Frances Mayes & Ruth Reichl –
In Conversation

Beloved and admired authors Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun) and Ruth Reichl (Tender at the Bone) will share the stage for a conversation about their shared themes: food, memory, family, culture and travel. This free-wheeling conversation will allow both writers to explore their love of food and recipes as it evokes memories and also the exploration of their own and other cultures. Both have written passionately about home and travel, taking their readers with them as they uncover how food and home define us, and how we can uncover the shared humanity when looking at the vast culture experiences in the United States and abroad.

Frances Mayes  – Bestselling Author

Serving as Pen & Podium’s inaugural season’s very first speaker in 2003, Frances Mayes is the author of Under the Tuscan Sun, which was on the New York Times Bestseller list for over two years and is published in over fifty languages. It became a film starring Diane Lane. Her other internationally best-selling memoirs include Bella Tuscany, Everyday in Tuscany, and Under Magnolia. The recent A Place in the World, a lyrical collection on the meaning of home, also debuted on the New York Times and other bestseller lists. She is the author of the novels Swan and Women in Sunlight, now in preproduction as a film by Water’s End Productions. Her award-winning travel narratives include A Year in the World, See You in the Piazza, and Always Italy. A passionate cook and restorer of houses, Frances has also written In Tuscany, Bringing Tuscany Home, The Tuscan Sun Cookbook, and Pasta Veloce, new this year. The Great Marriage, a novel, is forthcoming in 2024. She and her husband Edward divide their year between Cortona, Italy and Durham, North Carolina.

“By the sweat of her brow and the strength of her vision, Frances Mayes has become a layer in the history of Tuscany.” – Los Angeles Times