Our Authors

Instagram: @clairebidwellsmith
Twitter: @clairebidwell
Facebook: /clairebidwellsmithwrites
Web: www.clairebidwellsmith.com
Podcast: New Day

Upcoming Zibby Book: THE RULES OF FORGIVENESS

Claire Bidwell Smith is a therapist specializing in grief and the author of three books of nonfiction: The Rules of Inheritance, After This: When Life is Over Where Do We Go? and Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief. Claire offers numerous online programs for grief in addition to working with people one-on-one. Led by her own experiences with grief, and fueled by her work in hospice and private practice, Claire strives to provide support for all kinds of people experiencing all kinds of grief. In addition to having given dozens of talks on grief, Claire has written for and been featured in many publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The LA Times, MSNBC, The Chicago Tribune, Goop, Oprah Magazine, and Psychology Today. She deeply loves her work and is devoted to expanding the conversation about grief and loss.

Instagram: @juliewriteswords
Twitter: @j_writeswords
Facebook: /juliewriteswords
Website: www.juliewriteswords.com
Podcast: Ask a Librarian

Upcoming Zibby Book: EVERYONE BUT MYSELF

Julie Chavez is a curious elementary librarian and a graduate of the University of Colorado with a degree in Spanish Language & Literature. She has written for Moms Don’t Have Time to Write, and Real Women Write: Living on COVID Time. Her forthcoming memoir, THE ANXIETY LIBRARY, will be published by Zibby Books in 2023. She currently lives in California with her husband and two tall teenage sons.

Instagram: @mireyadangelo
Twitter: @mireyadangelo

Upcoming Zibby Book: TUMBAO

Mireya is a banker in the New York office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. She began her career as an Assistant District Attorney, and later as Investigative Counsel for the New York State Banking Department, which is now the New York State Department of Financial Services. After years in the corporate sector, Mireya stretched her comfort zone and developed a following as a sought-after SoulCycle instructor and she continues to teach today.

Originally from Cuba, Mireya is bilingual and has firsthand experience building a family legacy from the ground up. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Twitter: @janedelury
Instagram: @jane.delury
Website: www.janedelury.com

Zibby Book: HEDGE

Jane Delury is the author of The Balcony, a novel-in-stories, which won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her short stories have appeared in The Southern Review, The Yale Review, The Sewanee Review, Narrative, and other publications and received an PEN/O.Henry Prize. She directs the BA in English at the University of Baltimore and teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts program.

Instagram: @ShoshannaGruss
Twitter: @shoshanna_gruss
Web: www.shoshanna.com

Upcoming Zibby Book: THE FABRIC OF MY LIFE

Shoshanna Gruss is the founder and creative director of Shoshanna, her eponymous collection which debuted in stores in November 1998. Gruss revolutionized dress departments nationwide with the launch of her first collection. Her dedication to fitting and flattering the female body while indulging in whimsical details were a refreshing change from the contemporary offerings of the moment. Gruss continued to make waves in the marketplace with the launch of her swimwear collection in the Spring of 2001. She was the first to pioneer a change in the swimwear industry by selling tops and bottoms as separates with lingerie-inspired sizing.

Gruss was born and raised in Manhattan where she honed her personal aesthetic and developed her eye for the distinctive details that have come to epitomize her collection. After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles with degrees in History and Art History, Gruss eschewed the prescribed career path and chose to explore her interests in fashion at the ground level, working at a lingerie factory. This experience provided an invaluable education in design, fabric sourcing, and garment construction. Armed with her newly acquired knowledge, Gruss was able to create a collection of dresses that spoke to her personal fashion frustrations.

Shoshanna continues to speak to women’s fashion needs and aspirations. The Shoshanna aesthetic has always been feminine and distinctive, utilizing bold colors and unique details. With the arrival of her first child in 2005, Gruss introduced a line of children’s swimwear, Shoshanna Baby Girl, featuring matching mother-daughter swimsuits. The collection expanded into boy’s swimwear shortly after her son was born. In 2015, Gruss felt there was a void in the eveningwear market and launched Shoshanna Midnight, a separate evening line with all pieces retailing under $800.

In Fall 2013, Elizabeth Arden named Gruss the brand’s first-ever Style Director. In this role, Gruss served as a spokesperson, content curator, and style ambassador collaborating closely with the iconic beauty brand on everything from trend forecasting and design to innovation. As a New York City native and business owner, Gruss is passionate about producing clothes locally and supporting the Garment District. In 2016, Shoshanna received the Made in NY mark of distinction. Over 75% of her ready-to-wear, evening and swimwear designs are created and produced just a few blocks from her headquarters.

In celebration of her 20th anniversary, Gruss partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue to design an anniversary capsule collection for the retailer. The collection, exclusive to Saks, featured six pieces in both ready-to-wear and swimwear categories. In 2018, Shoshanna collaborated with New York based accessory company, Hat Attack, to create a vacation collection featuring accessories. The pieces incorporated prints from the Shoshanna Swim 2019 collection and were sold on Anthropologie, ShopBop, and Zappos. In 2019, Gruss partnered with Gwynnie Bee to launch an exclusive line, C’est Nous, featuring extended sizing. Gruss’ continued success is a testament to her passion for both women and the fashion industry.

After 20 years of dedication and innovation, the Shoshanna collection has developed a legion of fans including Mindy Kaling, Isla Fisher, Kelly Ripa, and The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. The collection can be found in luxury retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, ShopBop, and Anthropologie as well as over 500 specialty stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The collection can also be found on www.shoshanna.com.

In addition to running a successful business and raising her three beautiful children, Gruss is also very involved in philanthropic endeavors. Gruss considers service to the community in which she was raised to be a privilege and a responsibility. Her philanthropic commitments include The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering where she has served as a chairwoman, The Blue Card, and several other New York City organizations.

Gruss is also actively involved in the board of Nightingale-Bamford, an all girls school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that provided her with an excellent primary and secondary education and where her daughter Sienna is currently matriculated. Giving back to Manhattan and providing positive role models for young women everywhere are two goals which Gruss has continued to achieve since starting her business in 1998.

Twitter: @donna_hemans
Instagram: @donna_hemans
Facebook: /donnahemanswriter
Website: www.donnahemans.com

Upcoming Zibby Book: THE HOUSE OF PLAIN TRUTH

Donna Hemans is the author of the novels River Woman and Tea by the Sea. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Slice, Shenandoah, Electric Literature, Ms. Magazine and Crab Orchard Review. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Media Studies from Fordham University and an MFA from American University. She lives in Maryland and is the owner of DC Writers Room, a co-working studio for writers.

Instagram: @maryjoneswriter
Twitter: @maryfjjones

Upcoming Zibby Book: THE GOODBYE PROCESS

Mary Jones is the author of the short story collection THE GOODBYE PROCESS (forthcoming from Zibby Books). Her stories and essays have appeared in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, EPOCH, Alaska Quarterly Review, Columbia Journal, The Hopkins Review, Southwest Review, Gay Mag, Epiphany: A Literary Journal, Brevity and in many other literary magazines. The recipient of a summer prose fellowship from The University of Arizona Poetry Center, her work has been cited as notable in The Best American Essays and will appear in The Best Microfiction 2022. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and teaches fiction writing at UCLA Extension. Originally from Upstate New York, she lives in Los Angeles.

Instagram: @thankucancer5
Twitter: @echovieofficial
TikTok: @echovie

Susie Lee is a 4x cancer survivor, newly diagnosed for the 5th time with Metastatic Breast Cancer. In her upcoming memoir, she courageously shares her personal stories of past traumas, her diagnosis’, treatments, and lessons learned.

Before starting on her memoir (and her 5th cancer diagnosis), Susie was traveling as a commercial Hair & Makeup Artist for 22+ years and Founder of ECHO VIE Skincare.

When she’s not in the hospital, she is working on her skincare line, chauffeuring her son to all of his activities, or curled up on the couch with a book and her dog.

She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and son.

Instagram: @virtualpattylin

Upcoming Zibby Book: END CREDITS : How I Broke Up With Hollywood

Patty Lin is former TV writer and producer known for "Freaks and Geeks," “Friends," "Desperate Housewives," and "Breaking Bad." She has also written pilots for Fox, CBS, and Nickelodeon. Her Breaking Bad episode, “Gray Matter,” was nominated for a Writers Guild Award. She retired from TV writing in 2009 to pursue other interests and occasionally appears in background acting roles.

Twitter: @BrittanyMeansIt
Instagram : @brittanymeansit
Facebook: /brittanymeansit
Web: www.brittanymeans.com

Upcoming Zibby Book: HELL IF WE DON’T CHANGE OUR WAYS

Brittany Means was born dead, but now lives in Albuquerque, NM. A graduate of Ball State University and the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program, her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in DIAGRAM, Hippocampus, and fields magazine. When she’s not editing for work, she likes to go on long walks and gape at the mountains.

Twitter: @writerSandraM
Instagram: @sandra.a.miller
Facebook: sandra.miller.79274
Web: www.sandraamiller.com

Upcoming Zibby Book: WEDNESDAYS AT ONE

Sandra A. Miller is the multi-award-winning author of the memoir TROVE: A Woman’s Search for Truth and Buried Treasure (Brown Paper Press, 2019). Her essays, short stories, and articles have appeared in hundreds of publications including Spirituality & Health, The Christian Science Monitor, Yankee, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe Magazine, for which she was a regular correspondent. One of her personal essays was turned into a short film called "Wait," produced by Glamour Magazine, directed by Trudie Styler, and starring Kerry Washington. For two years she wrote scripts for 11 Central Ave., a radio comic strip that ran on public radio stations around the country. Sandra has lived and worked in Tokyo and Luxembourg and has led writing workshops on three continents. She currently teaches journalism and creative nonfiction at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She lives outside of Boston with her family.

Website: www.maryotis.com
Instagram: @maryotiswriter
Facebook: mary.otis.7

Zibby Book: BURST

Mary Otis is the author of the novel, Burst, as well as the short story collection, Yes, Yes, Cherries (Tin House Books). Her stories and essays have been published in Best New American Voices, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, and in many literary journals and anthologies. She has recently published poetry in Zyzzyva along with poems forthcoming in the Bennington Review. The New York Times has said of her work, “Sadness and humor sidle up to each other, evocative of the delicate balance of melancholy and wit found in Lorrie Moore’s stories.” Her story "Pilgrim Girl" received an Honorable Mention for the Pushcart Prize, and her story "Unstruck" was a Distinguished Story of the Year in Best American Short Stories. She was a Walter Dakin Fellow and received a Getty Foundation Scholarship. Mary attended Bennington College and was a founding fiction professor in the UC Riverside Low-Residency MFA Program where she taught for twelve years. Originally from the Boston area, Mary lives in Los Angeles.

Instagram: @meghan.riordan.jarvis
Facebook: /meghan.jarvis.12
Twitter: @meghanrjarvis1
Web: www.meghanriordanjarvis.com
Podcast: Grief is My Side Hustle

Upcoming Zibby Book: END OF THE HOUR

Meghan Riordan Jarvis, MA, LCSW is a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and grief and loss and works in private practice in Washington, DC. After experiencing PTSD after the deaths of both of her parents within two years of each other, Meghan started the platform “Grief is My Side Hustle” which includes her popular blog, links to her podcast under the same name, and her free writing workshop “grief mates.” Meghan offers public and private sector consultation to leadership teams working to increase emotional fluency and care in decision making and intentional business culture development. Meghan’s memoir “End of the Hour” publishes with Zibby Books in 2023.

Instagram: @megtady
Twitter: @megtady
Facebook: /megtady

Zibby Book: SUPER BLOOM

Megan Tady is a writer and editor running the company Word-Lift, and her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post and Ms. Magazine, among others. She was a finalist for the 2021 Penguin Random House Student Fiction Award. Megan lives in Western Massachusetts with her family. SUPER BLOOM is her debut novel.

Instagram: @swanhuntley

Upcoming Zibby Book: I WANT YOU MORE

Swan Huntley is a writer and illustrator living in Los Angeles. Her first illustrated, interactive mini-tome, The Bad Mood Book, comes out in 2023. Her fourth novel, I Want You More, will be published in 2024. She is the author of Getting Clean With Stevie Green, The Goddesses, and We Could Be Beautiful. She earned her MFA at Columbia University and has received fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo, where she was the 2019 recipient of The LeSage-Fullilove Residency. Her work has appeared on Salon, The Rumpus, and Psychology Today, among others.

Facebook: /Michellewildgenauthor
Twitter: @michellewildgen
Instagram: @mswildgen
Web: www.michellewildgen.com

Upcoming Zibby Book: WINE PEOPLE

Michelle Wildgen's fourth novel will be published by Zibby Books in March 2023. Her previous books are You’re Not You, But Not For Long, and Bread and Butter, and the food writing anthology Food & Booze. A former executive editor with the award-winning literary journal Tin House, she is a freelance editor and creative writing teacher in Madison, Wis. Since 2013 she and novelist Susanna Daniel have run the Madison Writers’ Studio, offering a variety of creative writing workshops and classes.

Instagram: @literaryamy

Upcoming Zibby Book: HERE AFTER

Amy Lin is a writer and educator who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Her work has been published in Ploughshares and she has been awarded residencies from Yaddo and Casa Comala.

Twitter: @amywlsn
Instagram: @amywlsn and @whatfreshhellcast
Facebook: /whatfreshhellcast
Web: www.amy-wilson.com
Podcast: What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Upcoming Zibby Book: SLACK

Amy Wilson is the author of When Did I Get Like This? The Screamer, The Worrier, The Dinosaur Chicken Nugget Buyer, and Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be (William Morrow). The book was an "Emerging Author" pick at Target, a top seller in Amazon's "Parenting" and "Humor" categories, and the recipient of a Mom's Choice Gold Award.

Amy is also the co-host of the popular parenting podcast What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood, which regularly appears at the top of the Parenting and Kids and Family charts in Apple Podcasts. With over 400 episodes and over 5 million lifetime downloads, “What Fresh Hell” has a deeply connected and engaged all-mom audience that eagerly awaits new episodes and participates in a 35,000-member community on Facebook.

Amy has served as contributing editor for Parenting and BabyTalk magazines. Her writing has also appeared in Redbook, Parents, and New York Family magazines, and on websites like CNN, NPR, and The New York Times. She has discussed parenting issues on shows like Today, CNN's American Morning, and on ABCNews.com. She has contributed essays to the anthologies Listen To Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We're Saying Now and Wedding Cake for Breakfast: Essays on the Unforgettable First Year of Marriage.

Amy is also an actor who starred on Broadway in the Tony-Award-winning The Last Night of Ballyhoo, appeared as a series regular on sitcoms opposite Norm MacDonald (ABC) and Michael Chiklis (NBC), and has guest-starred in dozens of other TV shows and films.

Amy was the performer and creator of Mother Load, a solo show which toured to sixteen cities nationwide after its hit off-Broadway run. Her comedy solo work was featured at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.

Amy is a graduate of Yale University. She lives in New York City, where she and her husband raise their three teenage children.

Instagram: @thepamelaredmond Facebook: /pamelaredmondsatran Twitter: @prsatran

Upcoming Zibby Books: THE MATRIARCH, BOUNCE, and HOW I GOT HERE

Pamela Redmond is the New York Times-bestselling author of 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel Younger, the basis for the hit television series by Darren Star. Redmond is also a creator of Nameberry, the world's largest website about baby names, based on her groundbreaking books on the subject. The mother of three grown children, Redmond lives in Los Angeles.

Instagram: @joselyn_takacs Twitter: @joselyntakacs

Upcoming Zibby Book: PEARCE OYSTERS

Joselyn Takacs holds a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California and an MFA in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University. Her fiction has appeared in Gulf Coast, Narrative, Tin House online, Harvard Review, The Rumpus, DIAGRAM, Columbia: A Journal of Art and Literature, and elsewhere. She has published interviews and book reviews in The Los Angeles Review of Books and Entropy. She was featured as one of Narrative magazine’s Top Writers Under 30. She has taught writing at the University of Southern California and Johns Hopkins University.

Sarah Sawyer is a high school English teacher at a boarding school in Western Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Middlebury's Bread Loaf School of English. The Undercurrent is her first novel.

Instagram: @elle.evans.books

Upcoming Zibby Book: THE WEDDING ISSUE

Originally a Boston native, Elle is currently recovering from a five-year stint in Nashville featuring sweet Southern hospitality and even sweeter iced tea. After majoring in economics at Tufts, she earned her MD and MBA degrees from Vanderbilt. To balance out all that math and science – and to give her something to talk about at parties – Elle enjoys writing commercial women’s fiction and domestic suspense. She lives with her husband Alan and her rescue pup Calypso, the first of many future dogs to be named for Greek mythology characters. Elle enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and attempting ambitious cocktail recipes. She writes under a pseudonym to maintain separation from her academic research papers.