Elizabeth Gilbert
ELIZABETH GILBERT‘s memoir Eat, Pray, Love has been called “a generation’s instruction manual” by The Toronto Sun. Exploding onto the scene in 2006, the best-seller famously chronicled the year Gilbert spent traveling the world after a shattering divorce. Translated into more than thirty languages, Eat, Pray, Love has sold over ten million copies worldwide. Educated at New York University, Gilbert hails from an ascetic childhood in rural Connecticut. Fearless reporting skills and an abiding appreciation for working-class values have colored her writing from the beginning. Gilbert’s writing has been published in Harper’s Bazaar, Spin, and The New York Times Magazine. Her work in Spin caught the attention of editors at GQ, and she became a stalwart at that publication, producing vivid, provocative pieces that soon grew into books and even a film: 2000’s Coyote Ugly. Gilbert was a finalist for the National Magazine Award, and her work was anthologized in Best American Writing 2001.
Gilbert’s first book, a wide-ranging collection of short fiction called Pilgrims, was a New York Times Most Notable Book, and won the Ploughshares prize, among many other honors. Her first novel, Stern Men, won the Kate Chopin Award in 2001. Her third book, The Last American Man, was a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2010, Eat, Pray, Love was made into a feature film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. Also in 2010, Gilbert published Committed: A Love Story, the breathlessly anticipated follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love. The Signature of All Things was named as one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, NPR, and Time. In the decade since Eat, Pray, Love, people around the world have sought Gilbert’s advice on how to lead a bold and inspired life, and she has dedicated herself to exploring the mysteries of courage and creativity. Out of this period of introspection comes Gilbert’s brilliant nonfiction treatise, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. Gilbert lives in New York, where she is a columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine. She is also at work on a new novel. @gilbertliz