Photographer Slaughter, writer Melnick create beautiful homage to Grand Coteau

            Like many college students, interests in other parts of campus turn into careers. And so it was with John Slaughter, who studied English at Northwestern in Chicago but frequented the film department. Over time he honed his photography skills, and after returning from a trip to Guatemala looked for a new place to live in his home state of Louisiana.

             His wife found a teaching job in Grand Coteau and Slaughter began both a photography practice and a job at the Opelousas Daily World. In 1983, he and his wife opened The Kitchen Shop in Grand Coteau, then Catahoula’s Restaurant, known for its vibrant, oversized photos of Catahoula dogs.

            Slaughter has published a photographic tribute to the town he calls home titled “Grand Coteau” (UL Press), with photos of the historic town spanning 35 years (1977-2012). The book spotlights historic structures such as St. Charles Jesuit College and St. Charles Borromeo Church, but also the restoration of homes, street scenes, barnstormers, porch cats, barn billboards, fields and countryside and a host of the town’s residents.

            Patrice Melnick, who owns Casa Azul in Grand Coteau and organizer of the annual literary Festival of Words, has written the introduction and captions to the photos. She interviewed many of the people spotlighted in the book, providing fascinating insights into one of Louisiana’s jewels.

            A book release party and a presentation by Slaughter, who will discuss his vision and process as a photographer, will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday at Catahoula’s Restaurant, 234 Martin Luther King Drive in Grand Coteau. Special guests will share oral narratives about Grand Coteau and there will be light refreshments and books available for sale. For information, call Melnick at (337) 662-1032 or email casa.azul.gc@gmail.com.

Gaines Award

            The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has named Stephanie Powell Watts winner of the 2012 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for her novel “We Are Taking Only What We Need.”

            The award will be presented to Watts on Jan. 18, 2013, at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge. The ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m. followed by a reception. Both events are free and open to the public, though seating is limited and reservations are required for this cocktail-attire event; contact Jessica Boone at gainesaward@braf.org or (225) 387-6126.

             The Gaines Award includes a $10,000 cash prize and honors outstanding work from rising African-American authors while recognizing Gaines’ contribution to the literary world. 

            Published by BkMk Press, “We Are Taking Only What We Need” is a collection of short stories chronicling the lives of African-Americans in rural North Carolina. The book is Watts’ first and was named a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, the John Gardner Fiction Award, the USA Book News Award and the ForeWord Reviews Award.

            Watts is a faculty member at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. 

            Judges for the 2012 Gaines Award were Thomas Beller, award-winning author and professor of creative writing at Tulane University; Anthony Grooms, an author and creative writing professor at Kennesaw State University; Phillip Lopate, author and recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants and two New York Foundation for the Arts grants; Francine Prose, author of more than 20 books, including “Blue Angel,” a nominee for the 2000 National Book Award; and Patricia Towers, former features editor for O: The Oprah Magazine and a founding editor of Vanity Fair magazine.

Dupré sale

            The Friends of Dupré Library Annual Book Sale will be Nov. 8 through 10 on the first floor of the Edith Garland Dupré Library, 400 E. St. Mary Blvd. on the UL-Lafayette campus. Hardcover books will be sold for $1 and paperbacks 50 cents. The sale also includes LPs and other recordings, priced at $1 for singles and $2 for sets.

            The book sale will be 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 8 and 9, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10. Friends of the Library and UL faculty and staff are invited to a preview from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7.

            For more information, call (337) 482-6677.

New releases

            Dr. Roger Carpenter, associate professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, recently published “American Indian History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events.” The book lists historical events in American Indian history, and the day that each event occurred. 

            “The Mi’kmaq Anthology Volume 2: In Celebration of the Life of Rita Joe,” edited by Theresa Meuse, Lesley Choyce and Julia Swan, has been published by Pottersfield Press of Nova Scotia. The Mi’kmaq Native Americans inhabited Nova Scotia and other parts of the Canadian Maritimes, and came in contact with the Acadians.

            “The Delta Queen Cookbook: The History and Recipes of the Legendary Steamboat” by Cynthia Lejeune Nobles, published by LSU Press, features 125 recipes prepared by the steamboat’s former chefs during their tenures onboard.

            Ernestine Triplett, a native of Larose and now resident of Breaux Bridge, has published a memoir titled “Story of a Broken Handmaiden,” set within the communities of southeast Louisiana. The book is available as an ebook.

 Angela Quezada Bertone of Ponchatoula, a speaker and leader of spiritual retreats for women, has published a spiritual self-help book titled “Good Morning Sunshine.” The book is available on her web site www.angelabertone.com, most online bookstores and at the Sonlife Christian Bookstore in Hammond.

Book events

             Katherine Soniat will read from and sign her sixth collection of poetry, “A Raft, A Boat, A Bridge,” at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the University of New Orleans Sandbar in New Orleans. This event is free and open to the public. Soniat’s “The Swing Girl,” published by LSU Press, was selected as Best Collection of 2011 by the Poetry Council of North Carolina and “A Shared Life” won the Iowa Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared recently in Women’s Review of Books, Hotel Amerika, and Crazyhorse. Soniat teaches in the Great Smokies Writers Program at UNC-Asheville.

            Last week I mentioned Peggy Sweeney-McDonald’s new book, “Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde.”  Sweeney-McDonald and local contributor Chef Jay Ducote will be appearing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Kitchenary at Heymann’s, 456 Heymann Blvd. in the Oil Center of Lafayette.

            Michael Allen Zell will sign copies of “Errata” from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, followed by a reading and signing from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Faubourg Marigny Bookshop in New Orleans.

            Ron Thibodeaux will sign “Hell or High Water: How Cajun Fortitude Withstood Hurricanes Rita and Ike” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, at the main Terrebonne Parish Library.

           

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.

Boudin lover Robert Carriker pens guide to South Louisiana sausage

            Robert Carriker, a UL professor of history and founder of the Boudin Cookoff and BoudinLink.com, has compiled a guide to South Louisiana’s boudin outlets, titled “Boudin: A Guide to Louisiana's Extraordinary Link.” The book offers a history of the sausage, some historic and recent photographs, a lesson on the sausage’s varieties and a listing of about two dozen boudin spots across South Louisiana, accompanied by photographs from Denny Culbert. Oral histories were provided by the Southern Foodway Alliance. I think many people will question the inclusion or exclusion of their favorite boudin makers in the book, but the author states that those included were meant “to represent a cross section of highly rated boudin from shops that provide a consistently superior experience.”

Other cookbook releases

            Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing opened Jack’s Luxury Oyster in New York, which the New York Times called “one of the most distinctive new restaurants to come along in years” and earned Allison the 2004 James Beard Rising Star award. But the couple chose their home region, moving to the New Orleans area in 2005 and opening first Longbranch days before Katrina, then MiLa in 2007. The couple has published “Southern Comfort: A New Take on the Recipes We Grew Up With,” with photographs by Ed Anderson. The couple’s bilingual — one from Louisiana and the other from Mississippi — so the book features Southern and New Orleans classics plus some innovative dishes, such as sweet potato pappardelle with rich shiitake sauce and cucumber and goat cheese “cannelloni” with marinated tomatoes. 

            Peggy Sweeney-McDonald’s husband has an expression relating to the restaurant that fills your soul, “the place you always go to, your own comfort food place.” When Peggy decided to start a show based on favorite foods in one’s life, she chose “Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde,” referring to the beignet icon of New Orleans and a personal favorite. Her show premiered in 2010 at the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, then began touring the country. Sweeney-McDonald chronicles her adventures discussing food stories in a book with recipes titled “Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde: Life Stories about Food.” Participants include noted chefs, food producers, actors, journalists and more with photos by Baton Rouge’s Troy Kleinpeter and an introduction by Karen Benrud, a member of the Café du Monde family.

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            Peggy and local contributor Chef Jay Ducote will be appearing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, at the Kitchenary at Heymann's, 456 Heymann Blvd. in the Oil Center of Lafayette.

           

Spell-a-bration

            The Lafayette Public Library Foundation will present its second annual spelling bee for adults. Spell-a-bration, a friendly competition among teams in the vein of the national spelling bee, will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Lafayette Science Museum in downtown Lafayette. Louisiana Senator and Cajun personality Fred Mills will serve as emcee.

            All proceeds benefit the Foundation, which assists the Lafayette Public Library.

            Teams are invited to participate; call (337) 593-4770 or email spellabration@lplfoundation.com for information or to reserve a spot.

            General admission tickets to the event are $25 in advance, or $35 at the door, and include food and drinks from local restaurants and a special viewing of the museum’s bicentennial exhibit, “Louisiana: 200 Years Later,” which features The Fabrique Nationale/ Browning/Winchester Collection of historic, rare and modern firearms.

Book events

            Don’t forget, the Louisiana Book Festival will offer more than 125 authors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at the State Capitol grounds in Baton Rouge. There will also be children’s activities, books for sale, food and crafts and much more. The festival is free and open to the public and takes place at the State Library of Louisiana, the Louisiana State Museum, the Louisiana State Capitol and its grounds. In addition, there will be several “WordShops” offered for writers Friday at the State Library and the Capitol Park Museum. For more information, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org or www.facebook.com/LABookFestival.

            Coach Paul Dietzel, author of “Call Me Coach: A Life in College Football,” will speak at noon Wednesday, Oct. 24, as part of the Louisiana State Museum’s Lunchtime Lagniappe series. The event will be at the Capitol Park Museum in downtown Baton Rouge, is free and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch.

            Cory MacLauchlin, who recently published a biography on author John Kennedy Toole titled “Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’,” will speak at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at Saint Street Inn in Lafayette. We have heard that Saint Street Inn will be serving its own version of the Lucky Dog (the famous New Orleans hot dog which features prominently in “A Confederacy of Dunces”).

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.

Louisiana Book Festival to offer 'WordShops'

    The Louisiana Book Festival will offer more than 125 authors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at the State Capitol grounds in Baton Rouge. But on Friday, Oct. 26, there will be several “WordShops” offered for writers at the State Library and the Capitol Park Museum.
    This year’s four WordShops will focus on the fiction writing process, writing for young adults, writing about Louisiana and the process of getting published or self-publishing.
    Robert Olen Butler will present an all-day seminar titled “After Craft: The Process of Writing Fiction.” Butler is the author of Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.” The New York Times bestselling young adult author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Walter Dean Myers will teach “Just Write: Here’s How! A Workshop for Writing Young Adult Novels” in the Seminar Center of the State Library. Author Ronald M. Gauthier and I will present “So You Want to Be Published?,” looking at the challenges and rewards of getting work published, and author Ken Wells presents “Selling Louisiana: Think Locally, Publish Nationally.”
    To register for WordShops, call Michelle Hobkirk at (225) 342-4931 or download the registration form from the “Exhibits & Workshops” section of www.LouisianaBookFestival.org. Registration and payment are due by Oct. 23 and are $40 for half-day WordShops and $75 for the full day. Free parking is available.

Lafayette's Author Dinner
    Author Rick Bragg will be the guest speaker at the Friends of the Lafayette Parish Library’s annual Author Dinner on Oct. 25 at the Petroleum Club of Lafayette, 111 Heymann Blvd.
    Social hour begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the buffet dinner at 7 p.m. The cost is $25 per person and the deadline for reservations is Oct. 22.
    Rick Bragg is a contributing editor to Southern Living magazine and a professor of writing at the University of Alabama. In 1996, he won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his stories about contemporary America. His books include “All Over But the Shoutin’,” “Ava’s Man” and “The Prince of Frogtown.”
    For more information or to make reservations, call (337) 984-8661. To become a member of the Friends of the Library, which raises funds to support the Lafayette Publish Library System, call (337) 501-9209.

New releases
    Clare D’Artois Leeper wrote the newspaper column “Louisiana Places: Those Strange Sounding Names” from 1960 to 1979, and again from 2004 to 2006, reporting on both the common and unusual places throughout the state. A compilation of her vast information has been published by LSU Press, titled “Louisiana Place Names: Popular, Unusual, and Forgotten Stories of Towns, Cities, Plantations, Bayous and Even Some Cemeteries.” The name origins of Louisiana’s places trace back to many sources, from the person who settled there to popular local dishes.

    Fans of “Duck Dynasty” rejoice. Now there’s a book to coincide with the A&E TV series, arriving just in time for Season Two. “The Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family, and Ducks Built a Dynasty” hits bookstore shelves Tuesday, a behind-the-scenes look at the Robertson family of West Monroe, owners and operators of Duck Commander, which produces handmade duck calls.
    Curious about what social media is all about? Editors of Social Commerce Today, Paul Marsden and Paul Chaney of Lafayette, share insights in “The Social Commerce Handbook: 20 Secrets for Turning Social Media into Social Sales.” The book was first published as an e-book but is now available in paperbook.
    Michael Allen Zell, an award-winning writer and host of New Orleans’s Black Widow Salon, has published his debut novel, “Errata.” The story follows a young New Orleans cabbie who has been shocked by a crime.
    Louisiana natives and the state’s African American history, from its early settlement and Civil War aftermath to the Jena Six and Katrina, is well represented in Linda Tarrant-Reid’s “Discovering Black America: From the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-First Century.” It’s a beautiful designed book offering more than 400 years of black American history.
    Pelican Publishing has released several new children’s books this fall. Dianne de Las Casas has adapted the Appalachian folktale “Sody Sallyraytus” into “Beware, Beware of the Big Bad Bear,” illustrated by Marita Gentry, both of Louisiana. Nikole Brooks Bethea offers a Southern alphabet with “G is for Grits,” illustrated by Alison Davis Lyne. And Johnette Downing of New Orleans adapts a Choctaw tale with “Why the Possum has a Large Grin,” illustrated by Christina Wald.
   
Book events
    The Jeanerette Museum has planned history talks this fall, with UL-Lafayette history professor and author Michael Martin speaking on the “Long Family: Huey, Earl and Russell Long” at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Light refreshments will be served. Martin will return on Nov. 14 to discuss the New Orleans Saints and the NFL with a brief history of the organizations. For information, call (337) 276-4408 or visit http://www.jeanerettemuseum.com/
    The Lafayette Parish Library offers the Master Puppet Theater at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the Story Time Room of the South Regional Library. For details, call 981-1028.     Also this week is the “Eat This Book” craft for teens at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Jefferson Street branch, 1 p.m. Thursday at the South Regional Library and 6 p.m. Oct. 24 at North Regional.
    Anne Butler, author of “Main Streets of Louisiana,” will speak at noon Wednesday as part of the Louisiana State Museum’s Lunchtime Lagniappe series. The event will be at the Capitol Park Museum in downtown Baton Rouge, is free and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch.

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.

Louisiana Book Festival offers 125 authors and panelists Oct. 27 in Baton Rouge

    Make plans! The Louisiana Book Festival returns to the Capitol grounds in Baton Rouge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27. There will be more than 125 authors and panelists who will present and discuss their latest works, children’s activities, books for sale, food and crafts and much more. The festival is free and open to the public and takes place at the State Library of Louisiana, the Louisiana State Museum, the Louisiana State Capitol and its grounds.

      If you’re interested in volunteering for the festival — whether it is escorting the festival’s authors, serving as room monitors in the Capitol during panel discussions or working with children in the Young Readers Pavilion — visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org/Volunteers.html.
     Leading up to the festival, profiles of many of the participating authors will be posted on the Louisiana Book Festival website and Facebook page, www.LouisianaBookFestival.org or www.facebook.com/LABookFestival.

Beast on the Bayou
    Gerald N. Caskey of Farmerville recently retired from the U.S. Army and working as a family counselor with Child Protective Services. He has just published “The Bullfrog, Bigfoot, and the Beast on the Bayou: Life and Legends in the Bayou.”
    “The book could well have been titled ‘Growing Up in Bayou Country’ with a little fiction/fantasy thrown in for good measure,” he wrote me by email. “Louisiana legends continue to flow freely through the veins of true Louisianans.”
    Caskey will be speaking and signing copies of his books from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Union Parish Library, 202 W. Jackson St. in Farmerville. 
    Also in the future is a piece of historical fiction.
    “My wife Debbie and I are currently putting the finishing touches on a joint writing venture, ‘Turkish Delight,’” Caskey wrote. “Having lived in Izmir, Turkey, for two years while working with NATO we are extremely excited about this ambitious venture.”

New releases
    Michael Moore has published a tale of love, betrayal and redemption set in Florida at the turn of the century in “Man in the Blue Moon.” Pat Conroy calls it “... a beautifully wrought portrayal of small-town Southern life where poverty, tragedy, and human love engage in a ritualist dance.”
    Blake Fontenay, a Memphis Commercial Appeal writer and columnist has penned his debut novel, “The Politics of Barbecue,” where greed and corruption are on the plate of a Beale Street restaurant owner and mayor of Memphis.
    Loice Kendrick-Lacy, a certified master gardener in both Louisiana and Arkansas, has published “Gardening to Attract Butterflies: The Beauty and the Beast.” Kendrick-Lacy is director of the Haynesville Celebration of Butterflies and a member of the Arkansas Audubon Society, Louisiana Ornithological  Society, Louisiana Native Plant Society and Cajun Prairie Habitat Preservation Society.
   
Southern Fest
    The 24th Southern Festival of Books happens Oct. 12-14 in Nashville. The roster includes a few authors from Louisiana, including Christa Allen of Abita Springs (“Love Finds You in New Orleans”), Alex Beard of New Orleans (“Crocodile Tears”), Alex Cook (“Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky Tonks and Dance Halls”), David Madden and Moira Crone of Baton Rouge, Larry Hewitt who teaches at Southeastern (“Port Hudson: Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi”), Lawrence Powell, director of the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University (“The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans”), Ben Sandmel of New Orleans (“Ernie K-Do) and John Corey Whaley (“When Things Come Back”).
    The full festival lineup and more information about each author can be found online at http://www.humanitiestennessee.org/sofestofbooks.

Book events
    Allison Vine-Rushing and Slade Rushing sign “Southern Comfort: A New Take on the Recipes We Grew Up With” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 8, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.
    Joe Reese will be offering a reading and signing of his book “And the Flowers Began to Dance” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, at The East Bank Regional Library in Metairie.
    Teen Movie Night is 6 p.m. Wednesday at North Regional Branch Library; call North Regional Library at 896-6323 for movie titles.
    Randy Harelson, author of “New Roads and Old Rivers: Louisiana's Historic Pointe Coupee Parish,” will speak at noon Wednesday, Oct. 10, as part of the Louisiana State Museum’s Lunchtime Lagniappe series. The event will be at the Capitol Park Museum in downtown Baton Rouge, is free and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch.
    Yarn painting for tweens begins at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at South Regional Branch Library in Lafayette; to preregister, call (337) 981- 1028.
    The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), in partnership with the State Bicentennial Commission and the University Press of Mississippi, announces the publication of “A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Paul & Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum. LEH Director Michael Sartisky and other local scholars and artists will speak and the publication will be offered for sale. Admission is free. For information, visit www.leh.org.
    The Razzmatazz Bilingual Show begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, in the Story Time Room at the South Regional Library. The show includes French music and culture for French immersion students and francophones alike.

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.

Festival of Words kickstarts campaign

            Festival of Words, a literary and poetry festival held in St. Landry and surrounding parishes, brings in authors for workshops in public schools, offers public creative writing workshops, author readings and Drive-by Poetry on the streets of Grand Coteau, Sunset and Lafayette.

            I’m on the board of this amazing festival, founded by author and English professor Patrice Melnick, and I’ve watched how a dedicated and enthusiastic few work tirelessly to bring about the annual Festival of Words, to be Nov. 8-10 this year — not to mention its many auxiliary events. The Festival budget is small and was made smaller by state arts budget cuts, so the organization is hosting a Kickstarter campaign, where people pledge support online.

            Please help support this valuable literary endeavor. You can view the video and donate at www.kickstarter.com/projects/909037597/the-festival-of-words?ref=live.

Book news

            LSU School of Education doctoral student Debra Jo Gifford Hailey, a spring 2012 inductee into the LSU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, was awarded a PKP Literacy Grant to support Reading on the River 2013, a family literacy event held in Natchitoches.

            The event has teachers and other professionals use developmentally appropriate teaching methods to engage children and their parents in early literacy activities and help them mimic the methods at home. After participating in the literacy activities, the children select a few age-appropriate books to take home with them, donated from local churches and businesses. At this year’s event, more than 1,000 books were donated to young children.

            

Library happenings

            The Lafayette Parish Library is looking for bad art for its annual Fall Bad Art Fête, to culminate with a display at the Oct. 13 ArtWalk at the Jefferson Street Branch Library. Create art at home or at the Jefferson Street branch craft table, then submit for display beginning Monday and continuing until noon Friday, Oct. 12, at the Jefferson Street branch. Patrons will be able to vote for their favorite piece during the Oct. 13 ArtWalk from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The winners will receive special prizes.

            The North Regional Library is collecting photos of veterans and current members of the military for its third annual Carencro Veterans Day Celebration. Participants should bring framed (3 x 5 or 5 x 7) photos to the library now through Oct. 31 to be included in the library’s Veterans Day display. The program will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Carencro Community Center.

            Louisiana teens are invited to read and vote for their favorite teen book of the 10 Louisiana Teen Readers Choice titles. Teens that read at least two books from the list are invited to vote for their favorite book this fall. For more information or to vote, visit www.state.lib.la.us/ltrc.

Book events

           The 1718 Society, a student-run literary organization made up of Tulane, Loyola and UNO students, will continue their reading series this fall at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Columns Hotel on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The event will include local authors reading their work while participants enjoy happy hour. Open to the public, the next reading will be by Andy Stallings this Tuesday, Oct. 2. 

            The UL Gaines Center and Creative Writing presents Michael Griffith and UL’s Joe Baumann, 7:30 pm Tuesday, Oct. 2, Ernest J. Gaines Center of the Dupre Library.

           Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton, authors of the best-selling book "Picking Cotton" will speak at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in Howard Auditorium at Louisiana Tech. As part of Tech's First Year Experience program to integrate students into college life, all freshmen have a common reading assignment during their fall quarter. Tech has readopted "This I Believe II," which features Thompson and Cotton. http://www.latech.edu/fye/

            Kresley Cole signs “Poison Princess” at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans. 

           Christina Vella, a professor of history at Tulane University, will discuss two frequently banned books at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie. This event is free of charge and is open to the public. Registration is not required.

            Teen Poetry Night, with the spoken word group Revolution Theory, begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, at North Regional Library in Lafayette. The event is appropriate for ages 13–18.

            William J. Cooper discusses and signs “We Have The War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860-April 1861” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

            Faye Phillips, author of “Baton Rouge Cemeteries,” will speak at noon Wednesday, Oct. 3, as part of the Louisiana State Museum’s Lunchtime Lagniappe series. The event will be at the Capitol Park Museum in downtown Baton Rouge, is free and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch.

            Crescent City Book celebrates its 20^th anniversary in October and will be hosting authors and artists to read and discuss their new books. Carolyn Hembree will read from her poetry book “Skinny” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, followed by a reception and signing.  

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.