The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman

The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman

"Funny, sad, and tender... Mimi Herman has written a novel that possesses a true and hard won understanding of the South." —David Sedaris

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and North Carolina Center for the Book Selection for the Library of Congress "Great Reads from Great Places" reading list.

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 she 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.

Mimi is a Kennedy Center teaching artist and co-director of Writeaways writing workshops in France, Italy, Ireland and New Mexico. She currently serves as vice-chair of the Board of Directors for theAssociation of Writers & Writing Programs, and 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 TeachingArtist 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.