Marian Thurm, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TELL YOU THIS
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.4 • 602 Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Novelist and short story writer Marian Thurm joins Zibby to discuss I DON’T KNOW HOW TO TELL YOU THIS, a touching and quirkily humorous book about a family court judge navigating complex cases in the courtroom and the heartbreaking decline of her brilliant husband. Marian shares the deeply personal inspiration for the book, including her parents’ struggles with dementia, and opens up about the two decades it took to bring this novel to life. She also reflects on her early career, her first publication in The New Yorker, and the surprising role persistence, luck, and motherhood have played in shaping her journey.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, listeners. We have totally booked live coming up this fall, and I hope you'll be a part of it. |
| 0:06.0 | We have three events in New York City, September 19th, 25th, and 30th, in New York, where I'll be doing six interviews live each day. |
| 0:14.1 | We also have a petite retreat in Greenwich on October 4th. |
| 0:18.0 | Go to Zibbimedia.com and event or and or event bright and search the events |
| 0:23.7 | and please come. I can't wait to meet you in person. |
| 0:29.2 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibi. |
| 0:34.6 | Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview |
| 0:38.7 | today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work |
| 0:44.7 | I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, |
| 0:51.3 | I get a comprehensive look at everything that's coming out and spend my |
| 0:55.4 | time curating the best books so you don't have to. Stay in the know, get insider insights, |
| 1:00.8 | and connect with guests like I do every single day. For more information, go to zibbimedia.com |
| 1:07.1 | and follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens. |
| 1:12.9 | Marianne Thurm is the author of I Don't Know How to Tell You This, a novel. |
| 1:17.1 | Marion is the author of nine novels and five short story collections, including Today is Not Your |
| 1:22.3 | Day, a New York Times editor's choice. Her novel, The Clairvoyant, was a New York Times |
| 1:27.0 | notable book. Her novel, The Blackmailer's, was a New York Times notable book. Her novel, |
| 1:28.4 | The Blackmailer's Guide to Love, was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best books of fiction in |
| 1:33.1 | 2021. Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Narrative Magazine, |
| 1:38.3 | The Saturday Evening Post, Michigan Quarterly Review, and many other magazines, and have been |
| 1:42.9 | included in the Best American Short |
| 1:44.3 | Stories and numerous other anthologies. She has taught creative writing at Yale University, |
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