Claudia Kalb, author of Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers, on tour April/May 2021

About Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers

• Publisher: National Geographic (April 27, 2021)
• Hardcover: 368 pages

Yo-Yo Ma’s ear for music emerged not long after he learned to walk. By the age of seven, he was performing for President Kennedy; by fifteen he debuted at Carnegie Hall. Maya Angelou, by contrast, didn’t write her iconic memoir, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, until she was 40. What propels some individuals to reach extraordinary creative heights in the earliest years of life while others discover their passions decades later? Are prodigies imbued with innate talent? How often are midlife inspirations triggered by propitious events, like Julia Child’s first French meal at the age of 36? Do late bloomers reveal their talents because their skills require life experience and contemplation?

Social Media

Please use the hashtag #SparkGenius, and tag @tlcbooktours and @claudiakalbwriter.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

About Claudia Kalb

CLAUDIA KALB is an award-winning author and journalist who reports on a wide variety of health and science topics. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder: Inside the Minds of History’s Great Personalities. A former senior writer at Newsweek who has also contributed to Smithsonian and Scientific American, Kalb has written cover stories for National Geographic that explore genius through the lens of biography, history, culture, and science. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Find out more about Claudia at her website, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.