ELIZABETH GILBERT UP CLOSE
Elizabeth Gilbert, born and raised in America, has a career of over 20 years. She rose to fame with her much-praised memoir Eat, Pray, Love, a chronicle of her one year trip across Italy, India and Indonesia.
In 1993, her short story Pilgrims was published in Esquire, which led her to write for many other publications such as GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Allure and Travel + Leisure. Her first book was published in 1997, a collection of short stories that led her to win the Pushcart Prize. Some of her other works are Notable Book (2002) and The Last America Man (2002).
However, it was in 2006 that Elizabeth Gilbert’s career as a writer bloomed with her travel memoir titled Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert traveled Italy, India and Indonesia in, what she called, “a one woman’s search for everything”. She had everything - a husband, a country home and a successful career - however, she lacked happiness. That is when she set herself to leave all of it behind and begin a one year journey, to search for her happiness and explore three main things in her life: pleasure, religion and love. The book is the narrative of her journey and what she took from it and from the three places she visited.
With her writing, she inspired many people to take a second look at their lives and reevaluate what they had and if they were happy. If not, what could they do to change it? Eat, Pray, Love is a travelling experience told in the first person and it shows one of many sides of travelling. In Gilbert’s case, she found in travelling an answer to most of her questions and she inspired many others to do so.
The book was made into a movie starring Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert and it was equally successful. It showed people that travelling doesn’t always have to be about escaping somewhere or escaping from something, but rather searching for something that is missing from one’s life and fulfilling a dream.
Gilbert continues to inspire and encourage people to find their true selves through her writing. Her latest work Big Magic is a read for all the people out there who seek advice and inspiration on how to let go of their fear and create something.