Bodensteiner shares tales of rural upbringing at Beaman Library

If you grew up in Iowa, chances are that you’re within one or two generations of a family farm. The stories that come from these experiences are an indelible part of the cultural and societal fabric of this state, and author Carol Bodensteiner, during a visit to the Beaman Public Library on Saturday morning, expounded on her rural upbringing and how it led to her writing both a memoir and a novel in the last decade.
           
In front of about 10 local women who came to listen to her speak, Bodensteiner recalled her younger years on a farm between Maquoketa and Preston in eastern Iowa and how it shaped her outlook and worldview. The author of “Growing Up Country: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl,” which was published in 2008, and “Go Away Home,” a novel published in 2014, has been involved in writing for much of her adult life since graduating from the University of Northern Iowa: she has served as an editor of Soybean Digest magazine, a public relations advisor, an independent consultant and a freelance writer featured in publications like The Iowan magazine and The Des Moines Register.
 
Despite all of her background, transitioning into creative writing in the lead-up to “Growing Up Country” still took a lot of work for Bodensteiner.
 
Read more in this week's Grundy Register.