From her early career as a journalist to the global phenomenon of Eat Pray Love and her influential reflections on creativity in Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert has shaped how millions of readers think about living authentically. In this wide-ranging conversation, Gilbert discusses her new memoir, All the Way to the River, alongside the themes that run through her work—love and obsession, freedom and responsibility, devotion and self-reinvention. Join us for an intimate evening with Gilbert, the Library’s Spring 2026 Cultural Fellow, as she offers a candid look at a career defined by curiosity, risk, and hard-won wisdom. This conversation will be moderated by Rachel Donadio, Curator of Cultural Programs.
About the speakers:
Elizabeth Gilbert is the bestselling author of novels and nonfiction that explore creativity, spirituality, and love with intelligence, wit, and irresistible warmth. Her memoir Eat Pray Love was a #1 New York Times bestseller translated into more than 30 languages and adapted into a major film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. Beginning her career as a magazine journalist, Gilbert went on to write several bestselling books, including Committed: A Love Story and Big Magic. Her books have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. She has also earned major critical recognition, including finalist honors for the National Magazine Award and the National Book Award for The Last American Man. With over 21 million views, her TED Talk on creativity is among the most viewed of all time. She is the founder of The Onward Book Club and writes the Substack newsletter Letters from Love. All the Way to the River is Gilbert’s first non-fiction book in a decade.
Rachel Donadio, the Library’s Curator of Cultural Programs, is a Paris-based writer, journalist and critic, a contributing writer for the Atlantic, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former European Culture Correspondent and Rome Bureau Chief of the New York Times.
