Elizabeth Gilbert to appear with Rayya Elias at Books & Books

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Special Event

Meet break-out writer Rayya Elias
Discussing and signing her raw, unabashed memoir
Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side (Viking, $26.95) Featuring a live acoustic guitar performance and Special Guest: ELIZABETH GILBERT, #1 bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

Wednesday, May 1, 8pm
Books & Books, Coral Gables

Born in Aleppo, Syria, Elias left with her family at the age of seven to escape rising religious and political tensions and settled in the suburbs of Detroit, only to discover herself newly embedded in a different kind of hostile landscape. Bullied in school for everything from not being cool enough (her mother made her clothes) to her language barrier, and caught between the worlds of her traditional family and her tough American classmates, she rebelled early.

Elias moved to New York City young to become a musician and kept herself afloat with an uncommon talent for cutting hair. At the height of the punk and new wave movements, life on the Lower East Side was full of adventure, creative inspiration and temptation. But before long, her passionate affairs with lovers of both sexes went awry, her drug recreation became drug addiction, and if she wasn’t living on the streets, she was in jail.

In Elizabeth Gilbert’s words, “Her writing doesn’t come out on the page feeling like it was squeezed from a standard-issue literary toothpaste tube. Instead, her stories are like tough little stray creatures, born in the lowest hollows of the dirtiest street corners, which then—as you watch, breath held—fight their way to rapture….It is my honor to introduce these pages—so gravelly, so straggly, so hopeful, bright and true.”

About the Author
RAYYA ELIAS was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1960, and moved to the United States in 1967. She is a musician, hairdresser, filmmaker, and also sells real estate to make some extra scratch. Elias lives in New York City and has been clean since August 8, 1997.

ELIZABETH GILBERT is such a fan of Rayya’s that she has made herself available to appear with her at this event and will sign copies of her books, including Eat, Pray, Love, with the purchase of Rayya’s memoir.

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