Louisiana Humanities awards to be given Thursday

Zachary Richard

Zachary Richard, world-renowned singer-songwriter, poet, documentary film producer, cultural activist and environmentalist will be named Humanist of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities at an awards dinner Thursday, April 7, at the Marigny Opera House in New Orleans. 

Devoted to the preservation and promotion of Louisiana’s French-Acadian heritage and language, Richard directed the team that created a bilingual pair of middle-school-targeted history textbooks, “The History of the Acadians of Louisiana” and “Histoire des Acadiennes et Acadiens de la Louisiane.” He’s also produced two multi-part documentaries on the history of the Acadians and is a founding member of Action Cadienne, a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing and promoting French immersion education programs in Louisiana.

In addition to numerous other awards are the Humanities Book Awards. This year’s winners are “Beyond Freedom’s Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery” by Adam Rothman, the tale of an enslaved woman’s struggle to endure the consequences of the Civil War, and “Poverty Point: Revealing the Forgotten City” by photographer Jenny Ellerbe and historian Diana M. Greenlee, which sheds new light on Louisiana’s UNESCO World Heritage site.

Given in partnership with the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana and the Library of Congress, the Light Up for Literacy Award goes to Herreast Harrison, program director of the Guardian Institute, a New Orleans Ninth Ward community organization that promotes education and local cultural traditions.
            For more information on the awards dinner, contact Jan Clifford at (504) 620-2479 or clifford.org or visit www.leh.org.

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. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.