The Bean Trees Resources

Your go-to place for Barbara Kingsolver news, books, the author's biography, and FAQ about her work.

Barbara Kingsolver offers words of wisdom about life, adulthood, and community in this 2008 commencement address at Duke University.

A New York Times review of The Bean Trees. Yes, the title of the article is more poetic than most of the book.

A New York Times review of Pigs in Heaven.

An engaging New York Times interview that features lots of extra commentary from the interviewer, Sarah Lyall. Good one for the essay you're bound to write.

A more recent interview, in which Barbara Kingsolver talks about motherhood, climate change, and the lies people tell on the internet.

Barbara Kingsolver visits the New York Public Library to talk about the importance of libraries, books, and doing lots of research for her novels. We wonder if the Horticultural Encyclopedia makes a cameo.

Barbara Kingsolver talks about getting into the lives, minds, and voices of her characters.

Canada's George Stroumboulopoulos (no wonder he shortened it to Strombo) interviews Barbara Kingsolver about her recent book on gardening and local foods, which is called Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life (2008).

Barbara Kingsolver may not be talking about The Bean Trees in this audio interview for The Guardian, but it'll give you a great sense of her character and style, along with some info about her more famous book.

The lady author herself.

Who's that poking her head up from the garden? Symbolism much?

Can't you just feel that dry desert heat?