Award-winning, blueberry-growing essayist, poet, feaured at Writers Read event on Monday, Feb. 10

Jim Minick, author of the award-winning The Blueberry Years, A Memoir of Farm and Family, will be at EMU on Monday, Feb. 10, for two events, culminating in the first Writers Read Author of the semester at 6:30 p.m., in EMU’s Common Grounds Coffeehouse in University Commons.

Earlier that day, at 4 p.m. in Suter Science Center room 104, Minick will talk about creating and operating one of the first certified-organic, pick-your-own blueberry farms in his home region, the topic of his memoir.

Both events are free and open to the public, though a donation for the evening event will be welcomed.wr3-jim-minick

Minick has authored two books of poetry, Her Secret Song and Burning Heaven, a collection of essays, Finding a Clear Path, and edited of All There Is to Keep by Rita Riddle. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in many publications, including Oxford American, Shenandoah, Orion, San Francisco Chronicle, Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Conversations with Wendell Berry, The Sun, and Wind.

Minick’s book of poems, Burning Heaven, was awarded the “Jefferson Cup” for best book of the year by the Virginia College Bookstore Association in 2008.

Minick teaches at Radford University and Converse College and is the Fred Chappell Fellow at University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where he’s pursuing an MFA.

Sign-language interpretation is available upon request.