WINONA, Minn. — They say “You can never go back,” but Michael Perry returned to the Wisconsin village of his boyhood, joined the volunteer fire department, and discovered new delight and wonderment in the quirks and oddities of small-town life. Perry will greet readers Saturday at the Winona Library. Time: 1 p.m. Free. His book, “Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time,” has been on the New York Times best-seller list. A blurb from the dust cover describes Auburn as “where the local vigilante is a farmer’s wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers.” Among his other titles: “The Jesus Cow” and “ Truck: A Love Story.”
Published by Harper in 2002, reissued 2015.
Winona book-signing. Book marketed for age 12 up.