Elizabeth Gilbert

Infobox Writer


imagesize = 150px
name = Elizabeth Gilbert
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pseudonym =
birthdate = Birth date and age|1969|7|18|mf=y
birthplace = Waterbury, Connecticut
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Novelist, Memoirist
nationality = American
period = 1997 - present
genre = Fiction, Memoir
subject =
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website = http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Elizabeth M. Gilbert (born July 18, 1969 in Waterbury, Connecticut) is an American novelist, essayist, short story writer, biographer and memoirist.

Background

Along with her only sister, novelist and historian Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Gilbert grew up on a small family Christmas tree farm in Connecticut. She attended New York University and graduated in 1991 with a BA in Political Science, after which she lived the life of a literary vagabond — experiencing life as a cook, a waitress, and a magazine lackey — in order to write about it. Her experiences as a cook on a dude ranch found their way into both short stories and her book "The Last American Man" (Viking 2002).

Journalism

"Esquire" published Gilbert's short story “Pilgrims” in 1993, under the headline, “The Debut of an American Writer.” She was the first unpublished short story writer to debut in "Esquire" since Norman Mailer. This led to steady work as a journalist for a variety of national magazines including, "SPIN", "GQ", "The New York Times Magazine", "Allure", "Real Simple", and "Travel + Leisure".

Her 1997 "GQ" article, "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon," a memoir of Gilbert’s career as a bartender in a lowdown East Village dive, was the basis for the film "Coyote Ugly". She adapted her 1998 "GQ" article, "Eustace Conway is Not Like Any Man You've Ever Met," into a biography of the modern naturalist, "The Last American Man". It received a nomination for the National Book Award in non-fiction. "The Ghost," a profile of Hank Williams III published by "GQ" in 2000, was included in Best American Magazine Writing 2001.

Books

Her first book "Pilgrims" (Houghton-Mifflin 1997), a collection of short stories, received the Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. This was followed by her novel "Stern Men" (Houghton-Mifflin 2000), selected by "The New York Times" as a "Notable Book".

Most recently, she published "" (Viking, 2006), a chronicle of the author's year of spiritual and personal exploration while traveling abroad. The memoir was on the "New York Times" best seller list of non-fiction in the spring of 2006, and has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Julia Roberts slated to star.cite news | url = http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951656.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 | title = Par setting table for adaptation |last = Fleming |first = Michael| publisher = Variety.com | date = 2006-10-10| accessdate = 2007-06-15]

Bibliography

tory collections

*"Pilgrims", (1997) (Pushcart Prize, finalist for PEN/Hemingway Award)

Novels

*"Stern Men", (2000)

Biographies

*"The Last American Man", (2002) (finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critic's Circle Award)

Memoirs

*"Eat, Pray, Love", (2006)

As contributor

*"The KGB Bar Reader: Buckle Bunnies" (1998)
*"Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction" (contributor) (1999)
*"A Writer's Workbook: Daily Exercises for the Writing Life" (foreword) (2000)
*"The Best American Magazine Writing 2001: The Ghost" (2001)

References

External links

* [http://www.elizabethgilbert.com Author's Official site]
* [http://www.eatprayandlove.com "Eat, Pray, Love" Reviews]
* [http://www.powells.com/authors/gilbert.html Interview at Powells.com]
* [http://www.kuow.org/defaultProgram.asp?ID=10375 "Eat, Pray, Love"] (audio), interview by Megan Sukys, "The Beat", KUOW, March 14, 2006.
* [http://www.pw.org/mag/bures.htm In Search of the Last American Man: A Profile of Elizabeth Gilbert]
* [http://www.coyoteuglysaloon.com/101/gq01.html Gilbert's 1997 GQ article "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon"]
* [http://blog.eatpraylovefans.com "Eat Pray Love" Fan News Blog]
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n97-43355