Three uncommonly good poets gather for an evening of verse.
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Elizabeth Austen is the author of Every Dress a Decision (Blue Begonia Press, 2011), and two chapbooks, The Girl Who Goes Alone(Floating Bridge Press, 2010) and Where Currents Meet (one of four winners of the 2010 Toadlily Press chapbook award and part of the quartet Sightline). Her poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac and Verse Daily, in journals including the Los Angeles Review, Bellingham Review and Willow Springs, and in anthologies including A Face to Meet the Faces and Poets Against the War.
She served as the Washington state “roadshow poet” and is currently the
literary producer for KUOW 94.9 public radio in Seattle. She makes her
living at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she offers retreats and
poetry/journaling workshops for the staff.
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Katrina Vandenberg is the author of two books of poems, The Alphabet Not Unlike the World and Atlas, both published by Milkweed Editions, and with Todd Boss, co-author of a chapbook, On Marriage. Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in The Southern Review, The American Scholar, Orion, Post Road, Poets and Writers,
and other magazines. She has received fellowships from the Fulbright,
Bush, and McKnight Foundations; been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the
Sewanee Writers' Conference; and held residencies at the Amy Clampitt
House, the Poetry Center of Chicago, and The MacDowell Colony. She is
Writer in Residence at Hamline University, and lives four blocks from
campus with her husband, novelist John Reimringer, and their daughter
Anna.
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Kristin Naca is the author of Bird Eating Bird. Her poems have appeared in Bloom, Harpur Palate, Indiana Review, Prairie Schooner, Octopus Magazine, Seattle Review, Poetry Northwest, and Rio Grande Review.
She teaches poetry and creative writing at Macalester College and is a
member of Sandra Cisneros’ Macondo Workshop in San Antonio, Texas.
Learn how to go back to the land--from three people who’ve already done it.
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Atina Diffley’s memoir Turn Here Sweet Corn is a master class in organic farming, a lesson in entrepreneurship, a love story, and a legal thriller, all in one book.
Atina
Diffley is an organic vegetable farmer who now educates consumers,
farmers, and policymakers about organic farming through the consulting
business Organic Farming Works LLC, which she owns with her husband,
Martin. From 1973 through 2007, the Diffleys owned and operated Gardens
of Eagan, one of the first certified organic produce farms in the
Midwest.
In
her story of working the land, Atina Diffley reminds us that we live in
relationships--with the earth, plants and animals, families and
communities. A memoir of making these essential relationships work in
the face of challenges from weather to corporate politics, Turn Here Sweet Corn is
a David-versus-Goliath tale. Diffley gives readers everything from
expert instruction in organic farming to an entrepreneur’s manual on how
to grow a business to a legal thriller about battling corporate
arrogance to a love story about a single mother falling for a good,
big-hearted man.
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Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers' Movement
showcases the perspectives of first-generations farmers. The
inspirational stories in this book speak to the challenges and rewards
of earning a living off the land, embracing risks, and feeding local
communities--all while maintaining a profound respect for the earth.
Contributing essayists Katie Godfrey and Andrew French will share their
experiences farming in the upper Midwest.
Andrew
French and his wife Khaiti operate a a small vegetable CSA and raise
ducks, chickens, turkeys, goats, pigs, and rabbits on 39 acres in the
rolling hills of west central Wisconsin. Andrew wrote the essay titled
"Two Pigs and True Love".
Katie
Godfrey spent three years working on various organic farms in the
Driftless Region of Wisconsin and is currently a Minnesota GreenCorps
member at Saint Paul Parks and Recreation where she recently completed a
land inventory to find vacant land for urban food production. Katie's
essay is called "The Gift".
The
Greenhorns is a grassroots non-profit organization made up of young
farmers and many collaborators. Their mission is to recruit, promote and
support the new generation of young farmers in this ample and able
twentyfirst century America. For more information, visit
www.thegreenhorns.net.
"For Nansen, it was going to the
wilderness, but Brenda knew how to get there just by "dawdling" and
"puttering." She'd also say, "woodling" and "doodling."
Common Good Books has signed and personalized editions of Garrison Keillor's new poetry anthology, Good Poems, American Places. This collection is a splendid road trip across the USA with the perfect guide riding shotgun and a welcome addition to anyone's library.
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