![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GRG-L-THEATER-COL-0903-02.jpg\")
Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of \u201cEat, Pray, Love\u201d and \u201cBig Magic,\u201d will come to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on Sept. 19. (Courtesy of Deborah Lopez)<\/p>\nIf you\u2019ve ever felt stuck, Elizabeth Gilbert has a few things to say about it.<\/p>\n
The bestselling author of \u201cEat, Pray, Love\u201d and \u201cBig Magic\u201d will come to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., on Sept. 19 for \u201cAn Evening with Elizabeth Gilbert,\u201d an intimate night of conversation, ideas and a post-talk Q&A.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of \u201cEat, Pray, Love\u201d and \u201cBig Magic,\u201d will come to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on Sept. 19. (Courtesy of Deborah Lopez)<\/p>\n
Gilbert\u2019s career has been built around questions of creativity, spirituality, identity and the messy business of figuring out how to live a life of meaning. Her 2006 memoir \u201cEat, Pray, Love\u201d \u2014 about her travels following a devastating divorce and her search for an answer to the messiness \u2014 became a global phenomenon, selling millions of copies, spawning translations in more than 30 languages and eventually becoming a film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem.<\/p>\n
But Gilbert\u2019s work has gone well beyond that one book, with others works such as \u201cCommitted\u201d and \u201cBig Magic,\u201d and the novels \u201cThe Signature of All Things\u201d and \u201cCity of Girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her latest memoir, \u201cAll the Way to the River,\u201d published in 2025, takes an even more personal turn. It chronicles Gilbert\u2019s relationship with her late partner, Rayya Elias, tracing a friendship that eventually became a love affair while also confronting addiction, grief and the consequences of keeping difficult truths hidden.<\/p>\n
Gilbert has described her intended audience as people who are \u201cseekers,\u201d \u201chungry\u201d and \u201crestless\u201d \u2014 people looking for greater meanings than the ones that have been handed down.That search for significance also informs the subject of her Carpenter Center appearance. Rather than offering another straightforward prescription for discovering one\u2019s calling, Gilbert will discuss the potentially counterproductive ways that the pursuit of a singular \u201cpurpose\u201d can restrict creativity and freedom.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fitting topic for an author whose \u201cBig Magic\u201d has become something of a creative-life handbook for millions of readers.<\/p>\n
Before her books made her famous, Gilbert took an unconventional path, working in places ranging from Philadelphia diners to western ranches and New York bars, experiences that helped shape her instincts as a journalist and storyteller.<\/p>\n
She went on to write for publications such as GQ, Harper\u2019s Bazaar, Spin and The New York Times Magazine, and even saw one of her magazine pieces become the basis for the 2000 film \u201cCoyote Ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilbert\u2019s Carpenter Center appearance will begins at 8 p.m., with a Q&A following her talk.<\/p>\n
And for readers who want something tangible to take home, signed hardcover copies of \u201cAll the Way to the River\u201d can be added to ticket orders, though Gilbert will not be signing books at the event.<\/p>\n
For more information, go to carpenterarts.org\/event\/elizabeth-gilbert<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carpenter Center gets funky<\/p>\n Five days after Gilbert\u2019s appearance, the Carpenter Center, on the Cal State Long Beach campus, will shift gears \u2014 and gets considerably funkier.<\/p>\n Grammy Award winner Bilal will return to Long Beach on Sept. 24, bringing a mix of soul, funk and jazz to the Carpenter stage, with Queens-born singer-songwriter Yaya Bey opening the show.<\/p>\n For fans of this musical chameleon, this is a return engagement, after Bilal also appeared at the Carpenter Center last September.<\/p>\n The singer, songwriter and producer has spent his career refusing to stay neatly inside any one genre. His music draws from classic soul and jazz while incorporating funk, hip-hop and more experimental sounds, making his live performances an unexpected m\u00e9lange of musical craft.<\/p>\n This time around, Bilal is promising both fresh material and fan favorites.<\/p>\n Opening the evening will be Yaya Bey, whose latest album, \u201cFidelity,\u201d continues the Brooklyn\/Queens-bred artist\u2019s exploration of R&B, soul and contemporary songwriting.<\/p>\n Like Gilbert\u2019s evening of conversation, Bilal and Yaya Bey\u2019s musical conversations will begin at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n