Meet Tom Vitale, author of In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain

( In person only)

Anthony Bourdain's long time director and producer takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the insanity of filming television in some of the most volatile places in the world and what it was like to work with a legend.

Over the course of more than a decade traveling together, Tony became a boss, a friend, a hero and, sometimes, a tormentor.In the Weeds takes readers behind the scenes to reveal not just the insanity that went into filming in some of the most far-flung and volatile parts of the world, but what Tony was like unedited and off-camera. From the outside, the job looked like an all-expenses-paid adventure to places like Borneo, Vietnam, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Libya. What happened off-camera was far more interesting than what made it to air. The more things went wrong, the better it was for the show. Fortunately, everything fell apart constantly.

Tom Vitale began his career in food and travel television at the age of 22. Fresh out of school, desperately afraid of flying, meeting new people and far from what might be termed a foodie, he was an unlikely candidate for the job. Yet, somehow, he would spend the next sixteen years with Anthony Bourdain collaborating on over 100 episodes of A Cook’s Tour, No Reservations, The Layover and CNN’s Parts Unknown. His work directing and producing rewarded him with 5 Emmy Awards and the adventure of a lifetime.