Lawrence Coates is  the Director of Creative Writing at Bowling Green University in Ohio. He did his undergraduate work at UC Santa Cruz, his Masters at UC Berkeley, and received his Doctorate at the University of Utah.

His new novel, “The Garden of the World,” is set in the Santa Clara Valley at the beginning of the 20th century.The central character is winemaker and has to deal with Prohibition, phylloxera, and a strained relationship with his older son.

Lawrence sets his novels in the South Bay because of the stories his mom told him…she grew up in Saratoga…her father was Saratoga’s last blacksmith.

Have you been to a concert at the Mountain Winery? Listen to the interview with Lawrence to find out the history of the concert venue/winery. He also explains how he uses a news story about a wine heist as a plot point.

His previous novels are “The Blossom Festival” and “The Master of Monterey.”