The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life

Anne Francey is the author Suleika Jaouad’s mother. A Fulbright Scholar and the recipient of several grants from the New York State Council of the Arts, Francey is a visual artist who works with different media including painting, drawing, ceramics, and video. Her work has been exhibited in Switzerland, where she hails from, Tunisia, and the United States. Francey received her Fulbright Scholarship in 2021 for her work in Tunisia, a participatory art project titled “1001 BRIQUES, la Ville dans tous ses états” (1001 Bricks, the city in all its states).

Jon Batiste is the author Suleika Jaouad’s husband, along with being an Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe, and five-time Grammy Award-winning musician from Louisiana (290). He is a Juilliard alum, having earned his BA and MFA there, and has recorded with and performed alongside numerous global artists including Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran, and Lana Del Ray. Batiste and his band, Stay Human, which he served as bandleader and musical director of, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022 (290).

Salman Rushdie is an award-winning, Indian-born British-American writer. He has authored multiple books including Midnight’s Children (which won the Booker Prize), Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Moor’s Last Sigh, and Quichotte, all of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has also penned short stories, reportage, and memoir, with his most recent work, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, serving as a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Rushdie references the attempted murder that serves as material for this memoir in the essay that he contributes to this book, and has endured numerous death threats throughout his writing career. A highly celebrated and feted writer, Rushdie’s long list of accolades include the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award, and the National Arts Award, among others; he was also awarded a Knighthood for services to literature in 2007.

George Saunders is an American writer who won the Booker Prize for his debut novel, Lincoln in the Bardo (2017). He uses the death of former president Abraham Lincoln’s son William Wallace to explore the subject of Lincoln’s grief in the book. Saunders began writing when he was employed at an engineering company, penning a collection of dystopian stories CivilWarLand in Bad Decline in 1996. He completed short-story collections, a novella, and even a children’s book, before his first and immediately bestselling novel. Saunders is also a recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur Foundation fellowship, and the PEN/Malamud Award.

Gloria Steinem is an American feminist, political activist, and editor, who was a prominent figure during the women’s liberation movement in the late 20th and early 21st century. A Smith alum, Steinem began her work in activism while on a scholarship in India, where she engaged in nonviolent protests against government policy. Her writing work began during the 1960s in New York City, and she began to increasingly engage with political subjects in her work over the next decade. In 1971, she formed the National Women’s Political Caucus, alongside Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, and Shirley Chisholm. Beyond penning numerous collections of essays through the 1980s and 1990s, Steinem also published her memoir, My Life on the Road, in 2015. She was awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 2013 by President Barack Obama.

Lena Dunham is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She penned the New York Times bestselling essay collection Not That Kind of Girl, and is also the creator of the HBO series Girls and the Netflix series Too Much. For the former, she was nominated for eight Emmy Awards and won two Golden Globes, including Best Actress (293). She is the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for directorial achievement in comedy, and has written and directed multiple films including Sharp Stick, Catherine Called Birdy, and Tiny Furniture. She also starred in the latter, which won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a widely-read author of multiple books, best known for her 2006 memoir Eat Pray Love which follows her journey around the world as she tries to process the aftermath of divorce. An international bestseller, the book was translated into over 30 languages, with over 12 million copies sold worldwide. It was also adapted into a film starring Julia Roberts in 2010. Her sequel to this memoir, titled Committed (2010) was a New York Times Bestseller. Gilbert’s books have together sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

Ann Patchett is a multiple award-winning American author whose list of accolades include receiving the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the Guggenheim fellowship. While she began her career writing short stories and essays, she is best known for her novels, with her fourth novel, Bel Canto (2001), earning her significant success and praise. Patchett also co-owns a bookstore, Parnassus Books, in Nashville.

John Green is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, the former of which Jaouad references as the text that helped her understand the value of connection and community when undergoing treatment for an illness such as cancer. His work has won numerous awards including the Michael L. Printz Award and the Edgar Award, and he has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Green’s books have been published in more than 55 languages and over 24 million copies are in print. Many of his books have also been adapted into film and television, including The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and Turtles All the Way Down.

Pico Iyer is an English-born writer of Indian origin. He has written numerous books on a range of subjects, including the Dalai Lama, the Cuban Revolution, and Islamic mysticism, and his works have been translated into 23 languages. Some of his most popular books include Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, The Global Soul, The Open Road and The Art of Stillness. He has also written numerous articles for publications including Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the Financial Times, among others.

Oliver Jeffers is an artist, author, illustrator, and activist of Irish origin. His most beloved work includes his picture books for children; his work has been translated into 49 languages and has sold nearly 14 million copies worldwide. Jeffers’s art has been exhibited at museums and institutions across the globe, including in galleries in London and New York. Common themes in his work include community and perspective, which Jeffers touches upon in his contributed piece in this book, reflecting on the nature and origins of Irish nationalism.

Linda Sue Park is an award-winning author of books for younger readers which include the 2002 Newbery Medal winner A Single Shard, and the bestseller A Long Walk to Water. She is also the founder and creator of Allida Books, which is an imprint of HarperCollins, and the creator of the kiBooka website, which highlights children’s books created by Korean artists. Park’s work in literature encompasses her books, the numerous essays she has penned for different publications, and her work as a panelist for the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, the PEN Naylor grant, and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award.