Cherry Point Farm owner wins international book award recognition

Cherry Point Farm owner wins international book award recognition

Oceana County author, farmer, baker, fish boiler, lavender labyrinth maker and market entrepreneur Barbara E. Bull has been recognized as a finalist in both the general fiction and regional =fiction categories of the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for her novel, “Come By Here.”

Owner of Cherry Point Farm & Market near Little Point Sable, Bull traveled to Chicago, June 23, to accept the awards at a gala event at the Newberry Library, coinciding with the American Library Association Annual Conference.

Hosted by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, now in its 16th year, are judged by leaders of the indie book publishing industry, including many with long careers at major publishing houses. It is the largest international book awards program for independent publishers and self-published authors.

“Come By Here” is Bull’s eighth novel in the Katherine MacLeod series. The story is set in Casnovia and involves the Underground Railroad and early settlers of the lumbering era. Her third novel in the series, “Whispers on the Wind,” was a silver medalist in the 2018 Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards, and her fourth, “Still Waters,” was a bronze medalist in 2019. Bull’s ninth novel, “Checkered Pasts,” was just published this summer. All are available at the Cherry Point Farm & Market and in area bookstores.

Bull is a lifelong resident of west Michigan. She grew up in the orchards of her family’s farms in Casnovia and at Little Point Sable, and on the beach of Lake Michigan. Her Cherry Point Farm & Market is a mecca for visitors with whom she loves sharing her passion for horticulture, history and writing. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, she also holds master’s degrees from the University of Michigan and from Western Michigan University.