Updated Friday 11/3 at 10:30 a.m.

Unfortunately, Kate Lebo had to cancel her festival appearance. This event will feature Crystal Ligori and Stacey Mei Yan Fong in conversation.

Two new books that are much more than simply cookbooks (although they are very good cookbooks) take us on a journey through the meaning of pie in America — and how to make one. It’s easy as pie, after all. Featuring Stacey Mei Yan Fong, author of 50 States, 50 Pies and Kate Lebo, author of the newly revised and expanded Pie School, and moderated by OPB’s Crystal Ligori.

There’s nothing quite so American as a slice of pie. That’s what Stacey Mei Yan Fong learned growing up in Singapore and Hong Kong, watching movies set in the United States and dreaming about taking a road trip from coast to coast, stopping at diners along the way. After college in Savannah and a decade as a fashion designer, Stacey turned her passion for home baking into an ode to her chosen home: honoring the people, places, and flavors that made her love this country with a pie for each state.

Every pie is an opportunity to celebrate–or defend your home state’s honor, presented in a beautifully packaged cookbook. Bake your way through and you’ll taste the full range of flavors that America has to offer. With recipes organized like the all-American roadtrip we’ve all wanted to complete, this book is a journey through the wonders of pie for bakers of all skill levels–and the story of one extraordinary woman who chose to make this place her home. A deliciously unique love letter in pie crust to every state—a delicious portrait of the country with more than 50 recipes for extraordinary pies that taste just like home.

“This book is everything we need more of right now. Thank you, Stacey, for capturing the heart and soul of American baking on every delicious page!”—Cheryl Day, author of Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking

Since the first publication of Pie School in 2014, Kate Lebo has inspired bakers everywhere with her witty and encouraging lessons on all things flaky and sweet. This completely revised and updated edition includes 20 brand-new pies—including two new chapters, one on savory meat or vegetable pies and one on “difficult” (lesser-known) fruit pies—plus updates to the originals (80 in total). Her proven process to achieve flakiness and structure, along with recipes for delicious, inspired fillings, will give home cooks all the skills they need to make the best pie of their lives. Beyond the bake, Lebo also invites us to ruminate on the social history, the meaning, and the place of pie in the pantheon of favorite foods.

“Kate Lebo’s prose is rich and spiky, her voice spiced with wit and undergirded with tenderness; her work is pithy, well-researched, and always profoundly knowledgeable. Sure, she writes about food, but she’s really writing about humanity, her own and all of ours. To call this ‘a book about pie’ is like calling Moby-Dick ‘a book about a whale.’”
—Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of The Great Man and Blue Plate Special

Portland Book Festival General Admission Passes are required for entry into all events. Passes are $15 in advance and $25 day of Festival. Youth 17 & under get in FREE. All full-priced General Admission Passes include a $5 book fair voucher and entry into Portland Art Museum. Passes admit attendees to the Festival; individual events are first-come, first-served. More info here.