photo: Oriana Koren
Kelly Fields is a chef and author of The Good Book of Southern Baking (Lorena Jones Books, 2020). Fields has traveled extensively and worked internationally throughout her career, garnering national recognition at the helm of her former restaurant, Willa Jean. Fields was awarded the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Pastry Chef award in 2019. In addition, Fields has been featured in Saveur, Bon Appétit, National Geographic and Food & Wine among others.
In 2016 Eater New Orleans awarded Fields the “Chef of the Year” and “Reader’s Choice" Awards and Dessert Professional Magazine included Fields as one of the “Top Ten Pastry Chefs in North America.” She was featured in Garden & Gun Magazine's “Most Influential Women of the South," and listed in Southern Living Magazine as one of the “Five Best Kitchen Magicians of the South.”
Fields’ most recent achievement, The Good Book of Southern Baking, has been named one of the best cookbooks of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Bon Appétit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Garden & Gun, and The LA Times.
In her spare time, Fields enjoys traveling, reading, photography, fishing, and gardening. Her dogs, Kinney and Ruthie are always by her side and she can be found documenting their adventures and crimes on Instagram.