A New York Times best-selling author and humorist is making stops in two Iowa libraries this week.
Michael Perry grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin and says he never set out to be a writer. After stints working as a Wyoming cowboy, a nurse, a musician, a volunteer firefighter and more, Perry says he “accidentally” ended up being an author, and he tries to make his appearances unlike those of others who are more traditional.
“A lot of times you’ll see there’s going to be an author talk, and you might have a conception of what that would entail, but in my case, it’s kind of a roughneck, stand-up comedy act with a poetic twist,” Perry says. “I just want folks to be able to enjoy the evening no matter what their background is.”
While most of his 16-some books are written to be humorous non-fiction, his latest work, the novella “Forty Acres Deep,” is atypically heavy, in his words.
“It’s just about a farmer trying to hang on and not just hang on to his farm, but kind of hang on to himself in the face of change,” Perry says. “It’s a book that came out quietly and it’s in its third or fourth printing and it’s finding this audience. There’s just a lot of folks out there talking about rural ag and mental health, and it seems to have connected with a lot of those folks.”
The 59-year-old Perry says he grew up in a big family that lived below the poverty line, but he says he never went to bed hungry or wondering if he was loved.
“We had no TV and we weren’t to listen to the radio, but we could read all the books we wanted. So I just grew up reading tons and tons of books, a lot of Louis L’Amour cowboy books, but also a lot of books of all varied topics,” Perry says. “It just never occurred to me until I was almost in my mid 20s that a guy from rural Wisconsin who loved books could also maybe -write- a book.”
Several years ago, Perry recorded a live humor album called, “Never Stand Behind a Sneezing Cow,” and he says the title comes from real-life experience.
“Whether you grew up with cows in Wisconsin or cows in Iowa, you know what I’m talking about, that when a cow sneezes, something shoots out the back and it’s not milk,” Perry says, laughing. “That little phrase has always sort of been our catchphrase, and that’s how we came up with the website SneezingCow.com, which is the best place to go for more info on me and the books and even the events in Iowa.”
Perry will appear at the Knoxville Public Library on Wednesday at 6 PM, followed by a meet and greet with the author at the Atlantic & Pacific Pub in Knoxville. He’s also to appear at the Marshalltown Public Library on Thursday at 6 PM.
Hear Matt Kelley’s full interview with Michael Perry below: