Are you in town? Can you meet me on June 20th and/or 21st (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) for a few rockin’ signings—Friday with a Hollywood icon you’ll flip to meet (he’s the most likable and will have just accepted the 1st Sam Rubin Critics Choice award and because after he interviews me about Beautiful Writers, um, photo op). The Thursday event is with the smartest and loveliest essayist and memoirist you will ever meet and really must know (especially you #Carmelies . . . she’s one of us!).
What could be better than spending time with other book lovers at LA’s cutest, hippest, buzziest bookstore (even Reese shops!)? Zibby’s is in Santa Monica if you insist on getting technical; all I know is that I can’t wait to finally step foot into the store that’s had more press than most Hollywood film premiers, bear hug my people (I don’t get out much—I’m pretty much a full-time ranch hand in sweltering Scottsdale 🌵) and celebrate BOOKS.
The Eventbrite invites Zibby posted say it best, so I’ll copy and paste those details for you here. Her events are free. Not the books, though. It is a store, after all. Just sign up and get your giddy-up there! I promise to wear semi-fancy duds with my shit-kickers. (Cowgirl boots are handy for so many things—protecting ankles from snake bites, keeping your feet in the stirrups when your horse gets spooked and hauls ass the wrong way, and KICKING, hence the nickname, wayward horse droppings back onto the manure fork. You’re welcome for those riveting details. I promise to talk about other stuff next week.)
Zibby’s Bookshop is excited to host Book Mama & bestselling author Linda Sivertsen, in discussion with Emmy-winning host Tom Bergeron, about memoir and what it takes to craft beautiful writing.
The topic of beautiful writing is never far from Linda Sivertsen’s mind. Her top-rated Beautiful Writers Podcast is a favorite stop for bestselling authors on tour (including Zibby!) and where Bergeron sat in the co-host chair to interview author Lee Child (Jack Reacher). Sivertsen’s latest award-winning book, Beautiful Writers: A Journey of Big Dreams and Messy Manuscripts—with Tricks of the Trade with Bestselling Authors, features writing stories and wisdom from many favorite authors, including Bergeron, whose 2009 memoir, I’m Hosting as Fast as I Can: Zen & the Art of Staying Sane in Hollywood, offers a series of humorous and inspirational stories on surviving the toughest rooms and personalities. Bergeron and Sivertsen are longtime friends and open books about sharing details of their lives, creative processes, and even spiritual practices. Tom is a dedicated TM meditator, currently emailing Linda daily chapters of his Hollywood novel-in-progress. Linda, a former magazine editor and ghostwriter who can’t meditate for more than eight minutes but has helped hundreds, perhaps thousands of people get published, is obsessively scrolling through Tom’s samples on her phone and giving him notes, mainly laughter and thumbs-up emojis. 😂🤪👍
Having formerly hosted Dancing with the Stars, America’s Funniest Home Videos, and Hollywood Squares, Tom has been part of three of the most popular TV shows ever. For a girl who lived many years within eyeshot of the Hollywood sign, Linda’s still got stars in her eyes for their friendship and Tom’s comedy chops. Join us for this fun-filled chat.
Tom Bergeron photo credit: Corey Nickols, Emmy Magazine
To reserve your free spot on Eventbrite.
(Even my “Disney horse,” as I call him b/c he’s so beautiful, loves and no doubt misses the Hollywood sign.)
PS. How cute of Tom—texting me this pic on launch day from his old office at Dancing with the Stars. I have no idea if our event on Friday will fill up or already has. But I DO know that people in LA are famous for blowing shit off. Traffic! Drizzles! Bad hair days! Botox bruises! So, even if the event says it’s full, try coming anyway. They say no one walks in LA, but I do, and I even hug on sidewalks.
Zibby’s Bookshop is thrilled to host Jessica Fein as she celebrates the launch of her new book, BREATH TAKING: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes. Jessica will be joined in conversation by Linda Sivertsen!
About the book:
“A master class in how to be a person.” –Joanna Rakoff, bestselling author of My Salinger Year
“Astonishing…one of the most moving memoirs I’ve read.” –Caroline Leavitt, best-selling author of With or Without You and the forthcoming Days of Wonder.
At the age of five Jessica Fein’s daughter Dalia was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that would claim her life at 17. Before that moment came, and inspired by Dalia’s own insuppressible zest for life, Fein and her family would discover how to live in the present when the future can’t be fixed. In this heartfelt yet clear-eyed memoir, Fein maps both her journey to becoming an adoptive mom and the roller coaster ride of loving and caring for a terminally ill child, persevering when the simple act of taking a breath can become an act of courage. Through it all, she discovers the need to be both relentless advocate and calm presence, to show vulnerability as well as strength, and to allow joy to be louder than sorrow.
“More than an honest and humorous memoir, Breath Taking can be the guide star so many seek when life hands them more than they ever imagined they could endure.”
– Daniel DeFabio, rare disease filmmaker and Co-founder of The Disorder Channel
“A story of relentless heartbreak met with wit, strength, and resilience.” –Jennifer Weisel Bailey, ELLE Magazine
About the speakers:
Jessica Fein is the author of Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes, and host of the I Don’t Know How You Do It podcast, which features people whose lives seem unimaginable from the outside. She writes the “Grace in Grief” blog for Psychology Today, and her writing has appeared in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, HuffPost, Scary Mommy, Zibby Mag, Kveller, and more. Jessica is a working mother and a relentless warrior in the memory of her dynamic daughter, whom she lost to rare disease in 2022. Her work encompasses hope and humor, grit and grace—the tools that make up her personal survival kit.
She’s the mother of three, whom she and her husband adopted from Guatemala. They live outside of Boston with their quasi-service dog, who trained himself. To learn more visit www.jessicafeinstories.
Linda Sivertsen, “Book Mama,” is in LOVE with books—reading, writing, and selling them. Her titles have won many awards and hit all the lists as an author, co-author, and former magazine editor and ghostwriter. But her driving force has been to publish sustainably. Naïve and optimistic enough to believe in magic, she’s on a mission to save forests via her role as a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Ambassador. When she’s not fostering literary love matches on her Beautiful Writers Podcast (a favorite stop for writers on tour), writing, and promoting Beautiful Writers, or midwifing books at her Carmel or virtual writing retreats, Linda can be found on the back of a horse or running with her dogs. She and her husband live on their ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Click here to reserve your spot with Jess and me on Eventbrite.
Happy rest of your weekend. Write on!
Linda xo
PSS. In case you missed last week’s blog post with more details on Jessica’s beautiful book (with a link to her blurb about her Carmel retreat experience), here it is. Beware! With book bios for 15 recent riveting releases from retreaters revealed (wow, that’s a lot of rs :)), you will want to fill your cart. Should I change my moniker from Book Mama to Book Madam? Hmm.
