Locke, Juliane Poirier 1959- (Juliane Locke, Juliane Poirier)

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Locke, Juliane Poirier 1959- (Juliane Locke, Juliane Poirier)

PERSONAL:

Born January 7, 1959, in San Antonio, TX; daughter of Lawrence A., Sr., and Mary Jane Poirier; married Timothy Bruce Locke, May 30, 1999; children: Jordan Francis. Ethnicity: "American (French-German)." Education: Humboldt State University, B.A., 1982, M.A.T.W., 1988.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Napa, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and artist. Four Springs, Middletown, CA, program leader; Napa City-County Library, Napa, CA, literacy and volunteer services supervisor.

WRITINGS:

Vineyards in the Watershed: Sustainable Winegrowing in Napa County, Napa Sustainable Winegrowing Group (Napa, CA), 2002.

England's Jane: The Story of Jane Austen, Morgan Reynolds (Greensboro, NC), 2006.

Contributor of articles to various periodicals, including Wine Business Monthly, California Wild, California Energy Markets, and St. Helena Star.

SIDELIGHTS:

Juliane Poirier Locke is a writer and an artist. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Locke completed her higher education studies at Humboldt State University in northern California, earning a master of arts in the teaching of writing in 1988. Locke remained in California and began contributing articles on environmental issues to a number of local and national periodicals.

Locke published her first book, Vineyards in the Watershed: Sustainable Winegrowing in Napa County, in 2002 through the Napa Sustainable Winegrowing Group. The book focuses on how many Napa County farmers have managed their land with the intent of producing a crop that is safer for the environment and the region's ecological future. While explaining Napa's sustainable farming methods, Locke covers such topics as water use, wildlife protection, organic farming, weed control, erosion control, cover crops, vine health, and various sociological issues like farm workers and stewardship groups. Locke includes a number of personalized case studies, where local farmers share their fears of making these changes, problems along the way, and ultimately, their success stories. In doing so, Locke and the Napa Sustainable Winegrowing Group hope to raise public awareness of these farming methods and provide support for farmers interested in becoming more ecologically minded. A writer for the Napa County Resource Conservation District Newsletter commented in the April, 2002, edition that Vineyards in the Watershed was "suitable for the farming and non-farming community." The same reviewer commented in the newsletter that "the book is written in a way that recognizes sustainable farming as something that is to be experimented with, to learn from and to adapt to over time; as new information and technology become available."

In 2006 Locke published England's Jane: The Story of Jane Austen. Moving away from her usual topics of land and water management in California, Locke provides the story of English novelist Jane Austen in a format accessible to teenage students and nonliterary scholars. Locke gathered information from Austen's novels, biographies, archival pictures, and letters to chronologically present Austen's life, ranging from her childhood and social life to her manners, customs, and writing style. The book is also illustrated with pictures, drawings, portraits, and copies of Austen's original writing. Pat Bender, writing in School Library Journal, described England's Jane as an "uncomplicated … useful, attractive book." Bender added that "the topics are aimed at helping readers better understand" the important, but more difficult novels for younger readers, such as Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Booklist contributor Jennifer Mattson thought England's Jane is "an impressive first effort." Mattson did find instances of unevenness in the narrative though. Calling it "lively" and "amplified by well-chosen quotes and full-color images," Mattson recommended the book to both "Austenites and dutiful researchers."