Join us as Anthony Bourdain’s longtime director and producer Tom Vitale speaks about his new book with author John Birdsall and shares behind-the-scenes stories and secrets from over a decade of traveling around the world with one of TV’s most beloved and complicated figures in "In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind-the-Scenes with Anthony Bourdain."

Tom Vitale began his career in television at the age of twenty-two. Desperately afraid of flying, meeting new people, germs, and fish, he would somehow go on to spend much of the next sixteen years confronting his fears while traveling the world with Anthony Bourdain.

Tom’s work directing and producing nearly 100 episodes of No Reservations, The Layover, and CNN’s Parts Unknown has rewarded him with five Emmys, and most importantly the privilege of having got to know Tony.

John Birdsall is a Tucson-based food and culture writer, author of "The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard," a finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award and the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, and an Amazon Top 100 Best Book of the Year. He is the recipient of two James Beard Awards for food and culture writing, His bylines include The New York Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, Bon Appétit, and more.

This event is sponsored by Hacienda at the Canyon.

Authors In Conversation with Director, Producer and Author Tom Vitale with John Birdsall