Funny, sad, and tender… Mimi Herman has written a novel that possesses a true and hard won understanding of the South. —David Sedaris, New York Times best-selling author of Happy-Go-Lucky

Join the Georgia Center for the Book and Eagle Eye Books for an evening with Mimi Herman, who'll be discussing her new novel The Kudzu Queen. Based on historical facts, The Kudzu Queen unravels a tangle of sexuality, power, race, and kudzu through the voice of an irresistibly delightful (and mostly honest) narrator.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested, but not required.

If you would like to pre-purchase a copy of The Kudzu Queen from Eagle Eye Books to be picked up at the event, please clock the following link. PURCHASE The Kudzu Queen

We are committed to a safe environment. For the safety of our invited speakers, staff, and all attendees, we respectfully request that masks be worn in the venue for the duration of the event. We are currently limiting the capacity of the Auditorium to promote social distancing, so registration is required. We encourage groups to sit together, but please only sit in the designated rows, and keep a respectful distance from other attendees.

About the Book

Fifteen-year-old Mattie Lee Watson dreams of men, not boys. So when James T. Cullowee, the Kudzu King, arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu—claiming that it will improve the soil, feed cattle at almost no cost, even cure headaches—Mattie is ready. Mr. Cullowee is determined to sell the entire county on the future of kudzu, and organizes a kudzu festival, complete with a beauty pageant. Mattie is determined to be crowned Kudzu Queen and capture the attentions of the Kudzu King. As she learns more about Cullowee, however, she discovers that he, like the kudzu he promotes, has a dark and predatory side. When Mattie finds she is not the only one threatened, she devises a plan to bring him down. Based on historical facts, The Kudzu Queen unravels a tangle of sexuality, power, race, and kudzu through the voice of an irresistibly delightful (and mostly honest) narrator.

About the Author

Mimi Herman is a Kennedy Center teaching artist, director of the United Arts Council Arts Integration Institute and co-director of Writeaways writing workshops in France, Italy, and New Mexico. She has taught in the Masters of Education programs at Lesley University, served as the 2017 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate, and been an associate editor for Teaching Artist Journal. Since 1990, she has engaged over 25,000 students and teachers with her warm and intuitive teaching style.

Mimi holds a BA from the University of North Carolina and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson. She is the author of The Kudzu Queen, A Field Guide to Human Emotions, Logophilia, and The Art of Learning. Her writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Shenandoah, Crab Orchard Review, The Hollins Critic, Main Street Rag, Prime Number Magazine, and other journals. Mimi has performed her fiction and poetry at many venues including Why There Are Words in Sausalito, Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh and Symphony Space in New York City.

About the Bookseller:

Founded in 2003 by Doug and Diane Robinson and joined by co-owner Charles Robinson, Eagle Eye Book Shop is a general bookstore dealing in newly published books, used books and book related merchandise. We are located at the corner of Clairmont and N. Decatur Roads, less than a mile from the City of Decatur and Emory University. With about 5,000 square feet all readers will find something to their liking. Eagle Eye hosts over 150 author events per year and has many signed and collectible books, a very strong general fiction and sci-fi section, Southern fiction and history.

Eagle Eye Book Shop