The Midwest Baking Watch Party has been canceled. Please register to watch on Zoom, wherever you are: https://bit.ly/ShaunaSever

Calling all baking enthusiasts. Join our watch party and view this baking-themed virtual event with fellow bakers --- in the Makerplace Kitchen, with treats! Space is limited for the in-person viewing.

Join Shauna Sever, cookbook author, TV and radio contributor, and daughter of the great Midwest, for this special Illinois Libraries Present holiday season event. Shauna will share her love of food, baking, and some tips to make your holiday gatherings delicious. Louisa Chu will join Shauna in conversation.

Shauna Sever is the author of four baking-centric cookbooks. Her fourth, Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland, was named a Best Baking Cookbooks of 2019 by The New York Times. She has also contributed food stories and recipes for The Wall Street Journal, Food52, Bon Appetit, The Kitchn, Real Simple, Midwest Living, Food and Wine, O Magazine, and many more. Though her career began in broadcast journalism, she now talks about pie instead of Hollywood, using the same skill set for her regular appearances on TODAY Show and Food Network. After 12 years of California living, Shauna and her family returned to Chicago, where she now bakes, writes and is always on the hunt for great old-school Midwestern bakeries.

Louisa Chu was named a Chicago Tribune food critic in 2021. She received a James Beard Foundation nomination for the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award in 2022. Born in Hong Kong, but raised in Chicago, Chu lived in Los Angeles, then moved to Paris, where she graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. She staged at El Bulli in Spain, then worked as a correspondent for Gourmet, a chef in Alaska and a fixer for Anthony Bourdain. Chu joined the Tribune in 2016 as a reporter, and currently co-hosts the Chewing podcast.

This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events.