Harvest Tour of Homes to feature local authors

Admiring the architectural structures and fanciful interior design choices of other houses is the most conspicuous aspect of the upcoming Harvest Tour of Homes on Daniel Island, but celebrating authors is the element that sets it apart from similar events. And, as in the past, the 2018 edition of the tour pulled from a wide mix of writers to speak at each of the four stops.

Cookbooks, mysteries, and an alphabetical list of what it means to be Southern await tour participants as they take part in the Oct. 20 event, in addition to the usual spirited discussions of literature expected from folks that live by the pen. Below is a list of the featured authors, some information about their lives, and details on their latest works.

NICOLE SEITZ

Mt. Pleasant author Nicole Seitz has written seven novels in her time as a writer, describing them as family dramas and mysteries.

“They’re all sprinkled with the south, because I’m a Lowcountry girl,” she said.

Her status as a hardworking novelist makes “Our Prince of Scribes” the book Seitz will promote at the Harvest Tour of Homes, a heel turn for her as an author.

Instead of a traditionally structured story, her latest is a collection of essays about Southern literature icon Pat Conroy. Seitz and Executive Director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center Jonathan Haupt compiled 67 authors to compose the essays for the book.

“We discussed the idea when we found out Pat Conroy was sick,” said Seitz. “We were discussing he was ill and wouldn’t it be wonderful if we pulled together a book of everybody’s Pat stories, because every writer that we knew had one.”

Several hours after the duo committed themselves to the book, they received word that Conroy had passed away.

“It was an interesting task for the two of us to try to rally together all of these writers at different stages in their lives,” she added. “We discovered as we started pulling this thing together that a really amazing portrait of Pat was being created out of this work. And it’s the Pat that people knew.”

ALEX LINDSTROM

“S is for Southern” is a bit of a tricky book to classify. Put together by the editorial team at southern living magazine Garden and Gun, the book is a collection of essays about the Southern a, b, c’s. Going through every letter in the alphabet several times over, “S is for Southern” includes essays about a range of topics from simple, like pluff mud and peanuts, to broad, like the Civil War. The folks at the publication brought on Southern personalities, such as songwriter Jason Isbell and renowned journalist Rick Bragg, to write over 500 entries in the book.

“The process of boiling down Southern culture to 500 entries was a daunting but collaborative task between the G&G edit team and our many contributors,” said Garden and Gun Editor in Chief David DiBenedeto. “There were heated ‘discussions’ about many items that made the cut and others that hit the cutting room floor. But, in the end, we feel like the book takes readers on a walkabout across the contemporary Southern landscape—it’s institutions, people, culture, and influences.”

Alex Lindstrom from Garden and Gun will present the book at the Harvest Tour of Homes.

CAROL GUTHRIE HEILMAN

“Agnes Hopper Bets on Murder” is the second novel in Carol Guthrie Heilman’s “Agnes Hopper” series. Described as a “cozy mystery,” Heilman took lovable senior Agnes Hopper, and put her in the middle of a murder mystery involving a good friend of her husband.

“I had never written a mystery,” said Heilman. “I’ve talked with my editor and I told him ‘one murder is okay, but let’s not do that again.’”

“In all my books, I’ve tried to be a voice for people that do not or cannot have a voice,” she said.

Each story involving Agnes utilizes this concept, showing a more human side of senior living, homelessness, and the formerly incarcerated.

“I’ve just always had a heart for old people or children, because I feel like a lot of times people don’t really listen to what they have to say, so I guess that’s how it started.”

Heilman began writing in her 50s after taking a writing class at USC. Agnes Hopper came from a writing assignment where Heilman put her and her friends in a retirement home. Before she knew it, the characters had taken on a life of their own.

Heilman wants to write one more book in her Agnes Hopper series before working on a historical fiction story.

“I’m thinking like the ‘20s and ‘30s in Appalachia,” she said. “My dad was a coal miner and I still have a heart for that part of the country. I grew up in coal mining camps, and it’s a culture that’s foreign to a lot of people.”

HOLLY HERRICK

“The New Charleston Chef’s Table” is restaurant critic Holly Herrick’s ninth book. It’s the only cookbook on the Harvest Tour of Homes this year, and is an update of a previous book Herrick wrote called “The Charleston Chef’s Table.”

“It’s almost a complete rewrite from the book in 2009, just because the restaurant scene has exploded just that much more since then,” Herrick commented.

Around 80 chefs provided their input and their recipes for the project.

“I originally wanted to write the book as an extension of my love for the city and knowledge of it from the food perspective and the restaurant perspective,” she said.

Just like the last book, Herrick interviewed chefs from the Charleston area, compiling their favorite recipes. Although she refers to it as an update, she said the book is almost 90 percent new recipes. It’s practically a different book.

“I really chose recipes that I felt really showcased the talents and the style of each chef, as well as the same with their restaurant,” she said. “I really wanted the recipes to be very friendly for the home, useful for the home cook.”

In addition to her time as a restaurant critic, Herrick is a classically trained professional chef. She added that she made both of the “Charleston Chef’s Table” books out of a reverence for the Charleston food scene.

“I still think it’s amazing and exciting, and demands the attention of the world,” she said.

For information on the Harvest Tour of Homes, visit www.harvesthometours.com.