A video about POWER READING! Hey everyone — I’m going to be appearing at BEA (B…

A video about POWER READING!

Hey everyone — I'm going to be appearing at BEA (Book Expo America) at the end of May in NYC, and they recently made this little video as part of a cool promo they are doing on "Power Readers". Am I am power reader? Hell yeah, people! Full-on! Rock and read, lock and load! As I imagine most of you are, as well…

ANYHOW, if you can make it, come to BEA in New York on Saturday June 1…I'm going to be appearing on stage with the great Wally Lamb, in a really cool chat for something they are calling "The Ultimate Book Club Event." We will be hanging out after and mingling…should be fun!

Also, I'll be signing books on Friday at 2pm!

Come meet me…also it's like WORLD OF BOOKS AND AUTHORS, folks. It's pretty cool!

Here's all the info about my event at BEA:

https://www.bookexpoamerica.com/Show-Info/Authors-and-Books/#page=other-author-events

Enjoy the video, and a toast to all the Power Readers out there!

🙂
Liz

BEA Power Reader: Elizabeth Gilbert
www.youtube.com
Elizabeth is participating at the Ultimate Book Club Experience with renowned author Wally Lamb at BookExpo America (BEA) on Saturday, June 1. Join us for a …

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

WHO ARE THE WRITERS WHO HAVE MOST INSPIRED YOU AS AN AUTHOR? A visitor to this…

WHO ARE THE WRITERS WHO HAVE MOST INSPIRED YOU AS AN AUTHOR?

A visitor to this page named Lizzi asked me this question the other day as a wall post, and I thought I would try to take it up here…

There are many, mind you. But my simplest response would be Hemingway and Dickens: my two writing fathers.

Hemingway, because I started reading him when I was about 14 years old, and found myself amazed that sophisticated writing made for adults could be so accessible, so direct, so available and inclusive. I think until that point, I'd always assumed that serious adult writing had to be difficult or opaque. (Joyce, Faulkner, etc) But Hemingway taught me the elegance of removal. I decided early on that I wanted to write in that manner, as well. I made a vow that anyone who is capable of reading can read one of my books — that all would be welcome. I still try to write that way — trying to get out of the way of the prose as much as possible, and just let the story be told. Curiously, I haven't read Hemingway again since I was young. I think maybe I don't want to spoil my perfect memories of discovering him in my malleable youth.

And then there is Dickens! Dickens, my generous, fearless, ever-abundant, literary sugar daddy. Dickens, who rightfully called himself "the inimitable". Dickens, the flat-out greatest storyteller ever. Dickens, who expertly takes you by the hand in the first sentence of each book and says, "Come with me, dear friend — we are about to embark on a very long journey together, but I know exactly what I'm doing, and if you just trust me and surrender to my tale, then we shall have the adventure of a lifetime." Dickens! (A man who, by the way, truly enjoyed being a writer — no tormented genius, he! Just a genius, period.) Dickens is the one who taught me this valuable literary lesson: Go big or go home. Tell a REAL story, or don't bother. Dickens, I read every year. I am constantly reading me some Dickens, and I never stop learning from him.

And then there are a hundred others. But those are my two founding fathers.

What about you all? Which writers have most shaped your minds?

xo
Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall