Rayya Elias, brilliant soul, Detroit native (by way of Syria) and author of Harley Loco.

By way of introducing us to her good friend Rayya Elias, moderator Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the international best-seller Eat, Pray, Love and numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction) spoke of her own introduction to Elias as a referral to a hairdresser from a friend gently letting her know that, “No one can look at you because you look like Art Garfunkel.” This drew the first of many laughs from the crowd assembled to hear Elias read excerpts from her debut novel, Harley Loco, released by Penguin Publishing on April 4th.

Gilbert was warm, funny and sincere in her introduction.

The memoir details Elias’s life, beginning from her family’s immigration from Syria when she was age 7, and following her twists and turns through the Detroit post-punk scene, and eventually to Lower East Side New York. Running parallel with her search for herself and for a sense of belonging, this journey took Elias through the depths of addiction, homelessness, incarceration, but also redemption, creative catharsis and unfathomable triumph over what she referred to during the Q&A session that followed as “my beast.”

Unable to limit herself to a single medium, Elias additionally shared her great talent in music.

In person, Elias is a radiant presence, and the excerpts she chose kept the audience—including the society 100 Women for the Arts, which organized the event at the Detroit Film Theatre—in rapt attention. Her stories ranged from the terror her family of disoriented immigrants experienced at the hands of demonic trick-or-treaters on their first week in Royal Oak, to the time her sister came to New York to try and lure her away from the tent city where she was squatting in Tompkins Square Park, to the day she established street credit on Riker’s Island, an exploit that earned her the nickname that is the “title track,” as she calls it.

Harley Loco promises to be an riveting read, with broad appeal to anyone who can appreciate the beauty in honesty.

A multi-talented spirit with a background in music (you can hear some of her music on her website), a deep-rooted love of Detroit, and the kind of compassionate appreciation for life that can only be born out of walking through the abyss, Elias has crafted a debut effort that is outstandingly written, wrenchingly expressive and as courageous as her life story. The areas of interest it touches on are too multifaceted to list; I’ll go ahead and say it’s a must-read, across the board.

Elias, signing books following the reading.