Book event

The Seeker and the Sage | Brigid Delaney in Conversation with Zoe Coyle

How Stoic principles can help us navigate the challenges of our divided, unstable world. Can the principles of Stoicism lead us to a peaceful, ‘good’ life?

We are all going to die, so how should we live?

A traumatised journalist is given a dream assignment – track down the mayor of a remote and mysterious town whose citizens are reported to be the happiest people on Earth.

Journeying into a harsh and inhospitable landscape, she overcomes many obstacles before arriving in Silver Springs, whose citizens live according to the ancient philosophy of Stoicism and where she has been granted three days to interview the mayor.

The journalist wants to know how to live a good life and be a good person when she returns to the chaos outside the valley. The mayor wants to protect his dominion from being tainted by the modern world.

In her bestseller, Reasons Not to Worry, Brigid Delaney explores the foundations of Stoicism and how you can apply them to your life. Now, in The Seeker and the Sage, she asks: how can the wisdom of this ancient philosophy apply to communities, and how can we create our own utopias in an increasingly troubled world?

Brigid Delaney has worked as a lawyer, journalist, travel writer and screenwriter and, most recently, as a speechwriter for two federal cabinet ministers. She is co-creator and associate producer of the Netflix smash hit Wellmania and wrote the long-running and popular Guardian Australia column ‘Brigid Delaney’s Diary’. Her previous books include This Restless Life, Wild Things, Wellmania and Reasons Not to Worry, which has been published in North America and the United Kingdom and translated into nineteen languages.

Pilot Light Founder and Director Zoë Coyle, is an author, leadership facilitator, MC and communications training leader, with experience that spans over 20 years. She is globally regarded in both the corporate and private sectors for her work in creating transformational change; and is one of Asia Pacific’s leading facilitators of Dr Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead™ Programme. She was chosen as 1 of 400 people worldwide to be trained by Brené in Texas.

Zoë has undertaken trauma training with the Blue Knot Foundation, and also graduated from NIDA with a Bachelor of Performing Arts. Her experience intersects corporate, coaching, writing, directing, acting, and charity work, with each area enabling her to bring a wide breadth of knowledge and deep insight to her work. In 2020 she signed a two book deal with Ultimo Press with her first fiction novel ‘Where the Light Gets In’ released in 2022, and her second novel ‘The Dangers Of Female Provocation released in May 2023. She is also an accredited coach, refreshing her skills of several decades with Better Up in 2024.

Join Brigid and Zoe at the Afterword Cafe for a philosophical discussion and stoicism clinic.