JUST IN TIME FOR THE 13TH ANNUAL MOONPIE FESTIVAL Best-selling Author Issues Paperback History of Favorite Snack

Gainesville, FL — From Tennessee to Florida, the MoonPie makes its way into paper. The biography of the out-of-this-world snack is a must-read for food lovers and tasty treat aficionados.

Baseball has Cracker Jacks, Seattle has Triple Venti Lattes, Boston has Boston cream pies, and the South has the unforgettable MoonPie. In time to celebrate the 13th Annual MoonPie Festival—complete with its MoonPie King and Queen coronation—David Magee releases the paperback edition of "MoonPie: Biography of an Out-of-This-World Snack."

A self-described MoonPie addict, Magee is also an award-winning columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the author of eight books, including "Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan," which has been translated into seven languages and sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide.

Originally published in hardcover by Jefferson Press, the paperback edition of "MoonPie" is now available from University Press of Florida and ready for the special celebration that honors this traditional snack every year in Bellbuckle, Tennessee. The Memphis Flyer says, “How two cookies and some marshmallow went from portable miner's snack to Southern icon is a story of perseverance, luck, economics, loyalty, and a remarkably simple business plan.”

In the ninety years since the Chattanooga Bakery began producing MoonPies, the snack grew from a regional treat, to a southern snack staple, to a worldwide phenomenon. With the company now making a million MoonPies a day, Magee estimates that some three billion have been consumed since 1917. Filled with reverence—and anecdotes by aficionados from across the South—"MoonPie" is a whimsical story of what began as a portable food for Kentucky and Tennessee coal miners and became a favorite product of Sam Walton.

Related websites: www.david-magee.com and www.moonpie.com.