FOLEY, Ala. — Multiple No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jill Conner Browne, the Sweet Potato Queen, will be the guest speaker at the Friends of the Foley Public Library’s annual fundraiser, Tables of Content.

High Tea with the Queen will be held on July 26, at 2 p.m., at the Foley Civic Center.

Tickets are $20; $5 of which can be applied to the purchase of any of her books.

Tickets may be purchased at the Foley Library or Page & Palette Bookstore in Fairhope. Tickets to be purchased in advance.

You can assure a table nearer the front of the room by purchasing eight to 10 tickets for a reserved table for your group of friends. Space is limited so get your tickets early. Call (251) 943-7665 for more information.

Since the purpose of the Friends of the Foley Public Library’s fundraiser is to have some creative fun, Browne is a perfect fit.

High Tea with the Sweet Potato Queen should be a great deal more fun than anything in jolly old England.

Tea is on the menu, but thanks to the speaker, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly will be supplying wine. Sweet Home Farm will provide their wonderful artisan cheeses for the fruit and cheese table and members of the Friends of the Library will be making  all manner of tea sandwiches and sweet treats for the attendees.

Hotel Magnolia and Murchison and Howard LLC attorneys are also sponsoring the event.

When the doors open, take a look at all the “tablescapes” around the room and mark your programs. Many creative volunteers have designed a variety of tables, each one  depicting a book.

Attendees use the list of titles in their programs to figure out which table corresponds with each book title (there’s still time to sign up to do a tablescape).

You don’t have to have read all the books to enjoy the game. You can have a wonderful  time guessing.

Bring your purses. You can vote for your favorite tables with your wallet. Friends of the Library don’t even mind if those doing tables stuff the ballot boxes. It is a fundraiser for the library, after all.

Of course you’ll want to bring your checkbooks because “Her Highness” will have her books for purchase. She’ll also be available to sign them.

Page & Palette Bookstore will be on hand to handle those transactions. Remember to save your tickets as the bookstore will take $5 off your bill.

The Friends of the Library are beyond excited about this year’s speaker. Browne has created a global phenomenon — 5,800 chapter groups in 22 countries — based upon her philosophy and world view as recounted through her rollicking, raucous and riotously funny essays.

Women and smart men understand that the bawdy, sassy, down-to-earth humor is simply the vehicle by which the greater message is conveyed — that is, one of self-reliance and empowerment, inspiring all to do what makes their hearts sing.

“Boss Queen” Jill Conner Browne conceived of and founded the Sweet Potato Queens in the early 1980s. After passing through a patch of the doldrums, she found herself in need of some excitement, and a new direction.

Browne discovered that she lived near Vardaman, Miss., self-proclaimed Sweet Potato Capital of the World, and inspiration struck — she volunteered to be the queen for the farmers’ annual festival.

Although the crowning never materialized, the prospect of being the queen of anything was too good to pass up, so in 1982 Browne entered herself and a few similarly inspired friends in the Jackson, Miss. St. Patrick’s Day Parade (now the fourth largest in the country).

The four original Queens all wore green, hand-me-down, ball gowns and tiaras, and waved to the crowd from the bed of an old pickup truck. It was modest, but it was a start.

The Queenly costume has undergone several upgrades since then, and now consists of a sparkly size-24 green-sequined mini-dress (stuffed to its voluptuous forty-pound carrying weight), flowing red wigs, Revlon’s “Love That Pink” lipstick and real-life majorette boots.

There are more than three million copies of the Sweet Potato Queen’s books currently in print, not including her critically acclaimed eighth work, “American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queen’s Guide to Preserving your Assets,” which was released in January 2009 by Simon & Schuster; her seventh book is “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit” (Simon & Schuster, 2008); Browne’s sixth book was her first work of fiction: “The Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big-Ass Novel: Stuff we didn’t actually do, but could have and may yet” (Simon & Schuster, 2007); her fifth book, a New York Times bestseller, “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Wedding Planner and Divorce Guide,” (Crown Publishers, 2005) is an ingenious hardcover flip-book; the No. 1 New York Times bestseller, “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay, or Dead” (Three Rivers Press, 2004); the No. 1 New York Times bestseller, “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner)” (Three Rivers Press, 2003); and, the national bestsellers: “God Save the Sweet Potato Queens” (Three Rivers Press, 2001), and “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love” (Three Rivers Press, 1999), the book that started it all, which has been translated into German and Japanese.

A Broadway musical based on the Sweet Potato Queen’s series of books is being developed in partnership with musician and producer, Kevin DeRemer, and Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter Melissa Manchester, who is writing the music; writing the lyrics for the musical is Oscar nominee, multiple No. 1 songwriter, and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Sharon Vaughn; and, writing the stage play is Rupert Holmes: the first person in theatrical history to solely win Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Music and Lyrics, and Best Musical for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” and for his play, “Say Goodnight, Gracie,” which earned a 2004 National Broadway Theater Award and a Tony nomination for Best Play; he most recently was represented on Broadway by Curtains, winning several awards and eight Tony nominations; Rupert also created and wrote the critically acclaimed, Emmy award-winning TV series, “Remember WENN;” he received a Drama Desk Award for Best Orchestration and arranged and conducted Barbara Streisand’s classic album “Lazy Afternoon;” he also twice received the Mystery Writers of America’s coveted Edgar Award for his novels.

Browne has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, People, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The DallasMorning News, The Denver Post, The St. Petersburg Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Forbes, SOUTH, The London Observer Magazine (UK), and Bella Magazine (UK), and Today in English (France) just to name a few; she has appeared on numerous TV shows, including three times on the CBS “Early Show” and “Good Morning America”; she been on the “Today Show,” “CBS News Sunday Morning,” “The Other Half,” “The Wayne Brady Show,” “The Caroline Rhea Show,” “Southern Living Presents” (nominated for a 2005 Regional Emmy), “The Rick & Bubba Show” twice, CMT’s “100 Greatest Love Songs,” Tucker Carlson, Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s TV production, “Writers,” (the ‘Southern Humorists’ episode featuring Browne won a 2005 Regional Emmy) and NPR’s “All Things Considered.

Browne has written several columns for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and currently is a monthly contributor to AY magazine.

For the length of the first women’s national FM talk network, Browne was a regular on-air contributor to “The Lisa Birnbach Show.”

Through Browne’s Web site, www.sweetpotatoqueens.com, she has inspired more than 5,700 registered Sweet Potato Queen Wannabe Chapter Groups, in 22 countries around the world.

Browne is a founding member of the Women’s Fund of The Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, Miss. She actively assists ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts: so far she has raised over $100,000 in cash through her Web site; she cooked with Chefs for Humanity for law enforcement and victims on the Gulf Coast; does clean-up detail with Camp Coast Care; and she participated in the nationally televised Mississippi Rising Gala Concert, raising in excess of $15 million.

When Browne’s not writing, working for relief efforts, or speaking at fundraising events around the country, she lives and reigns in Jackson, Miss., with her three cats, a three-legged girl dog, a big boy dog and her husband.

And no, he’s not the Sweet Potato King.