October 7, 1999
Noted author and poet Frances Mayes is the next guest of the Kentucky Author Forum on Oct. 7, 1999, in Louisville. Mayes will discuss her latest book, Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy (Broadway Books, 1999). USA Today reports "This beautifully written memoir about taking chances, living in Italy, loving a house, and always, the pleasures of food....delicious, read it first yourself."
Bella Tuscany chronicles Mayes' adventures in Cortona, Italy, where she is restoring a 19th-century farmhouse. It is a sequel to the 1996 memoir Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, which was on the bestseller list for 100 weeks.
Mayes, a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University, spent summers and sabbaticals saving the abandoned farmhouse named Bramasole. Meaning "to yearn for the sun," Bramasole links Mayes and her husband, poet Edward Kleinschmidt, to 2,600 years of Etruscan history and Mediterranean culture. An author of five volumes of poetry, Mayes writes rich, sensuous details of the Italian countryside, local citizens, workers and Tuscan dining. Filled with recipes, the book is a passionate account of her continuing love affair with Italy and the occasional heartbreaks of the villa's ongoing restoration.
Mayes is also the author of the college textbook The Discovery of Poetry. She was granted a national Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in 1988, and four of her autobiographical essays have been selected as "notable essays" by Robert Atwan, editor of Best American Essays.
At the evening forum, Mayes will be interviewed by Rebecca Bain, senior host/producer for WPLN, Nashville Public Radio. "Morning Edition" host for 13 years and news director for six, Mayes currently does a magazine-format program called "The Fine Print" and produces frequent local features for "Morning Edition." She is a journalism graduate of the University of Alabama and taught communications courses at Fisk University for 10 years.
Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999
University of LouisvilleEkstrom Library Auditorium, Belknap Campus
10 a.m. -- Frances Mayes will speak to U of L students, faculty and staff. Seats are available first-come, first-served. The event is free.
Kentucky Center for the Arts 5 Riverfront Plaza, Downtown Louisville
5 p.m. Brown-Forman/Hawley-Cooke Booksellers book sale and wine and cheese reception, lobby
6 p.m. Interview with Frances Mayes in the Bomhard Theatre
7 p.m. Q & A followed by book signing on Bittners' stage set
A $16 ticket includes the above three events. A limited number of discounted tickets of $5 each are available for U of L students, faculty and staff at the KCA box office --U of L photo ID is required.
8:15 p.m. Dinner with the author, Mary Anderson Room. Prepared by 211 Cover Lane Restaurant, featuring Mayes' own Tuscan recipes.
A $100 package ticket includes the above events plus dinner with Frances Mayes, hosted by U of L President Dr. John Shumaker and his wife, Lucy. (Proceeds go to the nonprofit Kentucky Author Forum, $60 is tax-deductible.)
Tickets available at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, 502-584-7777 (1-800-775-7777)
The Louisville Free Public Library, St. Mathews/Eline Branch, 3940 Grandview Avenue, will broadcast the event at 7 p.m. Tickets are free and may be picked up in advance at the library branch. The event will be recorded by WFPL 89.3 FM and the Kentucky Education Network (KET) for future broadcast.
The Kentucky Author Forum series is produced by Mary Moss Greenebaum and sponsored by the University of Louisville in cooperation with Hawley-Cooke Booksellers; Brown-Forman Corp.; Bittners of Louisville; WFPL, Louisville's NPR Station for News; The Courier-Journal; KET, the Kentucky Network; and the Kentucky Center for the Arts.
624 West Main, Second Floor
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Phone 502.589.2884
Fax 502.589.4334
email KYFORUM@aol.com