Elizabeth Gilbert

Biography

• Born July 18, 1969 in Waterbury, Connecticut
• Has a Bachelors in Political Science from New York University
• Currently lives in New Jersey

Writing career - Notable accomplishments

• Short story "Pilgrims" published in Esquire in 1993 - first unpublished author since Norman Mailer
• Story "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon" published in GQ in 1997 adapted into film Coyote Ugly (IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200550/) 
• Contributing writer for national magazines like SPIN, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and Real Simple
• Publishes first novel Stern Men in 2000
•  Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, 2006 
• Eat, Pray, Love spent 199 weeks on the New York Times' Best Seller List
• Named one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Influential People in the World in 2008
• Film adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love - starring Julia Roberts - released in 2010 (IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879870/) 
• Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, 2010 

Literary Themes/Genres

• Essayist, memoirist, biographer
• Influences include L. Frank Baum, Charles Dickens, Marcus Aurelius

Official Website (unfortunately designed in Comic Sans!): http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/
TED talk on Creativity: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng//id/453