This will be my first time to give a presentation at Beaverdale Books. Their Facebook page will also stream it live, beginning at 6:30 Monday evening, February 20. 

Please join me to hear how world events reached right into the American Heartland, disrupting the lives of Clabe and Leora Wilson’s family.

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“. . . . Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots continues the beloved series of meaningful genealogical explorations by Kidney. This is Little House on the Prairie meets Our Town: intimate appeal from a personal narrator making Heartland history come alive.

“‘Leora’ is a one-name trigger for memoir magnificence in central Iowa. The ripples created keep expanding, inspiring others through the rich vibrancy of her voice. Readers gain a deeper understanding of family, community and legacy through these pages. . . .”

–from John Busbee’s book review in the Jan./Feb. 2023 issue of Iowa History Journal. Creative projects developer John Busbee received the 2014 Iowa Governor’s Award for Collaboration & Partnership in the Arts, produces The culture Buzz weekly radio program since 2007 and is a regular contributor to Iowa History Journal.

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Our favorite indie bookstore, Beaverdale Books, also features one whole wall of books by Iowa authors!

John Busbee’s comment on Facebook: The weather will be better Mon Feb 20 when one of Iowa’s wonderful archival voices, Joy Neal Kidney, presents her latest in the beloved Leora’s Letters series of memoirs. Joy has become a guiding light for others, inspiring them to let her ancestors’ voices ring through her writing. If you don’t have this and the rest of her current editions of this series, get them now. Here is the most recent interview on The Culture Buzz that Joy gave about her writing: https://archive.org/…/joy-neal-kidney-aut.-aug-2021…