Bestselling author Karen Dukess returns to the podcast to discuss her delightful and heartfelt new novel, WELCOME TO MURDER WEEK, which was inspired by a trip to the English countryside with her sister, her love of British mysteries, and a desire to write something purely fun! The novel follows a reserved 34-year-old American woman who travels to a small British town after discovering tickets her estranged late mother had purchased for an immersive murder mystery simulation. Karen explores themes of grief, complicated mother-daughter relationships, the loneliness of feeling like an orphan in adulthood, unexpected friendships, how travel can shake up one's identity, and ultimately, the process of healing.

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Totally Booked: LIVE! In this special episode of the podcast (in-person at the Whitby Hotel with a live audience!), Zibby interviews Dina Alvarez and Dina Aronson (as well as 10 other contributors!) about MIDLIFE PRIVATE PARTS, a soulful and revealing collection of essays on what it really feels like to move through the world as a midlife woman and beyond. Zibby, a contributor herself, moderates the conversation on the complexities, challenges, and liberation that come with aging. Touching on shifting identities, raging hormones, sexual awakenings, skin-tightening treatments, menopause, medical gaslighting, empty-nesting, and societal invisibility, each contributor shares a candid, often humorous, and deeply moving reflection on midlife.

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Zibby chats with award-winning poet Edward Hirsch about his memoir, MY CHILDHOOD IN PIECES: A Standup Comedy, where dark comic microbursts of prose relate a childhood in an aspiring middle-class Jewish family in the 50s and 60s. Edward discusses the book’s innovative structure—told in punchy, titled snippets that blend humor and heartbreak—and how it allowed him to unpack long-buried memories of a complex, often painful childhood. He reflects on memory, identity, and growing up with sharp-tongued parents and blended family dynamics, and then delves into how comedy and poetry became tools of survival and storytelling.

Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/45yTqZP

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.