Beth Macy, Author of Factory Man, to Speak and Sign Books at UNCG on November 6

Beth Macy and John D. Bassett III are on a roll.

The runaway success of Macy’s book Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — and Helped Save an American Town has brought both into the limelight.  

At the invitation of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries, Macy is coming to UNCG to talk about and sign copies of her book on November 6 at 7 pm in the Virginia Dare Room of the Alumni House.  Books will be for sale at the event, which is free.  The public is welcome.  No reservations are necessary.  Fred Starr, long-time furniture industry executive in the Triad, and UNCG documentary film-maker Matt Barr will offer reactions to the book following Macy's talk.

 A week later, Bassett will be in Greensboro to receive UNCG’s 3rd Annual Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Award from the Bryan School on Wednesday, November 12, in the Bryan Building, Room 160 Auditorium

 Published in July, the book has been very positively noted by the NY Times,  Wall Street Journal, NPR and elsewhere, and Macy is being mentioned as a possible award winner for the book.   

Tom Hanks has reportedly bought the movie rights, and HBO may be adapting it as a miniseries.  Meanwhile, the septuagenarian Bassett has become an “overnight success” after a distinguished business career of many years.

Bryan Burrough, reviewing the book for the NY Times, began “Oh, if only we had more business writers like Beth Macy, and more business books like her debut, Factory Man…”

“This is Ms. Macy’s first book, but it’s in a class with other runaway debuts like Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit and Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” wrote Janet Maslin in The New York Times.