Wohl honors 'Best of the Best' of James Beard Foundation

            The 2012 James Beard Award nominees were released this week and although we were disappointed that Chef Justin Girouard of The French Press didn’t make the cut, we were happy to see Chef Donald Link up for the prestigious Outstanding Chef category. Link is known for his New Orleans restaurants but recently honored Lafayette but opening a second Cochon in River Ranch last year.

            Good luck to Link and here’s to future nominations for Lafayette chefs.

            If you love following the Beard Awards better than the Oscars, you’ll be thrilled to learn that New Orleans food writer Kit Wohl has profiled 21 American chefs who have been honored by the James Beard Foundation in “The James Beard Foundation’s Best of the Best: a 25^th Anniversary Celebration of America’s Outstanding Chefs” (Chronicle Books).

            This gorgeous coffee table book not only includes personality profiles of these award-winning chefs from 1991 to today but offers images of their kitchens and cuisine and some of their outstanding recipes. Some of the best-known names include Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters and Tom Colicchio. 

The following is a lovely simple summer salad by Waters:

Summer Salad

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 handfuls mixed greens (8 ounces)

3 radishes, sliced into rounds

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh chives or chervil

Directions: With a mortar and pestle, puree the garlic. Transfer the garlic to a bowl, add the vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil to make a vinaigrette. In a large bowl, add the greens, radishes, chives or chervil, or both. Add three-quarters of the vinaigrette, toss and taste. Add more dressing as needed. Serve immediately.

   

***

            LSU graduate Suzanne Perron left home to pursue a career in fashion design, traveling to New York to work with Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera, Anna Sui and Ralph Rucci. As with many Louisiana natives, even though she was highly successful, the Bayou State beckoned. Perron returned to New Orleans to be closer to family, planning her moving date for Aug. 31, 2005.

            While many people might be curtailed by a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, Perron became more determined.

            “It turned out that Hurricane Katrina delayed but did not derail my plans,” she writes in “Designing in Ivory and White: Suzanne Perron Gowns from the Inside Out,” published by LSU Press. “My desire to be in Louisiana intensified.”

            Perron opened her own custom design business in New Orleans, specializing in unique gowns for weddings and Carnivals. The book contains her story, plus photos of her couture fashion, from Mardi Gras queens to Garden District weddings. There’s also a chapter on the “couture process,” including aspects such as beadwork, design, draping and fabric manipulation.

Book events

            Ben Lowenkron and Christopher Shipman of Baton Rouge, and Carol Rice of Lafayette will read from their work at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at Casa Azul Gifts in Grand Coteau. An open mic will follow. Lowenkron has published a chapbook of poems, “Preacher's Blues,” and teaches in the English and the Humanities departments at Baton Rouge Community College where he a faculty adviser for the poetry club. Shipman is the author of “Human-Carrying Flight Technology,” is poetry editor for DIG Magazine of Baton Rouge and teaches English at Baton Rouge Community College. Rice is working on her first collection of poetry titled “Autobiography of a Plankton Reflections on the Sea of life.” For more information call Patrice Melnick at (337) 662-1032 or email festivalwords@gmail.com

            The Friends of the Jefferson Public Library will conduct its semi-annual Big Book Sale beginning on Thursday, March 29, at the Pontchartrain Center, 4545 Williams Blvd. at the Lake, in Kenner. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, March 29-31 and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 1. More than 60,000 gently used books, puzzles, DVDs, CDs, videotapes, music tapes, and vinyl records will be offered for sale. According to members of the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library, the sale includes an exceptional collection of collectibles, art, travel, history, military and Civil War books. For more information, call (504) 455-2665 or email  friendsjpl@yahoo.com.

            The ninth annual Jambalaya Writers’ Conference will be Saturday, March 31, at the Terrebonne Main Library in Houma. The keynote speaker will be Pulitzer Prize-winning memoirist and journalist Rick Bragg, author of two best-selling memoirs, “All Over but the Shoutin’” and “Ava’s Man.” “The Prince of Frog Town” is his latest, completing the trilogy. Other speakers include Mary Kay Andrews, Eileen Dreyer, Heather Graham, Damon Stentz, Brigett Scott, Robert San Souci, Dianne de Las Casas, Chris Cenac, Claire Joller and poet laureates Julie Kane and Darrel Bourque, along with Jack Bedell, David Middleton, John Doucet and Alison Pelegrin. There will also be a visiting agent and editors. The cost for everything, including lunch, is $35. Registrations are accepted at the door. Special accommodation rates are available at the Courtyard Marriott, across the street from the library. For information, visit www.mytpl.org. 

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.

Two literary events honor Louisiana's Bicentennial

             In honor of Louisiana’s Bicentennial this year, there are two special literary events to be enjoyed.

            The LSU Libraries Special Collections presents “State of Transition: Louisiana Circa 1812,” through June 2 at LSU Hill Memorial Library in Baton Rouge. The exhibition is free and examines topics of daily life during Louisiana’s transformation from territory to state in the early 19th century as well as the sometimes rancorous political process through which Louisiana attained statehood. Other topics include Louisiana becoming “American,” the state’s role in the War of 1812 and institutions such as slavery and religion.

             The display draws mainly from the print and manuscript holdings housed within the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections of the LSU Libraries Special Collections. Notable items included in the exhibit are Gov. William Claiborne’s correspondence, the state’s first constitution, a retrospective on the legend of Jean Lafitte, a letter from Andrew Jackson to his wife while en route to the Battle of New Orleans and documents about the 1811 slave revolt.

             The exhibition also features models of homes typical of the era, which are on loan from the LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology, and artifacts from the LSU Textile and Costume Museum.

             Hill Memorial Library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

            The Historic New Orleans Collection unveiled its “Furnishing Louisiana, 1735–1835” exhibit, which features more than 50 pieces of early Louisiana furniture, including armoires, high-post beds, chests, tables, footstools, a child’s cradle and one of the oldest documented pieces of Louisiana furniture, a refectory table from the Ursuline convent. On loan from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia, is a New Orleans–made Campeche chair. Jefferson appreciated the comfort of the curved-leg chair, and his advocacy helped popularize the form outside of Louisiana.

            The free exhibition brings to life pieces featured in THNOC’s award-winning publication “Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735–1835” by authors Jack D. Holden, H. Parrott Bacot, Cybele T. Gontar, Brian J. Costello and Francis J. Puig.

            “Furnishing Louisiana, 1735-1835” is on view now through June 17 and will offer several related programs. Gallery hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The companion book retails for $95 and is available at The Shop at The Collection, independent booksellers and Amazon.com. For more information, visit www.hnoc.org or call (504) 523-4662.

Tennessee Williams Festival this weekend

The Tennessee Wiliams/New Orleans Literary Festival celebrates its 26^th anniversary Wednesday through Sunday, March 21-25, in several venues throughout New Orleans. There will be two days of master classes for writers, panels and lectures, celebrity interviews, theater, food and music events, literary walking tours, book fair and the annual Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest.

Recently published is “My Friend Tom: The Poet-Playwright Tennessee Williams” by close friend and poet William Jay Smith. Smith met Williams in St. Louis when both were starting their careers as writers. He offers a critical analysis of Williams’s early work in poetry and drama, plus reflects on their careers in pre-World War II South and postwar New York. The book is based on Smith’s correspondence with Williams, excerpts from literary journals and newspapers and more. Smith is a multi-published author and former U.S. Poet Laureate.

            Some of the speakers at the Tennessee Wiliams/New Orleans Literary Festival include actors Piper Laurie and Amanda Plummer; authors John Guare (“A Free Man of Color”) and Laura Lippman; Nick Spitzer, folklorist and producer and host of radio’s “American Routes;” Amy Hempel (“Collected Stories”) and Julie Kane, Louisiana’s 2012 poet laureate and many more.

For information on the festival, call (504) 581-1144 or (800) 990-3378 or visit www.tennesseewilliams.net.

New releases

            Poet, editor and UNO teacher Bill Lavender has published “Memory Wing,” a memoir in verse that explores the outer reaches of truth. Lavender is a native of Fayetteville, Ark., although a long-time New Orleans resident, and is the previous author of numerous books, including “I of the Storm,” “While Sleeping” and the anthology “Another South: Experimental Writing in the South.”

            Pelican Publishing has released “The Story Behind the Stone” by Robert Jeanfreau, a pictorial guide detailing the history of 40 New Orleans monuments, including many in the French Quarter.

            Roy Lunk has published a historic book titled “Des Allemands: A Bayou Runs Through It,” with $2 donated to St. Gertrude Church from every book sold at $12. The book is available at regional stores or from Lunk by calling (985) 758-7406.

Author, medium Schram to visit Ruston B&B

            Author and medium Allyson Glynn Schram of Arnaudville will give intuitive readings March 29, 30 and 31 at the Lewis House Victorian Bed and Breakfast, 210 E. Alabama in Ruston. Schram is the author of “The Mortician and The Medium,” an ebook series that offers humor — her husband is a mortician — in addition to an exploration of being a “contemporary intuitive,” or person who receives messages from those who have passed.

            “I believe that there is no such thing as death,” Schram wrote me. “The physical body gives out, but the soul is eternal. Through the vibration of love, we stay connected to those who have been in our lives. People who have passed on are coming through to show you that life continues and they are still around you.”
            Readings cost $80; call (985) 662-1780 to schedule an appointment.

Book events

            Casa Azul Gifts will host a reading and open mic featuring Creative Writing Students of Opelousas High School at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, at Casa Azul Gifts, 232 Martin Luther King Drive in Grand Coteau. The Opelousas High School Creative Writers will perform original poems and stories written throughout the school year under the direction of Jessica Bonnem.  Some of these students participated in a workshop with award-winning poet Toi Derricotte in the 2011 Festival of Words and several placed in the Festival of Words Creative Writing Contest. Participants are free to bring their own poems, songs or stories for the open mic that follows. The free, community event is open to all ages. For more information, call Patrice Melnick at (337) 662-1032 or email festivalwords@gmail.com.

            Lesley Crawford Costner will sign copies of “Goodnight Acadiana” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at Barnes & Noble Lafayette and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Tenzie Gifts.

                   

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.

Great Southern storytelling by Jackson in 'A Grown-up Kind of Pretty'

            Ever give a dog a bone and watch as he snatches it up and disappears to devour the treat in peace?

            That’s how I feel when I receive a book by Joshilyn Jackson, a Deep South writer who fills book pages with Southern humor, mystery, class wars you can relate to and dialogue that sounds like I’m sitting in a Mississippi diner eavesdropping. Her wonderful past bestsellers include “gods in Alabama,” “Between, Georgia” and “Backseat Saints.” I can assure you I grabbed her latest book and disappeared from family and work, devouring the story like a dog on a bone, growling whenever anyone tried to interrupt.

            And I wasn’t disappointed. Jackson returns with another winning novel in “A Grown-up Kind of Pretty.” Set in a small fictional town near Biloxi, the book follows three generations of Slocumb women, all who seem to experience life-changing events every 15 years. Grandma “Big” had a baby at 15, unaided by her disapproving Southern Baptist parents. Then her rambucuous child, Liza, has her own out-of-wedlock baby at 15, which sets her on a road to ruin until she conquers her demons.

            The book begins in present day as Liza’s child, Mosey, turns the corner at 15, causing both mom and grandmother to smother her with caution. But it’s not Mosey causing the trouble. An infant’s bones are found buried in the backyard under the willow not long after her mother suffers a stroke. Liza manages, however, to blurt out two words upon seeing the unearthed grave: “My baby!” Suddenly, Mosey realizes she may not be a Slocumb after all, Liza must face up to a possible kidnapping and Big struggles to hold the family together while searching out the truth.

            The book’s narrative is told through all three women as one attempts to regain her voice, another her parentage and the matriarch finding love among the ruins. Through it all are the raw choices we make, the harsh consequences that sometimes make our lives complete and the restrictions we put upon ourselves and relationships because of our upbringing.

            “A Grown-up Kind of Pretty” keeps you guessing, keeps you laughing while enjoying every minute of this charming Southern tale. Give yourself time, however. You won’t want to be disturbed and family members don’t appreciate being growled at.

Tennessee Williams Festival March 21-25

            The Tennessee Wiliams/New Orleans Literary Festival celebrates its 26th anniversity Wednesday through Sunday, March 21-25, in several venues throughout New Orleans. There will be two days of master classes for writers, panels and lectures, celebrity interviews, theater, food and music events, literary walking tours, book fair and the annual Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest.

            Recently published is “My Friend Tom: The Poet-Playwright Tennessee Williams” by close friend and poet William Jay Smith. Smith met Williams in St. Louis when both were starting their careers as writers. He offers a critical analysis of Williams’s early work in poetry and drama, plus reflects on their careers in pre-World War II South and postwar New York. The book is based on Smith’s correspondence with Williams, excerpts from literary journals and newspapers and more. Smith is a multi-published author and former U.S. Poet Laureate.

            Some of the speakers at the Tennessee Wiliams/New Orleans Literary Festival include actors Piper Laurie and Amanda Plummer; authors John Guare (“A Free Man of Color”) and Laura Lippman; Nick Spitzer, folklorist and producer and host of radio’s “American Routes;” Amy Hempel (“Collected Stories”) and Julie Kane, Louisiana’s 2012 poet laureate and many more.

            For information on the festival, call (504) 581-1144 or (800) 990-3378 or visit www.tennesseewilliams.net.

New guidebooks

            Baton Rouge writer Alex V. Cook offers a comprehensive guide to passing a good time in South Louisiana with “Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana’s Juke Joints, Honky-Tonks and Dance Halls” (LSU Press). The book’s trade paperback size makes it easy to bring along on a tour of South Louisiana’s back roads and cities, enjoying the many musical venues listed in this book — and there are many! Cook profiles the dance halls and juke joints and offers photos, maps and “detour” features on festivals, recording studios and record stores.

            Another great guidebook to read, grab and bring along for the ride is “The Acadiana Art Trail: The Essential Guide to Finding Local Art in Cajun Country” by Kelli Foret, with photos by Lauren Hensgens. The book offers a handy map and leads readers in several directions, providing “trails” that make for great day trips. Included on this sojourns are galleries, artists’ studios, restaurants and coffeeshops with art, museums and more.

            A few of the places have closed or changed names since both books were published (Fly’s Coffee House and Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge) so it’s always good to call ahead.

            While we’re talking guidebooks I must add a plug for my own. “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Tour of Acadiana,” published by The History Press, offers a historic tour of the 22 parishes making up Cajun Country. In addition to providing information on attractions, historic sites and sometimes food (what’s a Cajun Country guide without mentioning food?), there’s also a handy listings of South Louisiana festivals and tourism web sites.

New releases

            The winter edition of The Southern Review, the literary quarterly begun by Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks at LSU in 1935, is now on shelves. The issue is filled with works by established and emerging writers and artwork by featured artist Gwyneth Scally.

            Listing just about every subject possible is the “African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage, and Excellence” by Lean’tin L. Bracks with a foreword by author Jessie Carney Smith. Numerous Louisiana natives are mentioned in this mammoth undertaking, but a few notables are missing, such as New Orleans Civil Rights leaders Oretha Castle Haley and Dookie Chase, among others, and contemporary political columnist Donna Brazile. Overall, it’s a great reference book and a valuable addition to any library.

                                   

Book news

            Rebecca J. Scott, the Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Law and author of “Degrees of Freedom: Louisiana and Cuba after Slavery” has been named the University of Michigan’s Henry Russel Lecturer for 2012.  “Degrees of Freedom” received the Frederick Douglass Prize and the John Hope Franklin Prize. 

Book events

            Toby Daspit and Anna Purdy poetry reading, with open mic to follow, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at Casa Azul Gifts in Grand Coteau. Information: Patrice at (337) 662-1032 or festivalwords@gmail.com.

            Lily Hoang reads from her works at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at the Ernest J. Gaines Center, third floor of Dupré Library on the UL campus in Lafayette. All Women’s History Month programs at Dupré Library are free and open to the public. For more information contact April Grey: aprilgrey@louisiana.edu, 482-6197 or Derek Mosley: gainescenter@louisiana.edu, 482-1848.

            Michael S. Martin, director of the Center for Louisiana Studies and Cheryl Courrege Burguieres, endowed professor of history, UL-Lafayette, will lead a discussion on “Does it Really Matter Who Killed the Kingfish?” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at the Paul & Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum on the UL campus in Lafayette.

            The UL-Lafayette Festival of the Arts presents the symposium, “Antonine Maillet and Her World: Return to Acadie,” from 11:30am-5:30 p.m. Friday, March 16, at Vermilionville Performance Center in Lafayette.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.

Scholars discuss 'Race and Rights in Louisiana'

Authors and scholars Thomas Aiello and Shannon Frystak discussed race and the Civil Rights movement in Louisiana this week as part of a panel on “Race and Rights in Louisiana: A Discussion of the Past and Present” at UL-Lafayette.

            The talk was sponsored by the Center of Louisiana Studies and UL Press; both authors contributed to the UL Press book “Louisiana Beyond Black & White: New Interpretations of Twentieth-Century Race and Race Relations,” edited by Michael S. Martin, Center and UL Press director.

            The focus of the panel was to examine whether Louisiana and its race relations and Civil Rights activities was different from any other place. Whereas many aspects mirrored the rest of the South, Louisiana was unique in some regards, the authors stated.

            Frystak’s research focused on women and their involvement toward racial equality and she found women in many leadership roles in New Orleans. Nine of the 11 original members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter in New Orleans were women, for instance.

            “In Louisiana, they were running projects,” Frystak said. “And that’s the not the case elsewhere.”

            Aiello studied the role of religion in the Civil Rights movement, encouraging participants not to look at any one aspect of race in a generalized way. He used the discord among the African American members of the Zion Traveler Church of Monroe in 1932 as an example of how religion wasn’t always the unifying aspect of the Civil Rights Movement.

            “These kinds of complications tend to be left out,” Aiello explained. “If you really want to see what’s going on, you have to look at these little examples.”

            “Louisiana Beyond Black & White” is a compilation of essays examining Louisiana’s race relations and “remind us that, for all its distinctiveness, Louisiana’s history mirrored much of what happened in other southern states,” the book states. Other contributors are Adam Fairclough, Susan Dollar, Justin Poché, John Kyle Day, Charles Pellegrin, Michael Wade and Greta de Jong.

            Frystak is also the author of “Our Minds on Freedom: Women and the Struggle for Black Equality in Louisiana, 1924-1967” and co-editor of the upcoming “Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume II.”’

            Aiello is also the author of “Bayou Classic: The Grambling-Southern Football Rivalry” and “The Kings of Casino Park: Black Baseball in the Lost Season of 1932.”

Francois publishes sequel to historical

            Lafayette author John Francois has published his fifth historical novel, “Pontiac,” the sequel to Francois’s “Carrier-of-Bones.” In his latest, returning characters Jean-Claude and Louis now find themselves half-dead when their clan family runs out of food before one of the worst winters on record is over. They must move to the Illinois country if they are to live through another such winter, for their tribal hunting grounds are depleted of deer or elk. The novel examines how the English treated their Indian allies after they helped the English win their war against the French and how Pontiac, the charismatic Ottawa chief, attempts to regain his leadership among the Ohio tribes and raise a second rebellion against the English, and of his ultimate end. Francois will be discussing “Pontiac” at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Empirical St. Landry Genealogical Society meeting at the south campus of the Opelousas General Hospital. He will also be signing copies at the next Author's Alley April 21 at the Lafayette South Regional Library. For more information, visit www.johnfrancois.com.

           

Friends spring book sale this week at Heymann

            The Friends of the Lafayette Library will hold their spring book sale from Thursday through Saturday at the Heymann Convention Center Ballroom. Books will be sold by the inch and include a variety of subjects. For a small fee you can join the Friends and be admitted to the “Friends Members Only” night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For information, call 501-9209.

State Bicentennialincludes author talk

The Lafayette Public Library and the Alexandre Mouton House/Lafayette Museum will host speaker Jack D. Holden, co-author of “Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture 1735-1835” at 2 p.m. today at the museum, 1122 Lafayette St. in downtown Lafayette. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Admission is free; however, seating is limited. Refreshments will be served. This program is part of the Louisiana Bicentennial Celebration.

Teen poetry events at area libraries

            Northside Regional Library presents Teen Poetry Night beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the library. The event is for all young poets interested in joining the spoken word group, Project SOUND, for a night filled with reading, writing, and expressing through poetry. Sound Off! Spoken word performance by a celebration of the Project SOUND teens and a preview of the upcoming event at Festival International will be 5:30 p.m. Friday at South Regional Library.           

Events

            Jonathan Franzen, author of the best-selling “Freedom,” will discuss his work and sign copies of his books at 7 p.m. Monday at Tulane University’s McAlister Auditorium in New Orleans.

            Sherry T. Broussard signs “African Americans in Lafayette and Southwest Louisiana” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday (during Second Saturday ArtWalk) at the Jefferson Street Branch Library in downtown Lafayette.

            New Orleans food writer Kit Wohl signs copies of “The James Beard Foundation’s Best of the Best” and her 2012 cookbook, “New Orleans Classic Brunches,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Garden District Books in New Orleans.

            Pelican Publishing has released “The Story Behind the Stone” by Robert Jeanfreau, a pictorial guide detailing the history of 40 New Orleans monuments, including many in the French Quarter. Jeanfreau will sign copies of his book at 3 p.m. Saturday at Maple Street Bookshop’s Healing Center location in New Orleans.

                                   

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.