REVIEWS:

From The Root, A Memoir and A Philosophy for Balance in Our World, By Taja Sevelle.

     “Taja’s experience and insights provide us with an important approach to bringing our world into balance.”

– Nile Rodgers, Music Producer, Author.

     “Taja shares her insight, experiences and research in a clear and concise way, leading the reader to the realization that a world of compassion and empathy is not only possible but probable and easily within our reach. At a time in history when these goals are essential, this book is a refreshing must read!”

-Shawn King, Actress/Singer and Larry King, TV/Radio Host formerly with CNN.

     “Taja Sevelle weaves a tapestry of her amazing life with a powerful plan for recovery and balance. The presence of practical and actionable steps to better our health, our communities and the planet make this required reading to reclaim the harmony in which we deserve to live and raise families.”

-Joel Kahn, M.D. Clinical Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Author of “The Whole Heart Solution.

     “Taja Sevelle’s vision of a world united by global farming provides a prime example of how small steps on a local level can translate to big gains in our global environment.”

– Professor David Lea, Department of Earth Science, University of California.

Recording Artist, Taja Sevelle, who signed her first record deal with the legendary artist, Prince, outlines a courageous plan for bringing the world into balance, and shares the reasons she put her music career on the “back burner” to start the nonprofit organization Urban Farming®. Her blueprint for balance includes recapturing trillions of dollars of wasted capital, and reallocating it into areas that will better serve both our economically challenged communities, as well as our economically vibrant communities. With chronicles of risk-taking vision, extensive research, and rare personal experiences, Taja offers a formula for integrity in business, personal, social, and political relationships, as well as world affairs. She shares how fundamental “root” principles are essential for the restoration and balance of mental, physical, and spiritual health within our global family. 

While recording her third CD for Sony Records in Detroit, Taja saw widespread poverty and vast stretches of unused land—a memory she would not forget. With three community gardens and a global vision to “Create an Abundance of Food for All in Our Generation,” Taja started Urban Farming, which went on to ignite a global gardening movement. Within six years, there were over 56,000 gardens within the Urban Farming Global Food Chain® Urban Farming has been featured in over 30,000 media stories including The Ellen Show, Good Morning America, The Montel Williams Show, the BBC, CNN, FOX, NPR, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

From The Root vibrates with the inspiration, innovation, and perseverance of a brilliant and passionate artist who put her first love—music—on hold to address some tough global issues. 

 “One Last Lunch is a powerful, surprise-filled read that is as charming and funny as it is moving.” —Helen Mirren

Taja Sevelle’s lunch with Prince takes place in the Beverly Hills Hotel in California, and gives the reader a window into a heartwarming relationship between the two close friends.

Charming and uplifting, the fabled lunch is peppered with Taja’s selections of real-life shared moments with Prince, revealing humor, social awareness, and of course, menu proclivities.

One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us (Abrams Press; May 12, 2020; U.S $25.00; Hardcover.) Available also on Amazon

Who wouldn’t love the opportunity to sit down, break bread, and just talk? Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to ask those unasked questions, or share those unvoiced feelings? In One Last Lunch, Heller, an acclaimed memoirist herself, has asked friends and family of authors, artists, musicians, comedians, actors, and others, to recount one such fantastic repast. Kirk Douglas asks his father what he thought of him becoming an actor. Taja Sevelle asks Prince piercing questions. Sara Moulton dines with her friend Julia Child. Richard Lewis has lunch with Jonathan Winters. These richly imagined stories are endlessly revealing, about the subject, the writer, the passage of time, regret, gratitude, and the power of enduring love.

Conversations in the book include:

·         Daniel Bellow (son) and Saul Bellow

·         Carinthia West (friend, collaborator) and David Bowie

·         Lee Clow (collaborator, friend) and Steve Jobs

·         Elizabeth Mailer (daughter) and Norman Mailer

·         Taja Sevelle (protégé, close friend) and Prince

·         Rain Pryor (daughter) and Richard Pryor

·         Cameron West (acquaintance) and Robin Williams

·         Richard Lewis (close comedy pal) and Jonathan Winters

·         Erica Heller (daughter) and Joseph Heller (Author of Catch 22.)

About the Author

Erica Heller is the author of the memoir Yossarian Slept Here; a novel, Splinters; and 300 Ways to Say No to a Man, a humor book illustrated by Seymour Chwast. She has contributed to the New York Observer, Huffington Post, and other publications.