Ronlyn
Domingue offered the world a unique voice and brilliant storytelling with her
debut novel, “The Mercy of Thin Air,” set in New Orleans and narrated by a
female ghost recalling her lost love. The book received critical acclaim and
has since been translated into 10 languages.
Domingue
follows up this success with “The Mapmaker’s War,” another bold and innovative
tale of a woman fighting for her place, told by second-person narrative. The
story takes place in an ancient kingdom where a young woman, Aoife, strives to
become a mapmaker through earning favors with the king. She also falls in love
with his son, Wyl, and heads off to chart unfamiliar lands.
Aoife
discovers people who live in peace who own a mythic treasure. When she tries to
warm these people that her kingdom may war with them, she is exiled and must
leave her family behind, moving into uncharted territory.
Louisiana
poet Ava Leavell Haymon said of the book, “The Mapmaker's War evokes not mere
fantasy, but the real magic I found as a child, reading by flashlight under a
blanket. As then, the story takes me by the hand to exotic lands and noble
people. As it proceeds, I’m reminded of myself as a teen-age girl, chafing
under the restrictions of an established order. Further on, I’m lead into
adulthood. The story keeps me under its spell, but it fills with adult
contradictions, with experiences of betrayal and regret, with sex and
self-knowledge, with the reality of evil, and all the while, yes, the same old
magic. But the magic has matured, now, redeemed by love and wisdom.”
Domingue
will sign copies of “The Mapmaker’s War” at 5:30 p.m.
Thursday at the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans and
at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Lafayette. She’ll be returning to
Lafayette for a “Meet & Greet the Author” from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday,
March 23, at The Cottage Shoppe of Acadiana, 800 E. Broussard Road.
Don’t
miss this amazing new voice in literature!
Endowment awards announced
Announcements
were made for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities awards, which will be
presented April 6 at Houmas House.
Dr.
William Pederson, American Studies Endowed Chair in Liberal Arts at LSU-Shreveport
and director of the International Lincoln Center, will receive the
2013 Humanist of the Year. Pederson is recognized for his contributions to
the state as a scholar, educator and author.
The
Lifetime Contribution to the Humanities goes to Dr. Alfred Lemmon of the Historic
New Orleans Collection. A native of Lafayette, Lemmon has provided research
and scholarship in more than 30 years at the Collection and has
served as director of the Collection’s Williams Research Center since 2000.
The
Chair’s Award for Institutional Support goes to the Shell Oil Company and
Foundation for its Prime Time Family Reading Time program. Public Humanities
Programming award goes to Elaine Black and the Georgia Public Library Service
for its family literacy programming and Patrice Melnick of Grand Coteau for her
work developing the Festival of Words in St. Landry Parish, an annual four-day
celebration of literary arts that includes public readings of literature,
writing workshops, author visits to schools, and creative writing contests. In
addition, Melnick hosts an ongoing reading series at her Casa Azul gift shop
promoting the work of young and established writers, and hosted a recent
LEH-funded appearance by Louisiana Poet Laureate Julie Kane.
Individual
Achievement in the Humanities went to Greg Lambousy, director of collections
for the Louisiana State Museum.
The
2013 Humanities Books of the Year went to “The Accidental City: Improvising New
Orleans” by Lawrence N. Powell, published by Harvard University Press, and “
Ernie K-Doe: R&B Emperor of New Orleans” by Ben Sandmel, published by the
Historic New Orleans Collection.
The
Humanities Documentary Film of the Year went to “T-Galop: A Louisiana Horse
Story,” by Connie Castille, awarded the Louisiana Feature Film Prize at the
2012 New Orleans Film Festival.
The
Michael P/ Smith Memorial Award for Documentary Photography went to husband and
wife team Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick of New Orleans.
The
2013 Humanities Teacher of the Year was awarded to Vicki Bell of Queensborough
Elementary in Shreveport, a pilot site for PRIME TIME Full Circle.
Authors announced for Louisiana literary festivals
Authors
have been announced for two upcoming conferences.
Tim
O’Brien, the author of “The Things They Carried,” a story inspired by his
experience in the Vietnam War, will be the keynote speaker of the 10th
annual Jambalaya Writers’ Conference April 13 in Houma. This book has been
recognized by The Big Read, a National Endowment for the Art program designed
to restore reading to the center of American culture. Other presenters include
novelists Jennifer Blake (aka Patricia Maxwell), Hank Phillippi Ryan and
Heather Graham; non-fiction authors Carolyn Long and Shirley Laska; children’s
authors Robert San Souci and Rose Anne St. Romain; poets Ava Leavell
Haymon, Jay Udall and William Bradford Clark. Literary agents Page Wheeler and
Rachel Eckstrom and editors Rose Hilliard, Katherine DePalma and Monique
Patterson. For more information, visit http://mytpl.org/jwc/.
The
Festival of Words announced three authors for the Festival of Words, to be Nov.
7-9 in Grand Coteau. They are Darrell Bourque, Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith and Naomi
Shihab Nye.
 |
| Darrell Bourque |
.jpg) |
| Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith |
Bourque's
books include “Plainsongs,” “The Doors between Us,” “Burnt Water Suite,” “The
Blue Boat,” “Call and Response: Conversations in Verse” with Jack B. Bedell, “In
Ordinary Light, New and Selected Poems” and a special edition chapbook, “Holding
the Notes.” He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate during 2007-2008 and from 2009
to 2011.
Smith
of Vietnam has been published in
many journals, and earned first place in the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright
Fellowship competition.
Nye
describes herself as a “wandering poet, after having spent 37 years traveling
the country and the world to lead writing workshops. Nye is the author and/or
editor of more than 30 volumes and has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow
and a Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress). She has been featured on two
PBS poetry specials: “The Language of Life with Bill Moyers” and “The United
States of Poetry.”
 |
| Naomi Shihab Nye |
The
Festival features literary readings, creative writing workshops in the public
schools and community centers, a community stage for open mic and drive-by
poetry in the gift shops and cafes. For more information, visit festivalofwords.org.
Lafayette Library book sale
The
Friends of the Lafayette Parish Library will hold its Friends’ Semi-Annual Book
Sale Wednesday through Saturday at the Heymann Convention Center Ballroom, 1373
S. College Road in Lafayette.
The
preview night for Friends members (memberships may be purchased at the door for
a nominal fee) will be 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, following by the sale open
to the public on the following days: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9
a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Books
are sold for $1 an inch hardback and 50 cents an inch paperback. There will
also be DVDs CDs, audiobooks and vinyl for sale.
For
more information or to become Friends of the Library member, call the Library
at 261-5781 or the Friends at 501-9209.
Journals for seniors
The
Paperblanks Company of Ontario, Canada, has donated 50 writing journals for
distribution to senior citizens of Grand Coteau, available at Casa Azul Gifts,
232 Martin Luther King Drive. The donation is intended to encourage town elders
to write their personal or family stories.
The
journal distribution is part of a larger project called "Grand Coteau
Voices: the Good, the Bad and the Complicated," a monthly oral history
project that is recorded and archived in UL’s Archives for Cajun and Creole
Folklore.
Grand
Coteau natives, whether living in town or away, may pick up a free journal
during regular business hours at Casa Azul Gifts. Paperblanks are also
available for sale at Barnes and Noble in Lafayette and other stores that carry
quality stationary products.
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.
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