Totally Booked with Zibby: Sam Sussman, BOY FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY

Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Zibby Owens
Guest: Sam Sussman

Episode Overview

This episode features Sam Sussman, author of Boy from the North Country, in a deeply personal and moving conversation with Zibby Owens. The discussion delves into the novel's themes of love, grief, parental relationships, artistic inheritance, and the blurred line between autobiography and fiction. Sussman shares the true-life inspiration behind his debut, reflecting on the enduring influence of his mother and the mysterious allure—and reality—of being (or possibly being) Bob Dylan’s son.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Story Behind Boy from the North Country

[03:53–06:15]

• Summary of the Novel:
  • Centers on Evan, a young man growing up in the Hudson Valley with his mother, June.
  • Evan is uncertain about his biological father, with hints suggesting a connection to Bob Dylan—whom June had a romantic relationship with but refuses to discuss.
  • As June becomes terminally ill, she reveals details about her bohemian past and Dylan, shifting Evan's understanding of his true inheritance: the love, values, and artistry exemplified by his mother rather than any celebrity legacy.
  • Sam Sussman:

    “What we've really come to see is that he's actually gaining a deeper and more profound appreciation of the mother who raised him...everything that he's trying to become doesn't come from this celebrity artist...Rather, it comes from the mother who has raised him.” [06:02]

2. Autofiction and Real-Life Parallels

[06:15–09:24]

• Personal Connections:
  • The novel is heavily inspired by Sussman’s own life: his middle name, his mother’s name (“June”), and aspects of their Hudson Valley upbringing.
  • Acknowledges that while details may be changed or compressed, the emotional truth and heart of the story are from his lived experience.
• Why Not a Memoir?
  • Sussman explains he chose the novel form to avoid his and his mother's stories being overshadowed by Dylan’s rock-star persona.

    "For me, at the center of this story is my growth...and I chose a form, the novel, which says, I'm not going to tell you what's true or what's not true." [09:09]

3. Braiding Two Stories: Caretaking and Coming-of-Age

[10:02–13:02]

• The novel intertwines Evan’s caretaking of June during her illness with June’s own coming-of-age in 1970s New York.
• Real-life parallels: Sussman wrote much of the book in the same Yorkville apartment where these events took place.
• On June and Dylan’s Relationship:
  • June’s perspective as an intimate witness to Dylan’s creative crisis and the making of “Blood on the Tracks”—details inspired by Sussman’s mother’s stories.

    “So much of this book for me is about what it means for an artist to become his or her fullest self. And that’s what my mother was trying to do...and it’s what I have been trying to do through this book.” [12:30]

4. Artistic Obsession & Personal Cost

[14:20–16:58]

• Dylan's creative genius is both revered and shown as emotionally costly and isolating.
  • Mother’s relationship with Dylan ends because she desires a more holistic, loving, and connected existence.
  • Sussman seeks to integrate lessons of balancing artistic ambition with deep personal connections:

    “You can be committed to your work...and at the same time, I have a lot of love and friendship and people in my life that are disconnected from my identity as an artist. And I think that's something my mother really emphasized to me.” [16:42]

5. The Meaning and Practice of Love & Grief

[16:58–20:03]

• June’s guiding light and repeated lesson to Evan: that love in all its forms is life’s true purpose.
• Sussman candidly discusses grief, the different ways love manifests, and the journey of turning loss into something meaningful for others.

  “We live in a culture that often struggles to be imaginative with how to relate to loss and grief...I made a rule with myself that I was going to be completely vulnerable emotionally in how I talked about this loss and this grief in the book.” [19:22]

6. Nature, Place, and Writing Process

[26:44–30:08]

• Sussman details the importance of the Hudson Valley woods, the inherited family home, and his mother’s devotion to both nature and literature.
• Dog Lucy (his mother’s) played a key role in his daily routines and emotional grounding while writing:

  “Lucy was my great, great artistic assistant. She was nine pounds. So she sat in my lap almost every moment that I wrote this book.” [28:46]

7. Inheritance: Genetic, Emotional, and Artistic

[30:08–32:53]

• Discusses what we inherit from parents—love, values, complexities—and the ongoing work of integrating or challenging those legacies.

  “Our project in our lives is to make the most of that and try to pass on something more and also to not feel that we are free to desist from what we...from pursuing what we were not given or what was not perfect for us.” [32:47]

8. The Dylan Question

[25:07–26:44]

• Zibby asks if Sussman has reached out to Bob Dylan or feels he needs his permission:

  “I used to feel that I needed permission, endorsement, inspiration...Now at this point in my life, I feel it so deeply. Every day I feel her [my mother’s] love...I didn’t write the book for Bob Dylan...If I had an hour with him, I would just ask him about her.” [25:22-26:44]

9. What’s Next For Sam Sussman?

[33:24–35:03]

• Sussman reflects on future projects, emphasizing the ongoing exploration of love’s forms—both in writing and in his life.

  “When I finished the book, I remember…The only thing larger than everything I’ve just written is love. And that will be the subject of my next book. And that is also the active pursuit of my life now.” [34:00-34:20]

10. The Meaning of the Title

[35:23–36:43]

• “Boy from the North Country” refers not only to himself and his mother, but to a broader lineage of artists (e.g., Chagall, Leonard Cohen, Amos Oz), and to the metaphorical “north country” as the mysterious origin of creative and personal identities.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the power of storytelling and love:

  “My mother used to say we’re here to take the pieces of the universe that we have been given, burnish them with love, and return them in better condition than we received. And what I'm trying to do with this book is take these agonizing pieces of the universe that I've been given and burnish them with love and return them to other people in better condition than I received.” — Sam Sussman [19:05]

• On writing and memory:

  “There was deep magic to me of transporting myself back to that period of time...and imagining what these two people [his mother and Dylan] would have been like at that moment.” — Sam Sussman [12:16]

• On facing the influence of absent or mythical parents:

  “Everything that he’s trying to become doesn’t come from this celebrity artist...Rather, it comes from the mother who has raised him.” — Sam Sussman [06:10]

• On artistic ambition and relationships:

  “What my mother took from [her relationship with Dylan] is that she wanted a fuller life than you can have as an artist who's committed to nothing but your own work.” — Sam Sussman [16:08]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & Guest Bio: [03:16–03:45]
• Book Summary: [04:13–06:15]
• Autofiction and Memoir Decision: [06:20–09:24]
• Structure and Dual Storylines: [10:02–13:02]
• Artistic Obsession and Dylan's Impact: [14:20–16:58]
• Theme of Love and Grief: [16:58–20:03]
• Nature, Place, Lucy the Dog: [26:44–30:08]
• Inheritance & Legacy: [30:08–32:53]
• Reaching Out to Bob Dylan: [25:07–26:44]
• Future Projects: [33:24–35:03]
• Title Meaning: [35:23–36:43]

Tone and Language

The conversation is intimate, literary, and reflective, with both Zibby and Sam generously sharing personal anecdotes and emotions. The tone is candid and warm, informed by shared love of literature and a deep respect for the novel’s themes of family, grief, and creative legacy.

For more, visit zibbymedia.com and join the conversation on Instagram at @zibbyowens.