Carol Fisher's first interest in writing surfaced when she became the editor of her high school newspaper. After graduating, she earned teaching degrees in English and speech communication and taught in Missouri and Illinois public schools and served as an adjunct faculty member for Southeast Missouri State University and for Three Rivers Junior College. During this time, she continued to successfully publish articles and essays, as well as writing a garden column and features for her local paper.

She received her first book contract a year before retiring. By this time, her writing had primarily focused on cookbook history and food history. After retiring she moved forward as a full time freelance writer. The American Cookbook: A History explores the cookbook genre from 1796 until modern times. The first American cookbook was "written" by a cook who could not read or write. The next two books were co-authored with her husband and writing partner, John C. Fisher ... Pot Roast, Politics and Ants in the Pantry: Missouri's Cookbook Heritage and Food in the American Military: A History. One of the features of the military book is that it includes numerous first person food accounts from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War.

In her presentations, Fisher enjoys sharing information she has discovered during her research on the subjects of her writing projects.

After farming for more than thirty years in southeast Missouri, John C. Fisher began freelance writing in 1995. He has written articles on growing vegetables and small farm agriculture for a variety of magazines including Kitchen Garden and Old Farmer's Almanac. Other writing interests include Missouri travel, restaurant reviews, and food history. For several years he wrote a column for Missouri Life magazine. In 2003 the University of Missouri Press published Fisher's first book, Catfish, Fiddles, Mules, and More: Missouri's State Symbols. Another book, Pot Roast, Politics, and Ants in the Pantry: Missouri's Cookbook Heritage, followed in 2008, also with the University of Missouri Press. Fisher co-authored this book with his wife and writing partner, Carol Fisher. In 2011 McFarland published a third book, Food in the American Military: A History, also co-authored with Carol. This volume won first place in the Missouri Writer's Guild Walter Williams Major Work award competition. Fisher's fourth book, Southeast Missouri from Swampland to Farmland: The Transformation of the Lowlands, will be released by McFarland in the spring of 2017.

Fisher is a member of Hearland Writers Guild and the Missouri Writer's Guild. He is also a member of the State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Folklore Society, and the Central Mississippi Valley Archaeological Society. Fisher serves as a member of the Missouri Board on Geographic Names.

More about John C. Fisher at:

www.johncfisher.com

www.facebook.com/johncfisher.author