English: Bestselling Author Novella Carpenter Discusses New Memoir

The Hayward Public Library was pleased to host Novella Carpenter at the Hayward Main Library on October 18, 2014. She read from and discussed her new memoir Gone Feral: Tracking My Dad Through the Wild. Carpenter's father, George--a back-to-the-land homesteader and troubled Korean War veteran--has spent decades battling his inner demons while largely absenting himself from his children's lives. Carpenter is forced to confront the truth: her time with her dad--now 73 years old--is limited, and the moment to restore their relationship is now.

Carpenter is best known for her 2009 bestselling memoir Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, which chronicles her trials and triumphs in running a small-scale farm on an abandoned lot in a tough Oakland neighborhood. She last appeared in Hayward before a standing-room-only audience at the Main Library in 2011, for a memorable Book-to-Action event in partnership with students engaged in Ochoa Middle School’s garden.