treatment facility in Shelter Island, part of the Hamptons (sort of). From royals to pop stars with drug, eating and other issues, the motley cast in treatment in Such Sheltered Lives paints quite a picture of the pitfalls of fame.
• Wednesday: Stalkers and Shameful Actors in the Book World. Co-founder of A Mighty Blaze Jenna Blum discusses the inspiration for her latest novel Murder Your Darlings. Think: creepy book event guests, big-deal authors with shameful secrets, and more.
• Thursday: From Public Servant to Fashion CEO: Learning to Lead on the Job. Lew Frankfort wasn’t into fashion before he took the helm at Coach, so it’s quite improbable that he turned it into a billion-dollar business. But he did. How? By wielding exceptional managerial gifts, fine-tuned instinct, and creativity. Learn his secrets to success in our episode discussing his memoir Bag Man. And I still need to get the number of his body work guy!
• Friday: Moms Have Broken Hearts, Too. Poet, bestselling author, and TikTok star Josie Balka’s second collection, Loves of Our Lives, connects mothers and daughters by love, heartbreak, and the ones who got away. It shifts perspectives. It warns. It empathizes. And it entertains. Josie has a rare talent to craft zingers on every page. Perfect Valentine’s gift, FYI.
In case you missed it, last week’s episodes included authors Kristina O’Neill and Laura Brown, Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman, Camille Seigle and Alli Mann Stevens, Belle Burden, Strangers (my February Book Club pick), and Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio.
Watch: The “Totally Booked” TV Show on JBS
Okay, actually Susan Choi’s Flashlight TV episode is this week on Thursday, January 22nd at 7:30 pm. (Oops.) Last week was Leslie Gray Streeter’s episode. Check out Leslie’s and 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 more about my mother’s and my popular “Taxi Talks” Instagram series and what’s really going on behind the scenes.
We’re Hosting
Big week! Join us in New York, Palm Beach, and on Zoom.
Tomorrow is our January 20th Totally Booked: Live event at the Whitby Hotel in New York with six intimate author conversations. Thrilled to be interviewing host of podcast Call Me Back Dan Senor for the first time, plus Wall Street Journal reporter and memoirist Francesa Fontana, novelist and teacher Ani Katz, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Wallace about mattering and making life count, journalist and Maria Shriver- published Meghan Rabbitt about women’s health, plus Gillian Deacon, a huge voice in Canada, who shares her medical mystery. Register here before it’s too late.
Virtual Book Club! Join debut author Julie Doar, The Gallagher Place, and me for some book club Q&A on Wednesday, January 21st at 7 pm ET. Register here.
This weekend is our Palm Beach Retreat for Book Lovers! The weekend pass is sold out but you can grab the last couple tickets for the Saturday luncheon. I’ll be joined by People books editor Lizz Schumer, social book star Sophia Stallone (yes, of that family), and authors Jenna Blum, Marie Benedict, Miranda Cowley Heller, Julie Doar, and Audrey Ingram! Link here.
I’m Going
Attention: Houston! I’m coming for you! I’ll be speaking with Wendy Sachs and Tessa Veksler at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston’s Collage event on Thursday, January 22nd, about the film “October 8” — I’m an Associate Producer. Details here.
The week after: On January 26th at 7:30 pm, I’ll be on a panel at the 92NY (92nd and Lex) discussing On Being Jewish Now with Allison Gilbert, Rabbi Steve Leder, humorist Jenny Mollen, and fashion diva Rebecca Minkoff. Come on, New Yorkers. It’s in your backyard! Register here.
Innermost Thoughts
I share personal essays for Z.I.P.s only. This week I’m writing about football. I think. (Anyone watch the playoffs this weekend?)
Item of the Week
My favorite jammies of all time? Click here.
(You can browse ALL my favorites on my ShopMy page 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!