Mode of Program Participation
Performances and Arts
Participation Type
Performance
Presentation #1 Title
Fire Is Your Water, A Reading from a New Novel
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Fire Is Your Water tells the story of Ada Franklin, a young powwow doctor in the Pennsylvania Dutch, religious faith tradition. By saying sacred chants, she can remove warts, stanch bleeding, and “take out fire” to heal burns. That all changes on a June day in 1953 when the Franklin barn ignites into flame. Ada and her mother enter the burning building to rescue their animals. The scorching heat, the roar of the blaze, the shrill bellows of so many cows trapped inside—all of it changes Ada. For the first time, she fears death and—for the first time—she doubts God. After the fire, she no longer can heal. Then Ada meets Will Burk and his pet raven, Cicero. And then there is another fire. This novel and the excerpt that I'll read fit the ASA theme of Extreme Appalachia in many ways, primarily by focusing on a folkloric tradition not often discussed, and by a setting in the northern Appalachian region of Pennsylvania.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Jim Minick is the author of five books, Fire Is Your Water, being the most recent while his memoir, The Blueberry Years, won the Best Nonfiction Book of the Year from Southern Independent Booksellers Association. Currently, he is Assistant Professor at Augusta University and Core Faculty in Converse College’s MFA program.
Fire Is Your Water, A Reading from a New Novel
Fire Is Your Water tells the story of Ada Franklin, a young powwow doctor in the Pennsylvania Dutch, religious faith tradition. By saying sacred chants, she can remove warts, stanch bleeding, and “take out fire” to heal burns. That all changes on a June day in 1953 when the Franklin barn ignites into flame. Ada and her mother enter the burning building to rescue their animals. The scorching heat, the roar of the blaze, the shrill bellows of so many cows trapped inside—all of it changes Ada. For the first time, she fears death and—for the first time—she doubts God. After the fire, she no longer can heal. Then Ada meets Will Burk and his pet raven, Cicero. And then there is another fire. This novel and the excerpt that I'll read fit the ASA theme of Extreme Appalachia in many ways, primarily by focusing on a folkloric tradition not often discussed, and by a setting in the northern Appalachian region of Pennsylvania.
