Coffee Smuggler Reviews
11/26/14 DigPortland "Literary Buzz: Smuggle Some History" by Heather Foran.
Short Author Bio
Dave Holman lives in Maine and works at Bowdoin College, Coffee Smuggler is his first novel.
Author Bio (83 words)
Dave Holman lives in Maine with his wife Rommy, cat Patas and three dwarf goats: Aurora, Canela, and Silly Willy. He attended Carleton College and co-founded the Spitting Llama Bookstore and Outfitter while living in Bolivia. He co-authored Youth Renewing the Countryside in 2009. He holds an MBA and has worked for non-profit organizations like Safe Passage. He currently works full time at Bowdoin College and writes most mornings thanks in large part to the plant De Clieu smuggled to Martinique.
Author Headshot (77kb low res download)
Author Headshot (2.6mb high res download)
Short Synopsis (149 words)
Coffee Smuggler is an adventure based on the true story of Gabriel De Clieu, a French soldier who stole a coffee plant from King Louis XV in 1723 and smuggled it to the island of Martinique. There was only one coffee plant in France, locked in the King's botanical garden. The King and nobles had refused De Clieu's petitions for a cutting of the plant, so De Clieu seduced a noble woman with a strange illness. She had access the royal doctor who secretly gave a cutting of the King's plant to De Clieu. With the plant in hand, De Clieu boarded the ill-fated ship Le Dromedaire and faced pirate attacks, a hurricane, and starvation in the doldrums to bring this precious plant back to his home on Martinique. From this one plant sprang millions of coffee trees and much of the Arabica coffee drunk in the world today.
Extended Author Bio (169 words)
Dave Holman lives in Maine with his wife Rommy, cat Patas and three dwarf goats: Aurora, Canela, and Silly Willy. Dave attended Carleton College in Minnesota and holds an MBA from USM. He has written for Renewing the Countryside, The Free Press, and served as the Outreach and Communications Coordinator for Safe Passage from 2011-2014. He is currently the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Bowdoin College.
After crisscrossing America to meet with, photograph and write about rural innovators in over 30 states, Dave co-authored Youth Renewing the Countryside in 2009. In 2011, he collaborated with a graphic designer to publish high definition maps of Bolivia and of the city of La Paz, Bolivia.
He has a couple of irons in the fire: a thriller related to ecological and financial security, a book of short stories from his years in Bolivia and also a book about ultra-running. OK, no more clues unless you subscribe to the emailing list, that's where the latest insider info goes. Stay tuned.