Love, Loss, and Meaning in Life: Irvin Yalom with Joyce Carol Oates

Do you believe in the revolutionary power of literature? So do we. Since 2015, Bay Area Book Festival has featured the boldest and most brilliant literary voices in conversations about issues that matter, with a focus on justice and diversity. We’re a world-class literary extravaganza taking place each year over two days in Downtown Berkeley.

Bay Area Book Festival

Love, Loss, and Meaning in Life: World-Renowned Therapist Irvin Yalom with Joyce Carol Oates

“Mourning is the price we pay for having the courage to love others,” opens the extraordinary memoir by renowned psychiatrist Irvin Yalom (Love’s Executioner) and his late wife, Marilyn Yalom, the esteemed feminist scholar and writer. Exploring universal questions of intimacy, love, and grief, A Matter of Death and Life recounts the final months of the couple’s 65-year marriage after Marilyn’s cancer diagnosis. The book is written in alternating sections until Marilyn’s death, after which Irv, the “therapists’ therapist,” revisits his decades’ worth of writings as a way to cope with his own grief.There could be no better partner for this conversation than Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most honored authors in American letters, whose more than 100 books­­—fiction, memoir, essays, poetry and more­­—masterfully delve into love, loss, mortality, and other core human experiences. Her memoir A Widow’s Story (2011) depicts her own struggles after the loss of her husband of 47 years. Both of her latest books, the poetry collection American Melancholy and short story collection The (Other) You, explore how circumstances and choices indelibly shape how we live and find meaning.We present this conversation on Mother’s Day, after a year that taught us all to cherish human connection more than ever. Today we pay tribute to the women we love, but also to the many people this year who have cared for us (since mothering comes in many forms). If you're a mom, a professional caretaker, or an essential worker—or if you’ve just now decided to tell your loved ones afresh how much they mean to you—we invite you to use the code CARE in checkout to get 50% off the ticket price for this event. Please also consider getting a ticket for a loved one and buying Irv’s and Joyce’s books—you’ll be glad you did!Each ticket includes private access to the event recording for 10 days following the live event.Just added: join our exclusive <a href="https://www.baybookfest.org/2021schedule/afterparty/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">afterparty</a> with Irvin!Sponsored by the Mechanics' Institute

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Love, Loss, and Meaning in Life: Irvin Yalom with Joyce Carol Oates

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Love, Loss, and Meaning in Life: Irvin Yalom with Joyce Carol Oates

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