For some reason I've been just craving and loving interviews with older women (I'm in my late 30s). There's just something so comforting hearing about women who have done a lot of cool shit in their life. So much about her life is aspirational!!!!!! Knitting, gardening, writing, all of it. Thanks big salad, this one I'll come back to over and over again!!! 💙
i love barbara kingsolver. my favorite contemporary author. i always tell people my fun fact (though it’s not really mine) is that my husband used to babysit her kids (at the unitarian church). he refers to her as barbara - im like, pulitzer prize winner barbara kingsolver!?!
Love Barbara Kingsolver. I’ve been reading her since the Bean Trees when I was a student at the University of Kentucky. When I saw Jenny Rosenstrach’s post about the Higher Ground Women’s Recovery Residence, I shared it with my book club in Basel, Switzerland where I now live. The woman who organizes it is an amazing organizer and she got connected with Higher Ground and we found out what they needed to set up the house and now I think I’m seeing Barbara Kingsolver sitting in the chairs that our book club in Switzerland purchased. Love these long term connections getting an international group of women supporting the Appalachia that I love and through an author I’ve loved now for 30 years.
Wow an interview with Barbara Kingsolver!? This is PREMIUM COJ content! What a coup!
Love all of her books, love everything about her, what a treat to read this today. Of course she has a bangin garden I wouldn't have expected any less!
I'm 32 and have been feeling a lot of feels about not being where I want to be in my career at the same time as I want to start a family. I feel excited about the various ways I imagine "starting over" or pivoting my career but overwhelmed that it's all happening at the same time as I want to start a family. I've loved Barbara since high school and reading about her getting into writing and motherhood on parallel paths made me so very seen and hopeful. ❤️🥲
I LOVE the bit about Southern diversity!!! I am from Georgia but live in Chicago, but one time at work our team icebreaker was about misconceptions you wish didn’t exist. I immediately said that Southerners aren’t all bumpkins or Republicans it whatever, it’s actually an incredibly diverse region and outsiders don’t give it nearly enough credit for containing multitudes. My colleague from Kentucky echoed me and said “We aren’t all shoeless slackjaws - but they have a right to exist!” and I think about that very often. Sometimes the rest of the country seems so interested in changing or rescuing us, they miss out on the textures that make us us.
I haven’t even read this yet but am OVER THE MOON!! I have loved loved all of her books - from Animal Dreams to Pigs in Heaven to Flight Behavior ( my favorite) and Prodigal Summer etc etc. She’s the absolute best!
Flight Behaviour is my favourite, but Unsheltered and Prodigal Summer are also wonderful. Her entire catalogue has so much variety but somehow manages to all be rich and meaningful and still easy to get into.
I love Kingsolver's books, but this interview inspired me to see what Wikipedia (I know, I know) says about her. How about this gem: "In the late 1990s, Kingsolver was a founding member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock-and-roll band made up of published writers. Other band members included Amy Tan, Matt Groening, Dave Barry, and Stephen King, and they played for one week during the year. Kingsolver played the keyboard, but is no longer an active member of the band." !!!
Wow! What a treat to see inside Barbara's garden! I love knowing that she has a rogue donkey on her farm. I have read every one of her books and am jealous of anyone who has not read Demon copperhead, yet. Demon is one of my favorite characters of all time.
Thank you so much for this interview. I have loved her since I was a freshman at Virginia Tech over 20 years ago (yikes) and was assigned to read The Poisonwood Bible. I didn’t think I could love her more, and then you publish this interview. “The greatest thing about getting older is that you have all these versions of yourself still inside you. Every decade that I’ve had is the best decade yet.” Thank you!
For some reason I've been just craving and loving interviews with older women (I'm in my late 30s). There's just something so comforting hearing about women who have done a lot of cool shit in their life. So much about her life is aspirational!!!!!! Knitting, gardening, writing, all of it. Thanks big salad, this one I'll come back to over and over again!!! 💙
i love barbara kingsolver. my favorite contemporary author. i always tell people my fun fact (though it’s not really mine) is that my husband used to babysit her kids (at the unitarian church). he refers to her as barbara - im like, pulitzer prize winner barbara kingsolver!?!
!!!!!!!!
Barbara is Unitarian Universalist?! Love that!
Love Barbara Kingsolver. I’ve been reading her since the Bean Trees when I was a student at the University of Kentucky. When I saw Jenny Rosenstrach’s post about the Higher Ground Women’s Recovery Residence, I shared it with my book club in Basel, Switzerland where I now live. The woman who organizes it is an amazing organizer and she got connected with Higher Ground and we found out what they needed to set up the house and now I think I’m seeing Barbara Kingsolver sitting in the chairs that our book club in Switzerland purchased. Love these long term connections getting an international group of women supporting the Appalachia that I love and through an author I’ve loved now for 30 years.
This is magical. We all have a role to play in building the world we want. ❤️
Wow an interview with Barbara Kingsolver!? This is PREMIUM COJ content! What a coup!
Love all of her books, love everything about her, what a treat to read this today. Of course she has a bangin garden I wouldn't have expected any less!
After Prodigal Summer could it really be anything other than bangin?
I'm 32 and have been feeling a lot of feels about not being where I want to be in my career at the same time as I want to start a family. I feel excited about the various ways I imagine "starting over" or pivoting my career but overwhelmed that it's all happening at the same time as I want to start a family. I've loved Barbara since high school and reading about her getting into writing and motherhood on parallel paths made me so very seen and hopeful. ❤️🥲
next time i wish on a birthday candle or dandelion it will be to somehow become neighbors with ms. barbara
hahahaha should we all move to a farm together??
yes, please! i'm in!
y e s !!
Well, that interview fed me in a way I didn’t know I needed 🫶 Thank you!
I felt the same!
I LOVE the bit about Southern diversity!!! I am from Georgia but live in Chicago, but one time at work our team icebreaker was about misconceptions you wish didn’t exist. I immediately said that Southerners aren’t all bumpkins or Republicans it whatever, it’s actually an incredibly diverse region and outsiders don’t give it nearly enough credit for containing multitudes. My colleague from Kentucky echoed me and said “We aren’t all shoeless slackjaws - but they have a right to exist!” and I think about that very often. Sometimes the rest of the country seems so interested in changing or rescuing us, they miss out on the textures that make us us.
This is so dreamy! It's so lovely to read about a life of such clarity when the news feels so heavy today.
that's a beautiful way to put it, mara.
Well this is the best, most joyful, piece on the Internet today. Dying for the garden pics and the donkey!
Agreed!!
“Whatever I would tell my younger self is nothing that she’d listen to!” Yes!
I haven’t even read this yet but am OVER THE MOON!! I have loved loved all of her books - from Animal Dreams to Pigs in Heaven to Flight Behavior ( my favorite) and Prodigal Summer etc etc. She’s the absolute best!
I think my favorite is the Poisonwood Bible, but now I want to read them ALL!!!
Flight Behaviour is my favourite, but Unsheltered and Prodigal Summer are also wonderful. Her entire catalogue has so much variety but somehow manages to all be rich and meaningful and still easy to get into.
I love Kingsolver's books, but this interview inspired me to see what Wikipedia (I know, I know) says about her. How about this gem: "In the late 1990s, Kingsolver was a founding member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock-and-roll band made up of published writers. Other band members included Amy Tan, Matt Groening, Dave Barry, and Stephen King, and they played for one week during the year. Kingsolver played the keyboard, but is no longer an active member of the band." !!!
Love her even more after reading this!
Wow! What a treat to see inside Barbara's garden! I love knowing that she has a rogue donkey on her farm. I have read every one of her books and am jealous of anyone who has not read Demon copperhead, yet. Demon is one of my favorite characters of all time.
Thank you so much for this interview. I have loved her since I was a freshman at Virginia Tech over 20 years ago (yikes) and was assigned to read The Poisonwood Bible. I didn’t think I could love her more, and then you publish this interview. “The greatest thing about getting older is that you have all these versions of yourself still inside you. Every decade that I’ve had is the best decade yet.” Thank you!