Pie and Whiskey! In a Book! And on Stage! (And in your Tummy.)

We are always looking for new and interesting ways to celebrate books and the written word, and this year we may have just come up with one of the funnest ways ever.

Sam Ligon and Kate Lebo began a reading series called Pie and Whiskey in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago. The idea was simple enough: authors and poets write pieces about pie, or whiskey, or both, and read them in front of a crowd. The genius stroke is that every member of the audience receives a slice of homemade pie and a shot of whiskey on the way in.

Like I say: GENIUS.

The idea was so successful that it gave birth to a book, which was published this fall. It features a host of fabulous writers, including Anthony Doerr, Steve Almond, Jess Walter, and Unbound alum Nina Furstenau, whose last book won Les Dames d’Escoffier International Grand Prize and MFK Fisher Book Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing. Here's a recent article in Salon that profiles Sam and Kate.  

We're delighted to announce that both Sam and Kate will be coming to Unbound in April. They'll be discussing the art of writing about food (along with Robin Sloan, Nina, and others) on Saturday, but they will also be hosting Unbound's very own Pie and Whiskey reading event to kick off the festival, on Thursday, April 19th, at Orr Street Studios. And yes, there will be pie, and yes, there will be whiskey, and yes, there will be brilliant writers reading pieces written especially for the occasion. As with all Unbound events, Pie and Whiskey will be free to attend, but (for obvious reasons) we anticipate that this will be hugely popular event, and so we will be creating an Eventbrite page nearer the time where people can reserve tickets.

Watch, as they say, this space.

Kate Lebo

Sam Ligon