Zibby Owens

Zibby Owens, née Elizabeth "Zibby" Schwarzman,[1] is an American writer,[2] author, and podcast host based in New York.[3] Her literacy podcast[4] is called Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books.[5] She is interviewing authors about their books and lives and conversations range for example from parenting to politics and time management.[6]

Zibby Owens
Born
Elizabeth "Zibby" Schwarzman
Alma materYale and Harvard Business School
Spouse(s)Kyle Owens
Children4
Parent(s)Stephen A. Schwarzman
Ellen Philips Katz
Websitezibbyowens.com

Life and career

Owens, born Zibby Schwarzman, grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.[5] In third grade she wrote two short stories which her grandfather, Kalman Levitan, a collector and publisher of miniature books published as a limited edition in 1985.[7]

Like her father before her, she attended Yale and Harvard Business School.[5] Owens’ writing has been featured in Marie Claire, Modern Bride, Redbook, Self, and Shape. She has written personal essays and blogs for many self-publishing platforms.[5] She has also written parenting essays on Huffington Post,[5] The New York Times, Mommy Nearest, Medium and Today.com.[8]

Owens started her 'Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books' podcast in the spring 2018.[5] She was inspired to share her enthusiasm and love of books with people like her.[9] When she started she didn’t have any social-media accounts.[5] By the fall of 2018, producing the podcast had become her full-time job publishing eight or nine podcasts a month and organizing salons and book fairs in her living room attended by agents, editors, publicists, and authors from around the country.[5] She has interviewed authors like Lea Carpenter (in her debut episode), Andre Agassi (in the second episode), Laurie Gelman, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Jamaica Kincaid, Rebecca Makkai, Courtney Maum, Aimee Molloy, Celeste Ng, Pamela Paul, Lauren Smith Brody, Julie Valerie, Jennifer Weiner, and Meg Wolitzer.[5][9][6]

By December 2019 she had made 200 'Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books' podcast episodes which had been downloaded a quarter of a million times.[9]

In the spring 2020 she launched an online literary magazine called “We Found Time” on her website featuring essays written by authors who had been featured on the podcast.[10] During the covid-19 pandemic in the United States Owens introduced new authors to her audience on her almost daily with “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books” live interviews broadcast on Instagram.[7] She moved her monthly book events for authors and readers, which she had been hosting in her home, to a virtual platform, and created a virtual book club through Bookclubz.com. Her support of authors was critical at the times when many bookstores were shuttered nationwide, book tours were canceled, and even Amazon had put book deliveries in the slow lane.[10]

Owens is a member of New York Public Library's Advisory Council.[5]

Awards
  • In 2020 Owens won Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts' 26th Annual Communicator Award of Excellence as a host Host for Individual Episodes.[11]

Publications

Owens co-authored a non-fiction, fashion/fitness book with Paige Adams-Geller, founder of Paige Premium Denim, and Ashley Borden, a celebrity trainer Your Perfect Fit, What to Wear to Show Off Your Assets. What to Do to Tone Up Your Trouble Spots. It was published by McGraw-Hill in January 2008.[12][13]

She is writing a partly autobiographical novel about an Upper East Side mom who falls in love with her tennis pro teacher[6] and a children's book about Princess Charming.[7]

Privite life

Owens is married to Kyle Owens, a former tennis pro and a film producer.[5] Owens has four children,[5] including twins.[1] Her father is Stephen A. Schwarzman[5] and her brother is film producer Teddy Schwarzman.[14]

References
  1. "Oh, Zibby, Thanks So Much for Calling!". Observer. 20 June 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  2. "Schwarzman's daughter can only afford chairs at library benefit". www.bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  3. Jargon, Julie (21 December 2019). "Move Over, Santa! Kids Are Asking Alexa to Bring Them Presents". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  4. Jean-Philippe, McKenzie (26 September 2019). "21 of the Best Book Podcasts to Listen to In-Between Reads". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  5. Kelly, Hillary (17 September 2019). "New York's Most Powerful Book-fluencer Runs a Podcast on Park Avenue". Vulture. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  6. Dawson, Mackenzie (22 December 2018). "Inside the podcast for moms too busy to read". New York Post. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  7. Zibby Owens on connecting with authors through her podcast, CBS News, retrieved 16 July 2020
  8. "Zibby Owens". TODAY.com. Today.com. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  9. Sandy Kenyon (4 December 2019). "Meet the mom behind 'Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books' podcast". ABC7 New York. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  10. "Zibby Owens is keeping influential book club alive with online salons". New York Post. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  11. "26th Annual Communicator Awards Winners Announced". All Access. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  12. "Zibby Owens". Good reads. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  13. "Books". Zibby Owens. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  14. Toobin, Jeffrey (15 July 2014). "The Birthday Party". The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
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