One Book, Many Voices author to speak at Darlington

Over the past four years, Floyd County’s One Book, Many Voices reading initiative has brought renowned authors like Maya Angelou, Sherman Alexie, Paul Rusesabagina and Jay Asher to our community. This year, the program will focus on Kristin Kimball’s novel, “The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love.”

In her book, Kimball tells the story of her two loves: farming and her husband, Mark. She chronicles a trip to Pennsylvania for an interview, during which she meets Mark, a handsome farmer with a flair for culinary courtship. Driven by love and longing for a home, she follows him to northern New York, where they transform a neglected piece of land into a sustainable farm powered by horses and supported by year-round community-supported agriculture (CSA) memberships. While learning animal husbandry, nose-to-tail cooking and maple syrup and cheese making, Kimball also learns to cope with the harsh realities of an agrarian lifestyle.

She and Mark still live at Essex farm in northern New York with their two daughters. Prior to farming, she graduated from Harvard University and worked as a freelance writer, writing teacher and as an assistant to a literary agent in New York City.

Kimball will speak at Darlington School’s Huffman Athletic Center at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13. Tickets are $5 and will go on sale Sept. 16 at the Rome-Floyd County Library, the Greater Rome Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and Kroger. Darlington will also host the Many Voices community concert on Oct. 16 at in the Huffman Center (free admission).

Area students are encouraged to enter a writing contest sponsored by the Rome News-Tribune that is based on their experience reading “The Dirty Life.” Click here for more information on these and other upcoming One Book, Many Voices events.

Modeled after similar initiatives throughout the nation, One Book, Many Voices is designed to encourage reading, spark discussion and bring the community together through the reading of one great book. Organizers encourage local book clubs, schools, civic organizations and churches to host opportunities for discussion. Participating organizations and sponsors include 100 Black Men of Rome, Barnes & Noble, Berry College, Chieftains Museum, Darlington School, Floyd County Schools, Georgia Highlands College, Georgia Power, the Greater Rome Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Rome-Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth, Rome-Floyd Communities in Schools, Rome-Floyd County Library, and the Rome-News Tribune.