About Jacki and Eric

Since leaving NPR after a three-plus decade, award winning career, Jacki has explored what led her to NPR in the first place: writing. In 1997, she published Daughter of the Queen of Sheba,  a memoir about growing up with her colorfully bipolar mother. The New York Times hailed it as a memoir classic, and it was optioned as a film with Meryl Streep and Gywneth Paltrow. It was published in nine foreign editions.

But writing is solo, and newsrooms collaborative-- and she missed that. So she began founding writing workshops in Ireland, Maryland, and Arizona. Having interviewed thousands of people, reported from the Middle East off/on for 20 years, and worked with various renowned artists and writers, it was a good opportunity to impart what she’s learned about how to tell your story.

She is also a board member of the Cheuse Writing Center at George Mason University, a Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism, and working on a new memoir, about transformation, called “Tell Me Something Good.” You can see a recent live reading here. 

(for more info, please go to JackiLyden.com)

Eric Weiner is an award-winning journalist, best-selling author and compulsive traveler. His books include The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the World’s Happiest Places and The Geography of Genius: Lessons From the World’s Most Creative Places. His new book, The Socrates Express: Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers will be published by Simon & Schuster in August. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages. Eric is a former foreign correspondent for NPR. He is a regular contributor to The Washington Post, AFAR, among other publications.  Find out more at EricWeiner.com.