For Immediate Release

Contact: Lorna Garano at Counterpoint Press; Email: lorna.garano@counterpointpress.com; Phone: (510) 759-6655 OR Amy Wachspress at (707) 468-4118

Cherryfest Planned to Launch Local Author Amy Wachspress’s Novel Memories from Cherry Harvest

Ukiah, CA – Mendocino Book Company will host an author reading and cherry pie buffet on Saturday June 30th at 2-4 PM to launch Memories from Cherry Harvest by local author Amy Wachspress. In celebration of the publication of her book, Amy intends to open and share several jars of her long-hoarded Butler Cherry Ranch cherries, preserved in 1998, the last year the ranch was open for cherry-pickers. Amy says, “The Butler Cherry Ranch inspired my use of the cherry harvest to symbolize life’s abundance in my book. If you have never tasted a Butler cherry or you thought you would never taste one again in your life, then here is your unexpected chance to bite into one of George’s cherries. Never say never! Sometimes something we think is gone forever comes back to us.”

“When I remember Russia, I ache with longing for the village of my birth, where the beloved grandparents magically produced candy in a handshake and told stories of long ago when God spoke to humans and enchantments filled the world.” So begins Memories from Cherry Harvest, a family saga spanning seventy years painted on the broad canvas of nations at war and in peace. Despite the challenges and heartbreak of unfolding events, three generations of women insist on celebrating life’s bounty as babies are born, children raised, men loved, friendships forged, and cherry pies baked. Memories from Cherry Harvest is a spiritual quest that explores the physics of memory and demonstrates how the tenacity of the human spirit can ultimately withstand and overcome the memory of tragedy.

On June 30th, Amy will share the story of her path to publication, which she characterizes as “miraculous.” Memories from Cherry Harvest is being published by Counterpoint Press of Berkeley, California as the 2011 winner of the Frances Fabri Literary Prize. A Holocaust survivor, Fabri spearheaded efforts in the US to record survivor stories, creating the interviewing protocols that were widely used to record survivor memories. Amy’s book, loosely based on family stories, is the first Fabri prizewinner to include a Holocaust theme as a central part of the story.

Amy is the author of the award-winning children’s fantasy adventure The Call to Shakabaz (Woza Books, 2007). She and her husband Ron Reed (better known locally as “DJ Reed” for his KZYX Saturday night radio show “In the Groove”) raised their three children on 40 acres of remote forest at McNab Ranch.

For more information about this event, contact Mendocino Book Company at 102 S. School St. in Ukiah; (707) 468-5940. For more information about Amy Wachspress or Memories from Cherry Harvest visit Amy’s website at www.wozabooks.com.