Creative Living Series

Laura Claridge

EMILY POST: MISTRESS OF AMERICAN MANNERS

October 18, 2012

When Emily Post's Etiquette debuted in 1922, the author was a 50-year-old woman at her wisest, and America was a country at its wildest. In Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners, biographer Laura Claridge provides beguiling new details about the events that governed Post's life, including an unhappy marriage, scandalous divorce, and how Post converted social disgrace into triumph. Claridge addresses the secret of Etiquette's incredible success—it was in its 89th printing at the author's death in 1960—and argues that kindness was the heart of Post's philosophy.

Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito

BUILDING A BAKERY

November 15, 2012

Once upon a time, two bored cubicle dwellers in the world of advertising dreamed of coffee and cake, and merging those passions into a business. Dream became reality in 2005 when Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito opened Baked in an abandoned storefront church in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Despite a series of missteps, Baked is now both a neighborhood spot and an award-winning bakery (its brownies were recognized by Oprah as a "favorite thing"). Lewis and Poliafito, authors of New Frontiers in Baking and Baked Explorations, take you through the radical ups and downs of chasing a dream—and serve up some of their heavenly wares.

Wendy McClure

THE WILDER LIFE

January 17, 2013

As a self-described crazed fan of the Little House on the Prairie series of books, Wendy McClure sometimes wears a bonnet and carries a butter churn. Following in the real-life footsteps of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the hardscrabble—often terrifying— pioneer existence described in her books, McClure journeyed to various homesteads, log cabins and museums around the country that honor the Wilder family. Her experiences are recounted in The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie. A children's book editor, columnist and blogger, McClure is also the author of I'm Not the New Me.

Gale Gand

A CHEF'S JOURNEY

February 21, 2013

Since catching the eye of a Life magazine photographer while making mud pies at age six, Gale Gand has gone on to become a James Beard award-winning pastry chef and partner in Tru, which was awarded a Michelin star. Gand is also the host of Food Network's "Sweet Dreams" and the author of 7 cookbooks, including Chocolate and Vanilla and Gale Gand's Brunch. Gand will describe how she found success in a man's field, how it feels to "rub elbows" with celebrities like Emeril Lagasse, Sarah Moulton, Martha Stewart and Julia Child, and why she had to launch her own root beer company.

Joseph Epstein

GOSSIP: THE UNTRIVIAL PURSUIT

March 21, 2013

From celebrity rumors to literary romans à clef, from personal sniping to political slander, gossip is eternal and necessary, claims Joseph Epstein. In his latest book, Gossip, he examines one of the most powerful forces in modern life, which, thanks to the mass media, has morphed from a mischievous private pleasure— something we are not supposed to do but cannot resist—into a corrosive public display. Hailed by critics as a keen observer and one of our great essayists, Epstein is himself a master of the art of gossip. He returns to Creative Living to serve up mini-biographies about the Great Gossips of the Western World.

John Y. Cole

A LIFE AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

April 18, 2013

The Library of Congress is one of the largest, most comprehensive research and public libraries in the world; its Jefferson Building is a unique architectural treasure. For over 45 years, John Y. Cole has sought to increase public understanding of the key role the Library plays in American government, scholarship, and society. As both historian of the institution and founding director of its reading and literacy promotion office, the Center for the Book, he is well-qualified for the task. Join Dr. Cole for an illustrated, personal introduction to the Library of Congress and its unique features, from Thomas Jefferson's personal library to the recently opened Young Readers Center.

Past Speakers Include

Maya Angelou, Carol Marin, Charlie Trotter, Colin Cowie, B. Smith, Calvin Trillin, Dr. Michael Roizen, Nuala O'Faolain, Jane & Michael Stern, Beverly Sills, Martha Stewart, Shelley Berman, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Wally Phillips, Joan Benny, Rick Steves, Studs Terkel, Joseph Epstein, Amy Dickinson, Eddie Ross, Robert Wittman, Jane Hamilton, Rick Bayless, Ann Patchett, John Callaway, Janet Carroll, Bill Kurtis, Betsy Palmer, Sarah Paretsky, Joel Daly, Billy Collins, Scott Simon, Gwendolyn Brooks, Irene Hughes, Abby Mandel, Paul Sereno , Gene Siskal, Geoffrey Baer, Susan Barash, Gus Russo, Leslie Hindman, Jeffrey Lyons, Rick Kogan, Sylvia Weinstock, Scott Peacock, Chris Madden