Best Writing Advice I’ve Ever Received from The Book Thief’s Markus Zusak
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you remember The Book Thief? It came out twenty years ago and was a massive bestseller. It was just re-released as a 20th anniversary edition and oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous. I re-read the book to prepare for my interview with Markus and highly encourage you to do so, too — or read it for the first time if you missed it. Spectacular.
It’s a story about a young, book-loving, non-Jewish girl in Nazi Germany, her family’s relationship with the man they hid, her own family’s struggle, and a town reeling from the war. I’m not doing it justice. It’s so good, a coming-of-age in wartime. Also? Incredibly creative. Hear from Markus Zusak about how he wrote the book only he could write.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens. |
| 0:44.7 | This was one of my favorite episodes ever. |
| 0:47.7 | I interviewed Marcus Zuzak about the book thief. |
| 0:51.2 | If you didn't read the book thief when it came out 20 years ago, you have to read |
| 0:55.1 | the new 20th anniversary edition, which by the way, it's beautiful. But the book thief, which I'm |
| 1:01.0 | having trouble pronouncing, has been one of my favorites for a long time. And it was such a |
| 1:05.8 | thrill to talk to Marcus Zuzac about it. He is the internationally bestselling author of six |
| 1:10.1 | novels, including The Book Thief. I am the internationally best-selling author of six novels, including |
| 1:11.0 | The Book Thief. I am the Messenger and Bridge of Clay. His most recent book is Three Wild Dogs |
| 1:16.9 | and The Truth, a memoir. He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and children, and just listen |
| 1:22.6 | to all he had to say about writing and so much else. Welcome, Marcus. Thank you so much for coming on, |
| 1:29.4 | Totally Booked, to talk about The Book Thief. Congratulations on 20 years of this amazing, |
| 1:36.3 | amazing book. Oh, my gosh. Thanks, Sibby. Thanks for having me, too. It's great to be talking to you. |
| 1:46.9 | And yes, I've been looking forward to it and it's funny you were just holding up the book and it's just such a glorious edition. It's amazing. |
| 1:52.2 | So I feel so lucky. I feel honestly like it's my older, more successful brother or sister, and it just drags me around behind it. |
| 2:02.9 | So, and part of that's talking to you today. So, so thank you. You know, we can't take anything |
| 2:09.2 | for granted in this job, as you know. And so, you know, this is just one of those real privileges. |
| 2:15.0 | So I'm really great. I'm really happy to be here. |
... |
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