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

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

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Ages: Adult

A guide to the art of journaling—and a meditation on the central questions of life—by the bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms, with contributions from Hanif Abdurraqib, Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, George Saunders, and many more

“The Book of Alchemy proves on every page that a creative response can be found in every moment of life—regardless of what is happening in the world.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

From the time she was young, Suleika Jaouad has kept a journal. She’s used it to mark life's biggest occasions and to weather its most ferocious storms. Journaling has buoyed her through illness, heartbreak, and the deepest uncertainty. And she is not alone: for so many people, keeping a journal is an essential tool for navigating both the personal peaks and valleys and the collective challenges of modern life. More than ever, we need a space for puzzling through.

In The Book of Alchemy, Suleika explores the art of journaling and shares everything she’s learned about how this life-altering practice can help us tap into that mystical trait that exists in every human: creativity. She has gathered wisdom from one hundred writers, artists, and thinkers in the form of essays and writing prompts. Their insights invite us to inhabit a more inspired life.

A companion through challenging times, The Book of Alchemy is broken into themes ranging from new beginnings to love, loss, and rebuilding. Whether you’re a lifelong journaler or new to the practice, this book gives you the tools, direction, and encouragement to engage with discomfort, ask questions, peel back the layers, dream daringly, uncover your truest self—and in doing so, to learn to hold the unbearably brutal and astonishingly beautiful facts of life in the same palm.

Suleika Jaouad (pronounced Su-lake-uh Ja-wad) is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, author, artist, and advocate. She documented her odyssey of illness, healing, and self-discovery in the instant New York Times bestselling memoir Between Two Kingdoms, which has been translated into over twenty languages. In her second bestselling book, The Book of Alchemy, she meditates on the central questions of life and distills how a creative practice can help us transmute the seemingly commonplace or difficult parts of living into something meaningful, useful, and even beautiful.

After a leukemia diagnosis at age 22 cut short Jaouad’s career aspirations as a foreign correspondent, she began writing her widely read New York Times column and video series “Life, Interrupted” from the front lines of her hospital bed. Since then, she has become an inspiring guide for those living with illness and navigating life’s many interruptions.

Along with her husband, the musician Jon Batiste, she is the subject of the Oscar-nominated Netflix documentary, American Symphony, which is a portrait of two artists during a year of extreme highs and lows and a meditation on art, love, and the creative process. Born in New York City to a Tunisian father and a Swiss mother, Jaouad attended The Juilliard School's pre-college program for the double bass. She earned her BA in Near Eastern studies with highest honors from Princeton University and an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College.

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