Share

cover art for Sarah Thankam Mathews, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT: A Novel

Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books™️

Sarah Thankam Mathews, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT: A Novel

Season 15, Ep. 9

Sarah Thankam Mathews joins Zibby to discuss her dazzling debut novel All This Could Be Different, a 2022 National Book Award Finalist, New York Times Editors’ Choice Pick, and Vogue Book Club Pick! Sarah explains her choice of setting (Milwaukee!) and describes her protagonist’s desire to be loved and understood as she slowly embraces her queerness. Finally, she talks about her own upbringing in Oman, her early love of books, her tumultuous, mid-pandemic publishing journey, and what it was like to find out about her National Book Award nomination.


Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3TnZ4nX

Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3UuZdqY


Subscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.

Purchase Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books merch here.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 48. Replay: Sutton Foster!!!

    23:21||Season 22, Ep. 48
    Sutton Foster has been all the rage on Broadway! Listen to her conversation with Zibby from several years ago about her hobbies, her career, and more!Purchase on Bookshop: bit.ly/3mkaHyPShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
  • 47. Replay: Alicia Keys!!!

    30:14||Season 22, Ep. 47
    One of the best things that happened in all of Covid? Zibby got to interview Alicia Keys about her memoir, More Myself. If you haven't listened, now's the time!Purchase on Bookshop: bit.ly/41Qle6zShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
  • 46. Replay: Natalie Portman!

    24:51||Season 22, Ep. 46
    Natalie Portman shared her children's book, Fables, with Zibby. They spoke about motherhood, literature, and more!Purchase on Bookshop: bit.ly/3pQ6MP3Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
  • 45. Replay: Matthew McConaughey!!

    26:51||Season 22, Ep. 45
    One of her most exciting episodes ever! Zibby spoke to Matthew McConaughey about his memoir Greenlights, his children's book, and his career. She was basically sweating the whole time and tried not to show it.Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3r84wmGShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
  • 44. REPLAY: Tovah Feldshuh, Lilyville

    28:58||Season 22, Ep. 44
    Tovah Feldshuh, the legendary actress currently starring in the hit Netflix series "Nobody Wants This" talked to Zibby about her relationship with her mother, fame, and more.Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3P4wjgnShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
  • 43. Julie Silverstein and Tami Schlossberg Pruwer, CHUTZPAH GIRLS

    25:34||Season 22, Ep. 43
    Julie Silverstein and Tami Schlossberg Pruwer spoke with Zibby about inspiring Jewish women throughout history and their beautiful book Chutzpah Girls applies to today! Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/4fqvMQxShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
  • 42. LIVE at Zibby's Bookshop: Elisa Albert and Zibby Owens!

    30:21||Season 22, Ep. 42
    On Sunday, December 15th, a crowd of 50 people gathered at Zibby's Bookshop to listen to an intimate conversation between Elisa Albert and Zibby Owens. They discussed Elisa's book HUMAN BLUES, her writing process, Zibby's anthology ON BEING JEWISH NOW, and the controversy at the Albany Book Festival about which Elisa wrote a powerful essay entitled, "An Invitation to the Anti-Zionists: You refused to sit on a literary panel with me. I invite you to my Shabbes table instead, so we can actually talk to each other and face her fears."Spoiler: no one accepted her invitation.Bio:Elisa Albert is the author of the novels Human Blues, After Birth, The Book of Dahlia, the story collection How This Night is Different, and the essay collection The Snarling Girl. Her work has been published in n+1, Tin House, Bennington Review, The New York Times, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Literary Review, Philip Roth Studies, Paris Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Longreads, The Cut, Time Magazine, Post Road, Gulf Coast, Commentary, Salon, Tablet, Washington Square, The Rumpus, The Believer and in many anthologies. She has taught creative writing at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, The College of Saint Rose, Bennington College, Texas State University, University of Maine, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. A Pushcart Prize nominee, finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize and Paterson Fiction Prize, winner of the Moment Magazine debut fiction prize, and Literary Death Match champion, Albert has served as Writer-in-Residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Holland and at the Hanse-Wissenschaftkolleg in Germany.
  • 41. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, NY Times Op-Ed: "Misogyny and Antisemitism Are a Toxic Brew"

    26:15||Season 22, Ep. 41
    Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Zibby discussed Natalia's recent New York Times op-ed centered on antisemitism. She shared details about her own experiences, the meaning of "intersectionality," and what it's like to be on the faculty at an academic institution today. Bio:Natalia is the author of CLASSROOM WARS: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture (Oxford University Press, 2015), and FIT NATION: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession (University of Chicago Press, 2023). She is co-producer and host of the acclaimed podcast WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY, from Pineapple Street Studios/Gimlet and the co-host of PAST PRESENT podcast. She is a columnist for MSNBC Opinion, a frequent media guest expert, public speaker, and contributor to outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and the Atlantic.Natalia is a Carnegie Corporation Fellow in 2024-25, a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar in 2025-26, and is currently working on two new books, a short history of the school culture wars, and a history of the Hamptons, with historian Neil J. Young. She is the executive producer of a new BBC podcast coming in Summer 2024, and of a documentary series based on FIT NATION, in development with TIME Studios. Natalia’s career began as a public school teacher, and she is currently Lead Historian on the Jewish American Hidden Voices curriculum for New York City’s Department of Education, launching in June 2025.Natalia is Professor of History at The New School, co-founder of the wellness education program Healthclass 2.0, and a Premiere Leader of the mind-body practice intenSati. Her work has been supported by the Spencer, Whiting, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations, the Carnegie Corporation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She holds a B.A. from Columbia and a Ph.D. from Stanford and lives with her husband and two children in New York City.
  • 40. Bonus Re-run! David Sedaris, THE BEST OF ME

    34:45||Season 22, Ep. 40
    Special holiday re-release! Zibby speaks to award-winning author David Sedaris about THE BEST OF ME, a wickedly funny and memorable collection of stories about life’s surprises. David talks about owning who you are as a writer and explains why “publishing isn’t writing.” He also tells Zibby why he doesn’t read internet comments and discloses how he expresses love (hint: it involves Christmas!)Purchase on Bookshop: bit.ly/3OIvWspShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!