Jim Minick Book Signing May 13, 2011

Virginia author Jim Minick will be signing copies of his memoir, The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family (Thomas Dunne, hardcover, $27.99), at Fiction Addiction on Friday, May 13th, from 2-4 pm.

The Blueberry Years is a mouthwatering and delightful memoir based on Jim Minick's experiences as an organic blueberry farmer. This story of one couple, one farm, and one thousand blueberry bushes transports readers so that they experience the joys and frustrations of creating and operating one of the mid-Atlantic's first certified-organic, pick-your-own blueberry farms. Written by a farmer who is also a poet, The Blueberry Years follows in the vein of The Omnivore's Dilemma or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, where lyrical writing captures a well-told story about food, family, and the choices we make with every bite.
For more than a decade, the author and his wife planned, planted, pruned, and picked, filling their lives with blueberries. And every summer, they opened their fields to hundreds of people who came to harvest blueberries. These pickers shared blueberry-flavored moonshine and sober religion, warm hugs and cool hats, and always bushels of stories.
To give a larger context to this one farm's story, Minick includes brief chapters on national issues such as organic foods, farmers' markets, and the many problems caused by industrial agriculture. He also includes short interludes on all things blueberry, like the fruit's many health benefits or the blueberry in song, literature, and film. Ultimately, though, this book tells the story of a young couple pursuing their blueberry dream.

Jim Minick, in addition to The Blueberry Years, has also written a collection of essays, Finding a Clear Path, two books of poetry, Her Secret Song and Burning Heaven, and he edited All There Is to Keep by Rita Riddle. In 2008, the Virginia College Bookstore Association awarded Burning Heaven the Jefferson Cup for best book of the year. Minick has won awards from the Appalachian Writers Association, Appalachian Heritage, Now and Then Magazine, and Radford University, where he teaches writing and literature. He's garnered grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Minick's work has appeared in many publications, including Shenandoah, Orion, San Francisco Chronicle, Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Conversations with Wendell Berry, The Sun, Appalachian Journal, Bay Journal News, and Wind, and for thirteen years, he wrote a monthly column for The Roanoke Times New River Current. Currently, he's working on a novel about fire, healing, and Pennsylvania Dutch folklore. He lives, hikes, and gardens in the mountains of Virginia with his wife and four dogs.

Those who cannot make the signing can reserve a personalized copy of The Blueberry Years by contacting Fiction Addiction in advance at 864-675-0540 or at [email protected].

Official Website: http://www.fiction-addiction.com