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An Evening with Elizabeth Gilbert

Presented by Sterling Associates at Alley Theatre -- Patricia Peckinpaugh Hubbard Stage

February 1, 2010

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Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love, will read from her new book, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage (Viking Press) on Feb. 1, 2010 at 7:30 pm at the Alley Theatre's Hubbard Stage.

The reading will benefit Ucross Foundation, a nonprofit that operates a prestigious retreat for writers, artists and composers in northern Wyoming where Gilbert wrote a draft of Eat, Pray, Love.  "The two books I've written at Ucross are the pride of my creative life," she says.

About Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage: 
At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous horrific divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.

Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is. Told with Gilbert's trademark wit, intelligence and compassion, Committed attempts to "turn on all the lights" when it comes to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and humbling responsibilities. Gilbert's memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

About Elizabeth Gilbert:
Elizabeth Gilbert was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1969, and grew up on a small family Christmas tree farm. From earliest memory, all she ever wanted to do was write. It is quite possibly genetic: Her sister, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, also became a writer, and is today the author of such beloved young adult novels as DAIRY QUEEN and PRINCESS BEN.

Elizabeth attended New York University, where she studied political science by day and worked on her short stories by night. After college, she spent several years traveling around the country, working in bars, diners and ranches, collecting experiences to transform into fiction. These explorations eventually formed the basis of her first book - a short story collection called PILGRIMS, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award. During these early years in New York, she also worked as a journalist for such publications as Spin, GQ and The New York Times Magazine. She was a three-time finalist for The National Magazine work, and an article she wrote in GQ about her experiences bartending on the Lower East Side eventually became the basis for the movie COYOTE UGLY.

In 2000, Elizabeth published her first novel, STERN MEN (a story of brutal territory wars between two remote fishing islands off the coast of Maine) which was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2002, Elizabeth published THE LAST AMERICAN MAN - the true story of the modern day woodsman Eustace Conway. This book, her first work of non-fiction, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Elizabeth is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE, which chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated into over thirty languages, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide, and a movie version in the making, starring Julia Roberts. The book became so popular that, in 2008, Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

In January 2010, Viking-Penguin will publish Elizabeth's fifth book - COMMITTED: A SKEPTIC MAKES PEACE WITH MARRIAGE - which tells the story of the author's efforts to work through all her fears and hesitations about matrimony, after she and her Brazilian sweetheart were unexpectedly "sentenced to wed" by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Elizabeth Gilbert lives in rural New Jersey with her husband, her garden, and far too many beloved pets. She is at work on a new novel.

About The Ucross Foundation:
Since its founding in 1981, The Ucross Foundation has provided studio space, living accommodations and uninterrupted time to nearly 1,400 artists, writers, composers and choreographers from around the world. Annie Proulx's The Shipping News, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza, Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath – these are just a few of the acclaimed works that have been created in part during Ucross residencies.

Houston-area artists and writers who have received Ucross fellowships include writers Tony Hoagland and Kathleen Lee, visual artists Al Souza, Benjamin Butler, Darryl Lauster, and Randall McCabe and composer Michael Remson.

The Elizabeth Gilbert reading is being sponsored by Houston-based Apache Corporation. The Alley Theatre is also providing support for the benefit.