Across the great divide in America, city dwellers and the nation's farmers often fail to understand each other. Marie Mutsuki Mockett set out to close the gap, going back to the place in Nebraska where her family owns a farm and listening with her whole heart to the many of the men and women who raise the food that keeps all of us alive; midwest rural America. She travelled to seven states to participate with them in harvest. In the process, her ideas, assumptions and beliefs were challenged, leaving an indelible mark on her heart and mind. When we are able to truly listen to each other, how does it affect our view of the world? Does it lead to greater understanding and tolerance? How can we be true to ourselves while truly respecting the other person? Marie comes back from the heartland with some answers and many questions, inviting us to share with her a profound lesson in acceptance. Launching as we are all facing the effects of COVID-19, the book is timely in that it also takes a look at front line workers who help keep our food supply open.

Marie Motsuki Mockett is a novelist and memoirist. Born and raised in California to a Japanese mother and American father, she graduated from Columbia University. Her memoir, Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye, explores how the Japanese cope with grief and tragedy. Her essay, Letter from a Japanese Crematorium, was anthologized in Norton’s Best Creative Nonfiction. Her first novel, Picking Bones from Ash, was was a finalist for the Paterson Prize. She’s written for many publications including The New York Times and has been a guest on The World, Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered. Her new book, “American Harvest,” is set in seven agricultural and heartland states and was a finalist for the Lukas Prize for Nonfiction. Marie received her MFA from the Bennington Writers Seminars and teaches fiction and nonfiction at the Rainier Writing Workshop, in Tacoma, Washington is a Visiting Writer in the MFA program at Saint Mary’s College.