Authors Rayya Elias and Elizabeth Gilbert at Detroit Institute of Arts, 4/18

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) hosts author Rayya Elias, who will read from her new book, HARLEY LOCO: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side. The event is on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. Following the reading, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, will join Elias for a discussion, and both authors will sign books. The event is hosted by 100 Women for the Arts, and is free with required advance reservations. To reserve a seat, visit www.dia.org/rayyaelias.

HARLEY LOCO is a dynamic and moving chronicle of Elias' hard-won search for self, during which she came to realize that no matter what, people can eventually change their lives for the better without regret for the past. The book is published by Viking and is scheduled to be in stores in early April.

In Elizabeth Gilbert's introduction to the book, she says Elias had "experienced wealth, homelessness, brushes with fame, rehab (and more rehab), a million blown second chances, a dozen broken hearts, and one bloody-knuckled, ultimate spiritual redemption."

Born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1960, Elias left with her family at the age of seven to escape rising religious and political tensions and settled first in Royal Oak, then in Warren, Michigan, only to discover herself newly embedded in a different kind of hostile landscape. Bullied in school for everything from not being cool enough (her mother made her clothes) to her language barrier, and caught between the worlds of her traditional family and her tough American classmates, she rebelled early.

Elias moved to New York City in 1983 to become a musician and supported herself with her uncommon talent for cutting hair. At the height of the punk and new wave movements, life on the Lower East Side was full of adventure, creative inspiration and temptation. But before long, her passionate affairs with lovers of both sexes went awry, her drug recreation became drug addiction, and if she wasn't living on the streets, she was in jail.

HARLEY LOCO chronicles Elias' early life, her time in Michigan, and her path from harrowing loss and darkness to a place of peace and redemption. Elias lives in New York where she is a musician, hairdresser, filmmaker, and also sells real estate to make some extra money. She has been clean since August 8, 1997.

100 Women for the Arts is hosting a reception with Elias and Gilbert at 6 p.m. with proceeds going to the DIA's operating endowment. Tickets are $300 and include cocktails, light hors d'oeuvres, a signed copy of HARLEY LOCO and valet parking. This event brings together the area's best and brightest female business and community leaders to support the growth of the DIA's endowment to a sustainable level. For tickets, call 313-833-4005 or visitwww.dia.org/rayyaelias.

Eat Pray Love

Elizabeth Gilbert. Credit: Jennifer Bailey

Rayya Elias. Credit: Lisa A Ross