Famous female author visits IU

The audience laughed, cheered and clapped for best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert on Monday night in the IU Auditorium.

The mostly female crowd came to hear the renowned writer speak about her writing experiences. A majority of the audience had already read her acclaimed novel “Eat, Pray, Love,” which chronicles Gilbert’s trip around the world after a divorce. Others in the audience were in the middle of or almost done with the memoir.

“I really don’t read many books,” junior Katie Krieg said. But after she read Gilbert’s novel during spring break, she absolutely loved the writer.

“I thought of how much I’d love to meet her,” she said.

Krieg said she wanted to see Gilbert in person to learn more about her – besides what she knew already from what she read in the memoir.

“Her personality was a lot of what I assumed would be from the book,” she said. “She is inspiring; she knows herself well and respects herself.”

Gilbert joked with the audience while seriously examining the role of the writer in society. She explained ever since the Renaissance, people commonly have associated writers with “struggle,” whether that be an addiction or a madness.

“There’s this assumption that people who chose a path of creativity will suffer,” Gilbert said, noting that this notion is not true.

She argued writers go mad because they try to “create divine euphoria by artificial means,” other than what comes naturally through inspiration.

“Be prepared to take inspiration when it comes,” Gilbert said. “My plea to you tonight is to work hard to be sane.”

Gilbert said writers and artists need to reach out to their inspiration.

“Every once in a while I do catch it by the tail,” Gilbert said. “It’s the closest I’ve come to the divine. It’s my favorite thing.”

Gilbert explained that so many writers who work hard often don’t get the work they want done because they struggle with staying sane and letting inspiration come to them.

“When work doesn’t get done, it is lost or missed,” Gilbert said, explaining that if someone doesn’t have the time to complete a project, it might be done by someone else.

Gilbert advised everyone not to let fear prevent any inspiration from being created.

“Every piece of work I’ve known creates me,” Gilbert said.

Sophomore Sarah Epplin is currently half-way through “Eat, Pray, Love,” and said she loves the book because Gilbert writes with such ease – it is as if she is talking to every reader like a close and dear friend.

“It’s a good thing for a writer to do because it’s humanizing the audience,” Epplin said. “In general, I feel like she is a really great mentor to young women. She writes in a way that women of all ages can relate to.”

Gilbert answered questions for the audience and told devoted “Eat, Pray, Love” readers that she is currently working on her new book about marriage.

She ended positively.

“I like to believe that there are doors open everywhere for enlightenment,” she said. “Listen to what excites you and follow it.”