Festivals
Acadiens et Creole will honor authors this year, those who have published books
about Cajun and Creole life and in French. The festival will be Friday through
Sunday in Girard Park.
The
authors are:
Jean
Arceneaux, “Le trou dans le mur; Fabliaux cadiens,” “Suite du loup: poèmes,
chansons, et autres texts” and “Je suis cadien;”
William
Arceneaux, “Meurtre en Louisiane: L’affaire des frères Blanc;”
Shane
K. Bernard, “Les Cadiens et leurs ancêtres acadiens;”
Vicky
Branton, “Donkey Otie et l’Anniversaire Eternel;”
Jude
R. Chatelain Sr., “Graines de parasol;”
David
Cheramie, “Lait à Mère: interrompu par ‘L’été et février’,” and “Julie
Choufleur: ou Les Preuves d’amour;”
Deborah
J. Clifton, “À cette heure, la louve;”
Kirby
Jambon, “L’École Gombo: Poésies” and “Petites Communions: Poèmes, chansons
et jonglements;”
Warren
Perrin, “Une Saga Acadienne;”
Zachary
Richard, “Histoire des Acadiennes et des Acadiens de la Louisiane,” “Conte cajun:
L'histoire de Télesphore et ’Tit Edvard (vol. 1),” “Conte cajun: L'histoire de
Télesphore et ’Tit Edvard dans le grand Nord (vol. 2),” “Conte cajun: Les
aventures de Télesphore et ’Tit Edvard au Vieux pays (vol. 3)” and “Faire
récolte;”
Jacques
Royal, “Louisiane-Luisiana-Louisiana,” “1785 Destination Louisiana,” “Marquis
de Lafayette” and “1804-1808 Digest of the Civil Laws now in force in the
Territory of Orleans;”
Susan
F. Spillman, “Compère Lapin voyageur;” and
May
Rush Gwin Waggoner, “La mer attendra,” “Le Chant de l’arc-en-ciel – Poésies et
Proses,” “Une fantaisie collective: Anthologie du drame louisianais cadien” and
“Le Plus Beau Païs du Monde.”
Writing Contest
Writing
students from Acadiana may compete for recognition and prizes in the annual
Creative Writing Contest, co-sponsored by the Acadiana Writing Project and the
Festival of Words. The contest is open to sixth to 12th grade writers and
invites submissions of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction.
Writings
are submitted through teachers, and an entry form is required. The
deadline is Oct. 18.
First,
second, and third place winners will receive certificates, publication in an anthology
and other gifts, plus winners are invited to read their pieces at a ceremony
honoring the writers.
New releases
Kelby
Ouchley of Rocky Branch has a comprehensive book out on alligators titled
“American Alligator: Ancient Predator in the Modern World. The book has been published,
appropriately, by the University Press of Florida. “It’s a concise,
up-to-date account of alligator life history with lots of factoids (biggest,
food habits, nesting, etc.),” Ouchley wrote me by email. Ouchley is a
naturalist who managed National Wildlife Refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for 30 years. He is also the author of “Flora and Fauna of the
Civil War: An Environmental Reference Guide” and “Bayou-Diversity: Nature and
People in the Louisiana Bayou Country,” both by LSU Press.
Mark
A. Stevens, a former editor of this publication who divides his time between
Lafayette and Johnson City, Tenn., spent the last four years collecting and
cataloging photographs about the Clinchfield No. 1 which was, at one time, the
oldest operating steam engine in the United States, according to Stevens. He has
published “The One & Only: A Pictorial History of the Clinchfield No. 1” with
coauthor A.J. “Alf” Peoples. Built in 1882, the engine famously pulled
excursion trains throughout seven states in the South between 1968 and 1979,
Stevens wrote me by email, and is now housed at the B&O Railroad Museum in
Baltimore, Md. The book, which is a joint project with the Clinchfield Railroad
Museum in Erwin, Tenn., may be ordered through Star Publishing.
Jesmyn
Ward, who grew up in DeLisle, Miss., has published a memoir titled “Men We
Reaped.” In five years Ward lost five young men in her life to drugs, accidents
and suicide making the author question why? Ward is a National Book Award
winner for “Salvage the Bones,” which follows a hurricane ravaging a
Mississippi Coast town. She received her MFA from the University of Michigan
and has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Grisham Visiting Writer in
Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is currently an assistant
professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama. “Salvage the
Bones” was also a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Literary Award and the
Dayton Literary Peace Prize, as well as a nominee for the IMPAC Dublin Literary
Award.
Michael
Harris Smith sets his novel “Rivers” on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, ravaged by
storms where a regional line pushes loots and ruffians below the rest of the
state and a man named Cohen becomes the reluctant hero for a group of refugees.
“... Rivers is the kind of book that lifts you up with its
mesmerizing language then pulls you under like a riptide....,” writes The
Atlanta Journal Constitution.
David
Armand, who teaches at Southeastern and serves as associate editor for
Louisiana Literature Press, has published “Harlow,” a novel following
18-year-old Leslie Somers trudging his way through the dark Louisiana backwoods
in search of his father, a man whom he has never met. But when Leslie finally
finds Harlow, the man is not what the boy had expected. Armand’s first novel,
“The Pugilist's Wife,” won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and was published
by Texas Review Press.
Book events
Tim
Parrish will read, discuss and sign his new memoir, "Fear and What
Follows: The Violent Education of a Christian Racist" (University Press of
Mississippi) and his new novel, "The Jumper" (winner of Texas Review
Press's Fiction Prize) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Picard Center, 200 E
Devalcourt St.
Errol Laborde,
New Orleans Carnival historian and editor of New Orleans Magazine, will sign “Mardi
Gras: Chronicles of the New Orleans Carnival,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Garden
District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St. in New Orleans.
Local
attorney Greg Landry and senior paralegal Priscilla Charles, with non-profit law
firm Acadiana Legal Service Corporation, will speak (and answer questions) on “How
to Represent Yourself in Court” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at South Regional Branch
Library.
“Adult
Bedtime Stories” With Chuck Palahniuk and special guests Chelsea Cain and
Monica Drake begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Tipitina’s in New Orleans.
Tickets are $29, and available at Garden District Book Shop
and Tipitina’s.
Garrison
Keillor discusses “O, What Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic &
Profound” from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Jewish Community Center of New
Orleans. Tickets are $5 and available at Garden District Book Shop and the
Jewish Community Center (JCC). Tickets include a coupon good for $5 off the
purchase of Keillor’s book, “O, What Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar,
Pathetic & Profound,” the first poetry collection written by the radio host
of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Author
Camilla Hunt Cole will sign her book “Long Shadows” at 5 p.m. Saturday at The
Lab in River Ranch.
The
Writers’ Guild of Acadiana will host several authors, including yours truly and
Danielle Kazemi at the “Meet the Writers’ Guild of Acadiana Authors” from 10
a.m. to 1 p.m. at J&R Educational Supplies, 3123 Johnston St. Author books
will be for sale.
The
Southern
Festival of Books will be Friday through Sunday, Oct. 11-13, at
War Memorial Plaza in Nashville. This year’s authors include Ace Atkins, Rick
Bragg, Wiley Cash, Therese Ann Fowler, Tom Franklin, Ann Hite, Jill McCorkle,
Mary Alice Monroe and Susan Rebecca White, among others.
Cheré Coen is the author
of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic
Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, 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 cherecoen@gsmail.com.
