In collaboration with our friends and neighbors at Allday Pizza, First Light is honored to welcome Hetty Lui McKinnon to Austin.

The event will begin with an author reception from 6–6:30 p.m., followed by a conversation about LINGER and Hetty's cooking. Tickets include a copy of the cookbook and a reserved seat. Unreserved seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Free RSVPs are also encouraged.

Allday will also be offering a specialty slice inspired by LINGER. Keep your eyes open (and your mouth watering) for more info.

About the book

From her salad-delivery days in Sydney to her current career as a food writer and bestselling cookbook author in New York, Hetty Lui McKinnon has long known the power of salads to connect and create community. Salads are meant to be shared; they are what you bring to a gathering of friends or family, the ultimate comfort food.

With LINGER, Hetty has come full circle. Rather than delivering salads to members of her community, this time, she has invited friends into her home, to share salads, sweets and stories around her dining room table. LINGER documents these intimate gatherings, with vegetable-laden, loosely seasonal menus enjoyed and photographed in real time.

These salads are not just piles of leafy greens—they are beautiful, rich creations. In fact, one of Hetty’s salad rules is that salads don’t always need to have leaves. Another salad rule? Anything can be a salad.

With more than 100 inventive recipes for meal-worthy salads, smaller bites and simple sweets, Hetty invites you to become a part of an unforgettable shared experience of community, food and friendship.‍

About the chefs

Hetty Lui McKinnon is a Chinese Australian cook and food writer. She is the author of five bestselling cookbooks, including her genre-defining Community; Neighborhood; Family; To Asia,With Love; and, most recently, Tenderheart, which won a James Beard Award and an IACP Award in 2024. Hetty is a regular contributor to New York Times Cooking and ABC Lifestyle and writes the popular weekly newsletter To Vegetables, With Love. Born and raised in Sydney, she now resides in Brooklyn, New York.

She'll be joined in conversation by Dan Sorg, co-founder of Allday Pizza. Dan is a New Jersey native who spent most of his career in New York City as a creative professional. During the pandemic he migrated to Austin, Texas where he originally started Sammataro before leaving with his founding partner, Townsend Smith, to create Allday Pizza.