Winona State University will host author Barry Estabrook as a part of the Great River Reading Series Wednesday, Oct. 17.

Estabrook will give two free readings of his novel, Tomatoland, at noon and 7 p.m. in the Science Laboratory Center. He will also speak to Jim Armstrong’s creative nonfiction class from 9:30 a.m.-10:50 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 in Minne 109.

Estabrook is a freelance food writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Washington Post. In “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit,” Estabrook looks at the life of today’s mass-produced tomato- and the environmental and human costs of the tomato industry. The book was based on his James Beard Award-winning article, Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes, which originally appeared in Gourmet magazine. Estabrook was a contributing editor for Gourmet magazine before publication ceased in 2009.

All class sessions and readings are free and open to the public.

If you would like to visit the class, email Jim Armstrong at Jarmstrong@winona.edu

For more information about Estabrook, visit his award-winning blog: http://politicsoftheplate.com