“For more and more of us, home has really less to do with a piece of soil, than you could say, with a piece of soul.” - Pico Iyer

As a self-described multinational soul on a multinational globe, Iyer is one of the finest travel writers of far-flung places. In his latest, Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells, he embraces the impermanence of life. Iyer uses the season of autumn to deftly illustrate “how to hold on to the things we love even though we know that we and they are dying.”

Iyer leads us through the year following his father-in-law's death, introducing us to the people who populate his days: his ailing mother-in-law, who often forgets that her husband has died; his absent brother-in-law, who severed ties with his family years ago but to whom Hiroko still writes letters; and the men and women in his ping-pong club, who, many years his senior, traverse their autumn years in different ways.

This very special evening on May 17th will move you to take nothing for granted and view death as an affirmation of life.