Hybrid Book Launch | Appalachia on the Table: Erica Abrams Locklear in conversation with John Fleer

Apr 18 @ 6:00 pm

Malaprop's Bookstore and Virtual

This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited number of seats are available to attend the event in-store.

The event is free but registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.

Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.

Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event. Note the important event details on the RSVP form. Masks are required for in-person attendees.

This event includes a book signing. If you would like a signed book but can’t attend in person, you may order a signed copy below, prior to the event. If you would like to have your book personalized, please order online or call the store with your order at least two hours before the start of the event. When ordering online, use the comments field to tell us to whom the book should be personalized. Please do not email with orders or personalization requests.

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Appalachia on the Table argues, in part, that since the conception of Appalachia as a distinctly different region from the rest of the South and the United States, the foods associated with the region and its people have often been used to socially categorize and stigmatize mountain people. Rather than investigate the actual foods consumed in Appalachia, Locklear instead focuses on the representations of foods consumed, implied moral judgments about those foods, and how those judgments shape reader perceptions of those depicted. The question at the core of Locklear’s analysis asks, How did the dominant culinary narrative of the region come into existence and what consequences has that narrative had for people in the mountains?

Erica Abrams Locklear is a professor of English and the Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of North Carolina Asheville. She is the author of Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People (forthcoming April, 2023 from University of Georgia Press) and Negotiating a Perilous Empowerment: Appalachian Women’s Literacies (Ohio University Press). She is a seventh-generation Western North Carolinian who loves good food, books, and conversation.

At the helm of vibrant downtown Asheville, North Carolina restaurant,Rhubarb, Owner and Chef John Fleer presents a dining experience focused on the refined tastes of fresh, uncomplicated food and the power of company shared around the table. His freestyle American cuisine highlights bounty procured from Asheville’s surrounding farmers and producers, and each plate on the ever-evolving menu reflects Chef Fleer’s ability to transform seasonal local ingredients into a world-class dish.A native of Winston-Salem, NC, John Fleer was named one of the “Rising Stars of the 21st Century” by the James Beard Foundation and is a five-time finalist for the James Beard “Best Chef: Southeast” award, as well as a 2020 semifinalist for the James Beard “Outstanding Chef” award.

Calendar of Events

Notorious HBC (History Book Club)

Science Fiction Book Club

Foodie Book Club