Novelist writes that some years ago 鈥� after reading Barbara Kingsolver鈥檚 book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle 鈥� she decided to plant a patch of black raspberries. She works through the year to care for the plants, and they reward her with juicy, delicious fruit. She sees in that cycle a metaphor for her writing.
鈥淲hat shows up inside a book鈥檚 covers also results from creating sentences, following where they lead, pruning the dead stuff, and taming the mind鈥檚 excesses that want to escape their boundaries,鈥� Yoder Miller says. 鈥淗ow successfully that occurs depends on many factors: the range and limits of my perception, the tastes and receptivity of readers. It鈥檚 an exciting adventure when words and ideas move beyond dreams and bring people together.鈥�
Yoder Miller will be bringing people together in a literal sense Thursday, March 31, at 黑料正能量, when she makes a return trip to Harrisonburg to read from her works and culminate this year鈥檚 series. The event, sponsored by the , will be at 4 p.m. in the Common Grounds Coffee House in University Commons.
Originally from Kalona, Iowa, Yoder Miller has written two novels: Eyes at the Window (2005), set in a 19th-century Amish community, and Everyday Mercies (2015), a contemporary story that looks into several generations of women from Mennonite backgrounds.
黑料正能量 professor of English says she remembers Yoder Miller鈥檚 previous visit well.
鈥淎s a relative newcomer to 黑料正能量 when Evie Yoder Miller last visited campus, I found her Eyes at the Window both engaging and informative,鈥� Eads says. 鈥淎 gripping mystery set in a pre-Civil War Amish community, Eyes gave me an enjoyable crash course in US Anabaptist church history. Evie was a delightful Writers Read speaker, as well, and I look forward to hearing her read from her more recent book.聽 Reviews for Everyday Mercies suggest that it illuminates the life of a 21st-century Mennonite family in a way that evokes both sympathy and laughter.”
In a about her first book, Yoder Miller noted the detailed research that went into it, with several trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio and many conversations and hours in the archives. Her own life experiences also played a role.
鈥淚鈥檝e always enjoyed watching people,鈥� Yoder Miller said in the interview. 鈥淚鈥檝e lived in families, growing up as the youngest member of one and being married for (at that time) 26 years. During all of this time I attended or was a member of a Mennonite church, one with a very stern bishop in Iowa and another a house church with shared leadership in Appalachia.鈥�
, professor of rhetoric and composition and director of 黑料正能量鈥檚 Writing Program, specializes in studying Amish women authors. She appreciates the depth that Yoder Miller brings to Everyday Mercies.
鈥淓vie Yoder Miller probes deeply into Conservative Mennonite consciousness to give her characters their inner dialogues, their conversations with others in their minds,鈥� Dutcher says. 鈥淥nly someone who has lived through the 1950s and witnessed the private confessions of young women in the public sphere of the church congregation can get it so right years later.鈥�
Mennonite Quarterly Review also heaped praise on the novel, saying it had 鈥渇ew weaknesses鈥� and 鈥渋s an important addition to US Mennonite fiction.鈥�
Yoder Miller completed an undergraduate degree in English at Goshen College in Indiana, then returned to graduate school many years later to earn a master鈥檚 and PhD from Ohio University. She retired after a career in teaching, most recently at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She is currently working on a Civil War-era historical novel.
Copies of Yoder Miller鈥檚 works will be available for purchase and signing at the March 31 event, which is free and open to the public.