In-Store: Major Jackson: A Bowl of Goodness w/ Michael Ruhlman

"Poems feed us in ways nothing else can, and they continue to sustain us long after we’ve read them, as this book will." —Maggie Smith
About this Event

Event guidelines:

• Each ticket will include either a copy of the featured book or a $10 Books Are Magic gift card. Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
• A book signing will follow the talk.
• Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
• The event will also be livestreamed for free here: https://youtube.com/live/fwzjsnwr66g
• As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].

An anthology of contemporary poems and soup recipes to nourish us, comfort us, and bind us together—gathered by award-winning poet Major Jackson.

Poetry and soup both offer sustenance and comfort. And yet, the secret ingredient to every great meal is not what we see on the plate, but who we see around the table. This anthology features poems by today's best poets that embody the idea of nourishment, comfort, and connection across cultures and generations. Among the poems are 24 of Major's own favorite soup recipes: from apple-parsnip to gumbo, borscht to bouillabaisse, there's something to tickle and warm all tastebuds.

Sprinkled throughout are side-dishes of soup-inspired stories by award-winning writers and chefs, including Ann Patchett and chef Jim Huntington of Maple Soul. Other contributors include Garrett Hongo, Jane Hirshfield, Pablo Neruda, Natasha Tretheway, Paul Muldoon, Rita Dove, Ilya Kaminsky, Kwame Dawes, Gary Snyder, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Kevin Young, and more.

Major Jackson is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Razzle Dazzle: New & Selected Poems, recipient of the inaugural Patricia Cannon Willis Prize from Yale Library. His edited volumes include Best American Poetry 2019, Renga for Obama, and Library of America’s Countee Cullen: Collected Poems. Former host of The Slowdown podcast, from American Public Media, he is the recipient of fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. Jackson lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. He serves as poetry editor of The Harvard Review. Major Jackson is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts.

Michael Ruhlman is the author of several award-winning cookbooks and nonfiction narratives. He is the author of chef Thomas Keller’s seminal The French Laundry Cookbook as well as the highly successful series about the training of chefs: The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, and The Reach of a Chef. He is also the author of The Elements of Cooking and Ratio. Ruhlman has worked at The New York Times and as a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times.