The Curtis Memorial Library welcomes Margot Anne Kelley for a discussion of her new book Foodtopia. She will be joined in conversation by Jane Brox, author of Silence.

About the Book

Ever wonder if there’s a better way to live, work, and eat? You’re not alone. 

In this illuminating alternative American history, Margot Anne Kelley details the evolution of food-centric utopian movements that were fueled by deep yearnings for unpolluted water and air, racial and gender equality, for peace, for a less consumerist lifestyle, for a sense of authenticity, for simplicity, for a healthy diet, and for a sustaining connection to the natural world. 

Foodtopia tells the story of five back-to-the-land movements, from 1840 to present day, when large numbers of utopian-minded people in the United States established small-scale farming as an alternative to mainstream agriculture. 

About the Authors

Margot Anne Kelley holds a PhD in American Literature and an MFA in Media and Performing Arts. Kelley is the author of two books focused on people in relationship to the natural world, Local Treasures: Geocaching Across America and A Field Guide to Other People’s Trees. She taught at the college level for nearly twenty-five years. Since leaving academia, she served as the editor of The Maine Review and co-founded a community development corporation that runs a food pantry and community garden, among other programs. Kelley lives on the coast of downeast Maine. 

Jane Brox is the author of five books, most recently Silence, which was selected as an Editors’ Choice by The New York Times Book Review.  Her first three books centered on her family’s farm and the history of agriculture in New England.  Brox has received the New England Book Award for nonfiction, and her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Georgia Review, NewYorker.com, and Best American Essays.  She has been awarded grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Maine Arts Commission.  She has taught at Harvard University, Bowdoin College, and in Lesley University’s low-residency MFA Program.  She lives in Brunswick, Maine. 

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We are proud to be joined by Gulf of Maine Books for this evening. They will have copies of Foodtopia to purchase.