BOOK TALK: Carmela Ciuraru in Conversation with Katie Couric

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Join Carmela Ciuraru, author of the critically acclaimed Lives of the Wives (selected as one of the “Best Books of 2023 so far” by The New York Times) for an insightful and humorous conversation with her longtime friend, the renowned journalist Katie Couric.

The history of wives is largely one of silence, resilience, and forbearance. Toss in celebrity, male privilege, ruthless ambition, narcissism, misogyny, infidelity, alcoholism, and a mood disorder or two, and it’s easy to understand why the marriages of so many famous writers have been stormy, short-lived, and mutually destructive. “It’s been my experience,” as the critic and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick once wrote, “that nobody holds a man’s brutality to his wife against him.” Literary wives are a unique breed, requiring a particular kind of fortitude.

Lives of the Wives is a witty, provocative look inside the tumultuous marriages of five writers, illuminating the creative process and the role of money, power, and fame in these complex and fascinating relationships. The book pays tribute to these women, and the price they paid for their own creative ambition, success, and freedom. The Washington Post praises Lives of the Wives as “a tour de force….the stories Ciuraru tells are gripping, horrific, and sometimes even funny—but most of all they are important.”

A limited number of copies of Lives of the Wives will be available for purchase and signing, or the book can be purchased in advance with the ticket + book price.

This program will take place in Guild Hall’s Marks Family Gallery South.

THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT. A waiting list will be taken IN PERSON ONLY at 6:30 PM on Monday, July 17.

 

  • Carmela Ciuraru

    Carmela Ciuraru is the author of Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms, and several poetry anthologies. Her latest book, Lives of the Wives, has received international media attention and was selected as an "Editor's Choice" by The New York Times Book Review. 

    Photo: Christian Haas

  • Katie Couric

    Katie Couric (@katiecouric) is an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author of her memoir, Going There, which was published in October 2021. She is also a co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). Since its launch in 2008, Stand Up To Cancer has raised more than $700 million to support cutting-edge collaborative science and its research has contributed to nine new FDA approved therapies.

    In 2017, she founded Katie Couric Media (KCM), which has developed a number of media projects, including a daily newsletter, a podcast, digital video series and several documentaries. KCM works with purpose driven brands to create premium content that addresses important social issues like gender equality, environmental sustainability and mental health.

    Previous documentaries produced by KCM include: America Inside Out with Katie Couric, a six-part series for National Geographic; Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric, for National Geographic; Under the Gun, which aired on EPIX; and Fed Up, available on iTunes, Amazon and YouTube. Couric was also the executive producer of Unbelievable on Netflix and is developing other scripted projects.

    Couric was the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast, serving as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011 following 15-years as co-anchor of NBC’s Today show. She also hosted a syndicated show and served as the Yahoo Global News Anchor until 2017.

    She has won a duPont-Columbia, a Peabody, two Edward R. Murrows, a Walter Cronkite Award, and multiple Emmys. She was twice named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and was a Glamour Magazine woman of the year three times. She has also received numerous awards for her cancer advocacy work; honored by both the Harvard and Columbia schools of public health, the American Cancer Society and The American Association of Cancer Researchers.

    In addition to Going There, Couric is also the author of two children’s books and The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives.

    katiecouric.com

    Photo: Andrew Eccles

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Theater Programming is supported in part by The Schaffner Family Foundation and funding from The Melville Straus Family Endowment. Music Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming. 

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