Rural Fresno County farmer and acclaimed author David Mas Masumoto will present “Valley Stories: Things Worth Savoring” on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program at California State University, Fresno.
The lecture will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Satellite Student Union. Admission is free for Osher members and $20 for others. Non-members may attend, on a space available basis, and should call prior to attending.
Masumoto is an organic peach and grape farmer in Del Rey whose recent books include “Letters to the Valley” and “A Harvest of Memories.”
His awards include the James Clavell Japanese American National Literacy Award. His book “Epitaph for a Peach” won the 1995 Julia Child Cookbook Award in the Literary Food Writing category and was a finalist for the 1996 James Beard Foundation Food Writing Award. It was also received the San Francisco Review of Books Critics’ Choice Award 1995-96. German and Chinese translation editions have been published.
“Harvest Son” won a Commonwealth Club of California silver medal for the California Book Awards in 1999 and was a finalist for the Asian American Writers’ Workshop award in New York.
Masumoto, 51, is third-generation farmer who works with his 83-year-old father and mother. He was a founding member of California Association of Family Farmers, served on the California Tree Fruit Agreement research board and was a member of the Raisin Advisory Committee research board. He serves on the James Irvine Foundation Board of Directors and previously was a member and co-chair of the California Council for the Humanities board.
He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in community development from UC Davis and attended International University in Tokyo, Japan.
Masumoto and his wife, Marcy have two children, Nikiko and Korio.
For information on Fresno State’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute or to RSVP, call 559.278.0008 or go to the following Web site:
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute – www.csufresno.edu/ExtendedEd/osher.htm
