I write nonfiction narratives about the global economy, and I have to read a lot of boring books on topics like globalization, the garment industry, world population, and food.
You have to read a lot of boring books to write an interesting one. (At least I hope WHERE AM I EATING? is interesting. The reviews should start coming in soon enough.)
I do find these subjects fascinating because I see firsthand how these global issues impact people I’ve met — garment workers in Cambodia, farmers in Colombia. But rarely am I absolutely thrilled to crack open a book written by some policy expert or economist. I’m amazed at their brains and I’m happy to have their info and knowledge flow into mind. But I’m less hungry for…
Read More >
From the department of awesome news of awesomeness…
The University of Kentucky has announced the selection of WHERE AM I WEARING? as their 2013-2014 common read book. This means that all incoming freshman will read the stories of Amilcar, Nari, Ai, Arifa, Dewan, Zhu Chun, and all the rest of the amazing folks I write about in WEARING.
I’m so pumped that I can almost forgive the Wildcats for beating my Wally Sczerbiak-led Miami Redhawks 58 to 43 in the 1999 Sweet 16.
Almost!
…
Read More >
Cathy Day, champion of literary citizenship, English professor at Ball State, author of Circus in Winter and Comeback Season, and my fellow committee member of the Midwest Writers Workshop, tagged me in the Next Big Thing Blog Hop.
Here’s Cathy’s post answering the questions about her work in progress.
And here’s mine…
What is your working title of your book (or story)?
Where Am I Eating? An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Ever look at your banana and wonder who picked it?
In 2009 the USDA began requiring Country of Origin Labeling on food. I couldn’t believe how global our diet had become. Today, the United State’s imports 86% of its seafood, 50% of its fruit, and 18% of its vegetables. I…
Read More >
When the Boy Scouts of America doubled down on their policies to discriminate against gay scouts and leaders, I announced I was going to turn in my Eagle Scout awards.
The decision wasn’t made lightly. Scouts helped give me the confidence and independence to travel around the world alone as an author and journalist gathering stories. But Scouts also gave me the moral compass to stand up and act against injustice.
I promised my former troop leader that I would call Boy Scouts Of America’s national office to talk with them about how they reached their decision before I made my final decision to mail my awards.
That call went something like this:
“My name is Kelsey Timmerman. I’m an Eagle Scout. I…
Read More >
If you’re interested in the writing I do, there’s a class for that.
The last writing class I took was English 102 during my freshman year at Miami University. At least that was the last class until I audited Literary Journalism taught by writer Mark Masse’ at Ball State University in 2010. Now the class is online and being offered to anyone interested. (You would enroll as a non-degree (non-licensure) student. If you are interested, Ball State is now offering this class online with Mark. That means you don’t have to worry about driving to Muncie and finding parking on campus, or about wearing pants while attending class! Freedom!
Here’s how Mark describes the class:
J614 is an advanced literary journalistic writing workshop taught in a 100 percent online format. It is…
Read More >
I’ve been writing since 2001. I knew that I enjoyed sharing stories from the page. When WEARING came out, I started to receive requests to speak across the country.
Who likes to speak in front of a large group of people? I’ve read that some fear the stage more than death. Eek! But in 2009 I discovered that I love sharing stories from the stage almost as much as sharing them from the page.
In 2012 I got to speak a lot. I spent more than a month on the road in 2012 traveling to speak in front of some of the biggest audiences to which I’ve ever spoken. I talked to auditoriums and stadiums full of people who where there just to listen to…
Read More >
(picking coffee in Colombia)
I lived to write in 2012.
WHERE AM I EATING? AN ADVENTURE THROUGH THE GLOBAL FOOD ECONOMY
I came across some amazing stories in 2012, but to do that I had to be away too much from my amazing family. Don’t tell my editor, but I wasn’t sure if it was possible to travel to eight countries (Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, China) for research for three months and write an 85,000 word book in a single year. It is. Barely.
EATING comes out April 22nd. If you want to know where I’ve been this year and where your food actually comes from, reading EATING will do both. WHERE AM…
Read More >
Looking for the perfect tree with the Timmerkids.
…just writing like editors are chasing me. So,no blogging for me. I’ll be back at it soon because I’m almost done with WHERE AM I EATING?
I’ll leave you with a question: Did you ask for a socially-conscious gift for Christmas or are you giving one? If so, what?…
Read More >
I’m the keynote speaker at the Fair Trade Towns conference this weekend in Chicago October 26-28th. I’m speaking on Friday evening, but will probably hang around most of Saturday too. I’d love to see you there. It will be the first time I’ll share some of my adventures from Where Am I Eating?
Register here. If you aren’t sure what Fair Trade is, I just wrote an essay for Triple Punditon my experience with Fair Trade coffee growers in Colombia.
What’s your favorite Fair Trade product? What questions do you have about Fair Trade?
…
Read More >
“F@#k Kelsey Timmerman! I’ve got better things to do than go to his event!”
This was a tweet I read before a speaking event at a university this year.
“Sorry to hear that,” I responded. “Do you have some shows you’ll be missing tonight?” Basically I was saying, “I see you.”
Right before I was about to start speaking, a student stepped back stage.
“Mr. Timmerman,” the student said, looking remarkably like a puppy with his tail between his legs, “I’m sorry for that tweet. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that I never knew about this event and had other plans that I was disappointed to cancel.”
I accepted his apology. I told him that our in person actions are…
Read More >
