UCSB Arts & Lectures will present author Elizabeth Gilbert, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 at The Arlington Theatre.
A “rock star author,” according to Oprah Winfrey, Gilbert’s bestselling books “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Big Magic” have inspired millions to live more creative, courageous lives, according to Arts & Lectures.
In her talk, Gilbert reflects on love, loss and the healing power of storytelling through the lens of her new memoir “All the Way to the River,” a personal account of her relationship with her late partner Rayya Elias.
“With her signature mix of wit, wisdom and radical candor, Gilbert invites us to explore what it means to seek connection, truth and transcendence in the face of profound grief,” Arts & Lectures said.
Ticket purchase includes a pre-signed copy of Gilbert’s new memoir “All the Way to the River” (pick up at event).
Tickets are $53-$83, general public; $16, UCSB students (with current student ID.
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or buy online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu. Tickets also available through The Arlington Theatre box office, 805-963-4408.
With her books selling more than 25 million copies worldwide, Gilbert has an avid international readership and devoted following.
Her 2006 memoir “Eat Pray Love,” a No. 1 New York Times bestseller, chronicled the year Gilbert spent traveling the world after a shattering divorce. Translated into more than 30 languages, it was adapted into a 2010 film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem.
Following “Eat, Pray, Love,” Gilbert wrote “Committed: A Love Story,” a meditation on marriage as a sociohistorical institution.
In September 2025, Gilbert returns with “All the Way to the River, which follows her relationship with her late partner Rayya Elias.
An intense and unlikely curiosity sparked between these two apparent opposites: Elias, an East Village badass who lived boldly on her own terms but feared she was a failed artist; Gilbert, a married people-pleaser with a surprisingly unfettered sense of creativity.
Over the years, they became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: the two were in love. Unacknowledged: they were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe.
As Gilbert shared to People, “I am writing for people who are seekers, people who are hungry, people who are restless, people who, perhaps, since earliest childhood have felt that there absolutely has to be a higher meaning to life than what we have been shown.”
In the years since, people around the world have looked to Gilbert for guidance in leading brave, authentic, and creative lives.
“I think my gift, far beyond whatever gifts that I have as a writer, my gift as a human is that I can make friends with people very quickly,” Gilbert said. “Everything I learned about being a journalist I learned by being a bartender.
“The most exquisite lesson of all is that people will tell you anything. Want to. There’s no question you can’t ask if your intention is not hostile. And it’s not like entrapment; it’s more like a gorgeous revelation. People want to tell the story that they have.”
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