“Enough: Vashon Women in Conversation,” an event billed as part panel discussion and part community gathering with local author Shauna Ahern, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
The event is in part an exploration of themes raised in Ahern’s latest book, a collection of personal essays called “Enough: Notes From a Woman Who Has Finally Found It.”
According to a press release, attendees at the event will have chances to ponder such questions as “Do you feel good enough in the world?” and “Have you had enough?”
The evening is co-presented by Women Hold the Key, a company founded by islander Tina Shattuck, that aims to support women’s empowerment organizations on Vashon and beyond.
Ahern is the well-known blogger behind the James Beard award-winning narrative cookbook, “Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.”
Her new collection of essays deals with the way she has processed — in an outwardly successful life — stressors of her family life and deep-seated insecurities stemming from a difficult childhood.
Upon the book’s publication last year, a review in The Washington Post called it a “beautiful new memoir” that offered insight about the steps Ahern has taken to bring her “closer to things that matter: writing, creativity, time with family and community, the cultivation of gratitude and spirituality — as well as all the ways these things are bound up in and amplified by great food.”
The first half of Ahern’s presentation of “Enough” will take place in VCA’s lobby, which will be filled with tables of Vashon women-centered nonprofits, visual artists, musicians, and food available for purchase from island female chefs. The second half of the evening will be in the theater, where Ahern will lead a panel discussion with a group she described as “fierce, funny Vashon women who are willing to dive deep and share their lives with candor.” There will also be book readings, music, and what VCA called a “communal experience” for the attendees.
“Enough” starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, with a 7:30 p.m. panel discussion in VCA’s Kay White Hall. Tickets, priced at $20.20, can be purchased in advance at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
