2015 Festival of Word youth winners

The Acadiana Writing Project partners with Festival of Words every year to sponsor the Festival of Words Youth Writing Contest. Hundreds of students in grades six through 12 from across Acadiana submitted poetry, fiction, and nonfiction pieces. Student winner will be announced and given awards from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Thensted Center, 268 Church St. in Grand Coteau.

The Festival of Words will be Nov. 5-7 this week in Grand Coteau, a literary festival celebrating the spoken word and so much more. There will be writing workshops, Drive-by Poetry readings, public performances and more.  

The following students who placed in the 2015 Festival of Words Youth Writing Contest:

Middle School Poetry

1st: "Dark Skies" written by: Ivan Moran, MACA

2nd: "The Red Magnolia" written by: Mackenzie Deville, MACA

3rd: "A Kiss from an Angel" written by: Trinity Mansfield, MACA

Middle School Fiction

1st: "The Battle for Hayman's Ship" written by: Blaine Duplechain, Richard Elementary

2nd: "The Burning of December" written by: Dacey Boone, Church Point Middle School

3rd: "Killer Husband" written by: Joseph Domingeaux, Church Point Middle School

High School Poetry

1st: "Intruder" written by: Victoria Richard, Crowley High School

2nd: "I'm Under Murky Lake Water" written by: Shelbie Barrilleaux, Ovey Comeaux High School

3rd: "She Welcomed" written by: Charlotte Adams, Ovey Comeaux High School

High School Fiction

1st: "Death at My Door" written by: Timothy Hammond, Carencro High School

2nd: "Hotel de Mort" written by: Abby Gianfala, Church Point High School

3rd: "I Never Laugh" written by: Charity Swanwick, Academy of the Sacred Heart

Students may pick up their entries from Nov. 11-15 at the South St. Landry Parish Community Library 235 Marie St. in Sunset.

            More information about Festival of Words can be found at http://www.festivalofwords.org/

Bridge to Publication

            The Bayou Writers of Lake Charles presents its annual conference, A Bridge to Publication, on Saturday, Nov. 14, at the University United Methodist Church, 3501 Patrick St. in Lake Charles. Speakers include author Christa Allan; Pat Van Wie, senior editor at Bell Bridge Books; Duke and Kimberly Pennell, Pen-L Publishing; and Edie Melson. Prices range from $25 for students to $45 for non-members and include pitches to visiting agents and editors. For more information, visit http://bayouwritersgroup.com/a-bridge-to-publication-2015/.

Southern Review

The Southern Review’s year-long celebration of its 80th anniversary concludes with its autumn 2015 issue, which features frequent contributors David Kirby, Fleda Brown, David St. John, David Wojahn, Jane Springer and Louisiana native Alison Pelegrin, whose poem “Birds of ’Merica” is a playful critique of Louisiana’s hunting culture. Anders Carlson-Wee, a recent National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipient, makes his journal premiere with a suite of six poems and Alison Elizabeth Taylor, a Brooklyn-based artist, demonstrates the contemporary possibility of the age-old artistic tradition of marquetry. The Southern Review is produced on the LSU campus.

Book events this week (Nov. 1-7)

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press is hosting a Fall Book Release Party open to the public from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at The French Press in downtown Lafayette.

The Southern Food & Beverage Museum will host the next Louisiana Eats & Cooks Club with Poppy Tooker and Jyl Benson at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Brady’s Wine Warehouse in New Orleans. This month’s cookbook is Tooker’s newly released “Tujague’s Cookbook: Creole Recipes and Lore in the New Orleans Grand Tradition.”
            Dixie Poche will sign “Classic Eateries of Cajun Country” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Livingston Parish Library Festival, 20390 Iowa St. in Livingston. It will be a full day of music, puppet shows and storytimes for kids, jambalaya and book sale, and handcraft demonstrations.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “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 also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire, “A Cajun Dream” and “The Letter.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.