Sarah Thankam Mathews, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT: A Novel
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.4 • 602 Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2022
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Zivie Owens, the creator and host of the award-winning podcast that you're listening to right now. |
| 0:07.8 | Thank you so much called Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. |
| 0:10.7 | It is a daily podcast 365 days a year, and each day we talk to an author about all of the things related to their career, their book, their life, and more in 30 minutes or |
| 0:21.1 | less, because who has time? I am now an author myself, although I wasn't when I started this |
| 0:25.9 | podcast, and you can get my new memoir, Bookends, a memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, |
| 0:31.8 | wherever books are sold starting July 1st, and my children's book, Princess Charming. You can |
| 0:37.4 | learn more about me at Zibby Owens.com, |
| 0:39.5 | but really you're here to learn more about the authors, |
| 0:42.3 | and that is what we're going to do. |
| 0:44.4 | Also, be sure to check out all the other podcasts |
| 0:46.9 | in the ZCast Podcast Network. |
| 0:49.4 | You can learn more at ZCastnetwork.com |
| 0:51.9 | and definitely check out those shows as well. |
| 0:58.3 | Thank you. more at Zcassnetwork.com and definitely check out those shows as well. Sarah Thangam Matthews is the author of All This Could Be Different, a novel. |
| 1:03.8 | Sarah grew up between Oman and India, immigrating to the United States at 17. |
| 1:08.4 | Her work has been published in Best American Short Stories, and she is a recipient |
| 1:11.8 | of fellowships from the Asian American Writers Workshop and the Iowa Writers Workshop. In 2020, |
| 1:17.0 | she founded the mutual aid group, Beds Die Strong. All this could be different is her first novel, |
| 1:21.9 | and it is shortlisted for the National Book Awards, which will take place on Wednesday, November 16th. |
| 1:29.8 | So stay tuned to see if Sarah ends up taking home the National Book Award. |
| 1:35.3 | Welcome, Sarah. Thank you so much for coming on Moms. Don't have time to read books to discuss. |
| 1:39.8 | All this could be different, a National book awards shortlist candidate. So congratulations. |
... |
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