Please join Athena Books in celebrating the release of Zibby Owens' debut novel, Blank! Zibby will be joined in conversation by the author of Social Engagement and friend of the store, Avery Carpenter Forrey. Your ticket includes wine, light dessert, and a copy of Blank.

Advance Praise for Blank:

"Zibby Owens is a tremendous champion for writers, and it’s thrilling to see her own storytelling shine in this smart debut novel about marriage, motherhood and finding your purpose. BLANK is a romp through the publishing world and a delightful gift to book lovers.”

— Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Meet Me at the Lake and Every Summer After

"Leave it to Zibby Owens to write a novel about a lovable woman single-handedly disrupting the publishing industry. BLANK explores marriage, parenting, friendship and the competitive hi-jinks of the book trade with the perfect amount of wit and light-touch humor. I devoured this book in a single sitting."

- Annabel Monaghan, Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer

“This is a sunny rom-com with a deep, dark heart--comedic and sad in equal measures. Yes, it's a meta-satire about the publishing industry, but it's also an authentically serious story about the pressure to be everything to everyone. Or, in other words, about what it means to be a woman.”

- Catherine Newman, We All Want Impossible Things

About Zibby:

Zibby Owens — like Pippa Jones — wears a lot of hats. She is the award-winning podcast host of Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books; founder and CEO of Zibby Media, which includes the publishing house Zibby Books, an online magazine, a book club, retreats, classes, and events; and is the proud owner of Zibby’s Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica.

Her previous books include Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, children’s book Princess Charming, and two anthologies that she edited. A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, Katie Couric Media, and other outlets, she is – most of all! – the mother of four fabulous kids ages 9 to 16 — and wife to Kyle Owens, founder of Morning Moon Productions.

About Avery:

Avery Carpenter Forrey is the author of Social Engagement, which was a GMA Buzz Pick and featured by Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Buzzfeed, and other publications. As Managing Editor at theSkimm, she cowrote the #1 New York Times bestseller How to Skimm Your Life. Her writing has also appeared in The Cut, GQ, and Lit Hub. She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU and lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter.