News, Reviews & Interviews
News & Reviews
VCU Cabell First Novelist Award Long List
The Kudzu Queen has been long listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.
AudioFile Magazine
Courtney Patterson, narrator of The Kudzu Queen audiobook, wins an AudioFiles Earphones Award, given to "truly exceptional titles that excel in narrative voice and style, characterizations, suitability to audio, and enhancement of the text."
Arts & Entertainment Critics’ Pick Winners: Best in the Nest 2023
Charlotte’s QC Nerve Critics choose The Kudzu Queen as Best Fiction Book of 2023“Mimi Herman’s debut novel The Kudzu Queen tells the tale of a fictional town in pre-WWII North Carolina that has come under the spell of the Kudzu King, who is spreading the word — and government funds — to anyone who will listen about this new miracle crop.”
Southern Literary Review
Donna Meredith, editor of the Southern Literary Review, interviews Mimi Herman“Mimi, I fell in love with your coming-of-age novel, The Kudzu Queen Writing any book is a big undertaking that takes many months if not years. How long did you work on this book?”
North Carolina Literary Review
“Herman’s text is beautifully written and, like the kudzu vines that spread across the cover of the novel and envelop Aunt Mary’s house, offers readers a complex narrative tapestry that explores the rocky transition from childhood to young adulthood steeped in historical detail and told from the perspective of a narrator willing to sacrifice it all for her community.”
Shepherd.com: The Best Books to Transport You to Another Time and Place
Five compelling books selected by Mimi Herman for Shepherd.com
The Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize Longlist
The Kudzu Queen has been longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize.
North Carolina Center for the Book
The North Carolina Center for the Book, sponsored by the North Carolina Humanities Council, has chosen The Kudzu Queen to represent the state as part of the Library of Congress’s “Great Reads from Great Places” program, which features books from every US state and territory. The Kudzu Queen will be featured at the National Book Festival on Saturday, August 12, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Shelf Awareness
“Fifteen-year-old Mattie is an endearing narrator who highlights the region's lush nature and culture, but eventually the novel reveals complexities of power, sexuality and racism in the South just before the U.S. entry into World War II…. A delightful novel narrated in regional dialect and filled with detailed descriptions of summertime in a Southern farming community.
Manhattan Book Review
“Mattie dreams of being a lawyer, and it is her deep sense of truth and justice that makes the heart of the novel beat. Too often we assign adolescent protagonists to the YA pile, but this is a book for adults that reminds you what it’s like to be young and have to face hard truths for the first time. The Kudzu Queen is a great read for fans of southern literature, especially the novels of Jesmyn Ward and Alice Walker.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch — Story of Small-town South is Full of Heart
“Her portrayal of the small-town South of the past strikes no false notes, and her work compares favorably with other examples of the subgenre, including Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,”Eudora Welty’s “Delta Wedding,” Fannie Flagg’s “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café” and Susan Wittig Albert’s “Darling Dahlias” series. With a bowl of tears, a basket of grins and a barrel of heart, “The Kudzu Queen” will beguile a few hours of your time and bolster your connections to humanity.”
Ventura County Star—KO’d by the Poetry in a New Novel
“[A] page-turner featuring a protagonist to admire; a handsome charlatan whose evilness outgrows kudzu; families, both tightly knit and torn apart; friendships and feuds; heart and humor; tears and fears; twists and turns….I would have finished reading TKQ in three nights instead of four had I not spent so much time rereading, even re-rereading, so many lovely passages in order to savor them fully.”
Southern Review of Books — Deceit and Trickery Meet Their Match in “The Kudzu Queen”
“The Kudzu Queen is sure to be an instant classic, alongside To Kill A Mockingbird and The Bluest Eye. “
Southern Literary Review — February Read of the Month
“There are so many reasons to like this exceptionally fine novel. It highlights long-festering cultural problems like poverty, alcoholism, abuse, and the town/country divide that still shapes America today. From an environmental standpoint, the government’s kudzu promotion illustrates how good intentions can go awry. The story also beautifully renders the mother/daughter/community bonding occurring during the beauty pageant and festival. Cooper County becomes a character in itself with all the good and bad traits of human nature on full display. But perhaps The Kudzu Queen’s greatest achievement is capturing that glorious moment when a young woman comes into her own. Mattie, as well as her friend Lynette, shines in the novel’s memorable climatic scene.”
Historical Novel Society
“Herman has created a memorable and believable world in Pinesboro. This is a story full of humor and tenderness that celebrates family and hard work while acknowledging the challenges life can bring.”
Literary Hub — Who are Your People?
“Everything we read affects our literary DNA, which, like physical DNA, can change over the course of a lifetime.”
Foreword Reviews
“In Mimi Herman’s lush historical novel The Kudzu Queen, a clever Southern teenager’s sense of justice inspires her to expose the truth about a magnetic newcomer… Fascinating.”
The Local Reporter
“The writing is effortless in a way that it becomes beguiling. It draws you in and does not let go. Do not be fooled, though, because The Kudzu Queen is a hot sweaty mess of a tale raising questions of race, class, gender roles, sexuality and power dynamics, roiling beneath a genteel Southern veil. It is a thrilling page-turner.”
Patrick O’Dowd
“The Kudzu Queen possesses beautiful moments of compassion and humanity. It shows the effect that poverty and neglect can have on children and how love can be found even in the darkest times. It’s a beautiful novel that illuminates a time and place in our nation and speaks to something universal in all of us. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”
Print Interviews
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb
“I’ve Got Questions” with Clifford Garstang
Podcasts & Radio Shows
Thriving Authors Podcast with Dallas Woodburn
“In this episode, it was such a joy to talk with Mimi Herman about her debut novel, The Kudzu Queen. It was a book I just could not put down. She shared so much wisdom and practical advice including how she came to write this historical fiction novel and how to find your way back to writing after you’ve gotten away from it.”
The Book I Read Podcast with Michael Jarmer, Writer Guy
“The comic aspects of this novel keep us happily moving right along, while the drama is a slow but steady burn–initially, we’re having so much fun preparing for the Kudzu Queen pageant, that the only potential problem seems to be, as Mattie and her younger brother Joey plant their own secret Kudzu garden essentially before anybody else takes it up, is the question: will Kudzu just sort of overrun Pinesboro? More sinister, but kind of bubbling under the surface: Is this Mr. Cullowee guy for real? What does he want, really? Does he have ulterior motives? Is he dangerous? Is Mattie’s intense attraction to this guy going to spell trouble for her?
Texas Public Radio Book Public with Yvette Benavides
‘The Kudzu Queen’: Mimi Herman’s historical novel is a timeless tale about family, fitting in, and holding fast to the truth. In Mimi Herman’s novel The Kudzu Queen a charismatic stranger named James Cullowee arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in 1941. He’s there to spread the news about kudzu, a plant that improves soil quality and can cheaply feed cattle. It's even believed to have medicinal effects. Fifteen-year-old Mattie Watson falls for the pitch about kudzu but also for the handsome stranger. Soon enough, the kudzu–a plant this is wildly invasive and can grow up to a foot a day, starts to take over the crops. Cullowee–the Kudzu King–likewise reveals another side to his magnetic personality and charms.
Passions & Prologues with Adam Sockel Podcast
Mimi Herman's new book, The Kudzu Queen, is all about a mysterious man who comes into town looking to shake things up. In her own way, Mimi was that strange person when she bought a house, nearly site unseen, that she could afford to purchase but could not afford to pay someone else to fix up. And so, she learned plumbing. And painting. And electric. And a million other things that went into home restoration. And she grew to LOVE it. You're going to adore this chat and her fabulous book!
Interview with Bob Burtman WHUP-FM Radio
The Kudzu Queen, Writeaways workshops and a friendship that dates back to the eighties.
Charlotte Readers Podcast, Episode 322
In this episode, we feature author Mimi Herman and her novel, The Kudzu Queen, what North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green calls “absorbing, nuanced, and as layered as the characters who inhabit it.” New York Times Novelist Lee Smith says the novel has “the most appealing young heroine since Scout…this book demands to be a movie!”
G. P. Gottlieb Podcast
Kudzu salesman James T. Cullowee arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in the spring of 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu. It can apparently feed cattle, improve soil, grow with no effort, be turned into jam, and cure headaches. Mattie Lee Watson is struck from the moment she sees Mr. Cullowee, and dreams of both becoming Cooper County Kudzu Queen and strolling on the Kudzu King’s arm. But Mattie’s best friend is faced with calamity, Mr. Cullowee seems to be as sneaky and destructive as kudzu, and Mattie realizes that she’s the only one who can fix the mess. Mimi Herman's The Kudzu Queen (Regal House, 2023) is a gripping coming-of-age story about family, trust, race relations, and friendship in the face of divisiveness, alcoholism, mean girls, prejudice, and evil.
Featured In…
Southern Review of Books — Best Southern Books of January 2023
Lee Woodruff — January Book Marks
WFAE 91, Charlotte’s NPR News Source — Want to Read More? Add These Books to Your List
Independent Book Review — 30 Indie Books to Look Out For in Early 2023
Deep South Magazine — Fall/Winter Reading List 2022-23