Best-selling Author Julie Powell to be Guest Speaker at October 22nd Harvest Dinner in Oswego

Oswego, NY – Best-selling author Julie Powell will be the guest speaker at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County’s Harvest Dinner on Friday, October 22nd at the American Foundry in Oswego.

“We are very excited to have Author Julie Powell as our guest speaker for our Harvest Dinner to not only discuss her amazing career, but to also help us showcase this county’s important agricultural efforts,” said Paul Forestiere II, Executive Director for Cooperative Extension.

Julie Powell is the author of the critically acclaimed 2005 New York Times bestselling memoir, Julie & Julia: My year of Cooking Dangerously. In 2002 Powell thrust herself from obscurity to cyber celebrity when she began the Julie/Julia Project, a yearlong blogging and cooking journey through all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Her blog quickly gained a large following, and Powell ultimately signed a book deal with Little, Brown and Company for her memoir detailing her experiences.  In the New York Times review of the book it was said to be “sitcom-y”, and “written in a blog- like messy, whatever’s-on-my-mind type format, which is what helped propel the chick-lit type memoir to the best-seller list”.

“One of the great discoveries of my year cooking through Julia Child’s marvelous, world changing book and writing about it was that I could develop a voice people found engaging and humorous,” Powell said.

Powell’s bestseller was later adapted into a major motion picture directed by Nora Ephron in 2009.  Julie & Julia, starring Amy Adams as Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child, was nominated for many awards, including Best Motion Picture.

Powell has since made many appearances on national television shows including ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show as well as The Martha Stewart Show and Food Network’s Iron Chef America.  Her writing has appeared in various magazines and newspapers including Bon Appétit, Food and Wine, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more.

She has also received many awards for her first novel.  Powell is a two-time James Bear Award winner in journalism and was the first ever winner of the Overall Lulu Blooker Prize for Books.  She was also awarded an honorary degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.  Her second book, Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession, was published November 30, 2009.

For more information about Author Julie Powell, visit her website at juliepowellbooks.com.

The Harvest Dinner dishes will be created by three special guest chefs from within the Oswego County community including: Chef Raymond Jock from La Parrilla, Chef Shawna Gallton from Kristi’s Restaurant and Chef Emil Nymander from The American Foundry. They will prepare a variety of dishes using not only their culinary talents, but also the newly harvested farm fresh fruit, meats and vegetables grown within Oswego County.

Doors to the Harvest Dinner event open at 6:15 p.m.  Tickets are $30 per person and $55 for two.  There will also be a gift basket auction at the event and the proceeds will go to support Cooperative Extensions educational programming throughout Oswego County.
For additional information about the event or reservations please call (315) 963-7286 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County is located at 3288 Main Street in Mexico, New York. Their mission is to interpret, disseminate, and deliver research-based information and knowledge on issues relevant to Oswego County youth, individuals, families, farms, small business, and communities, and further, to contribute to improving the quality of life through education and empowering volunteers and staff to lead, guide, and teach. Program areas of particular importance include Agriculture, Youth Development, Human Ecology, and Natural Resource Management.

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