Tuesday Ebook Spotlight: 'Change of Fortune'

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon was raised in southwest Louisiana among the bayous and gators. Her hometown is Carlyss, and her family owned a camp located on a bayou just off the Gulf of Mexico that you could only get there by boat. The most important feature was the rope hammock hanging in the shade on a huge deck that stretched out over the water where Jana spent many hours reading books.

Jana has never stumbled across a mystery or a ghost like her heroines, but she's still hopeful. She now resides in Dallas, Texas, but we won't hold that against her.

Her latest book “Change of Fortune,” a Miss Fortune Mystery Book 11, has just been published. It's available as a download and in paperback. Here’s the book description:

Sinful, Louisiana, is always a hotbed of activity, and despite the steamy heat, August is no exception. Godzilla is terrorizing the town, looking for a home-cooked meal, and Gertie is worried someone will take the gator out before she can get him under control. Francine has a situation of her own at the café, where food is missing from inventory. And Celia is always up to no good.

But summer is almost over, which could mean huge changes for Fortune Redding. Her undercover time in Sinful has always been limited to three months, and that time is almost up. With Ahmad still on the loose, Fortune is forced to remain in hiding, but soon she'll have to move to another town and start all over with a new identity. And that's the last thing she wants to do. Determined to get her life back, Fortune decides to draw Ahmad out and end this once and for all.

Can Fortune take down one of the most dangerous men in the world? And if she can, does she have a future in Sinful?  

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning New Orleans author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

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Jefferson Parish Library celebrates April’s national poetry month with four local poets

Four local poets will perform on four consecutive Monday nights during April, reading their poems and describing their vision of poetry at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Ave. in Metairie. This event is free and open to the public without registration.

  

Paris Tate

7 p.m., Monday, April 2, 2018

Born in New Orleans, Paris Tate graduated from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts’ Creative Writing program in 2007 and received her bachelor’s degree in English with a journalism concentration from the University of New Orleans in 2011. Some of her poems have appeared in the Literary Yard, Contraband, and The New Guard Review, while her published news articles and columns have appeared in Bayou Buzz and Cognition. Her book of poems is titled All the Words in Between. She lives in New Orleans and works at the Jefferson Parish Library.

David Lanoue

7 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2018

David Lanoue is Professor of English, Xavier University New Orleans. His specialties are Medieval and World Literature, Translation (Japanese Haiku). He has taught at Xavier University since 1981. Lanoue earned his doctoral degree in medieval literature from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and his dissertation and early articles all dealt with European works: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; 14th century Spanish poetry, including the Libro de buen amor; 14th century French poetry, especially Guillaume de Machaut; and 17th century Spanish drama by Calderon de la Barca.

In the mid-1980s, he decided to learn Japanese and focus his critical attention on the one-breath art of haiku. He is especially interested in Issa. His first book, Issa: Cup-of-Tea Poems, Selected Haiku by Kobayashi Issa, came out in 1991. Other books have followed, including Pure Land Haiku: The Art of Priest Issa (2004) and a series of five "haiku novels" (2000 - 2013). He maintains the website, The Haiku of Kobayashi Issa, for which he translated 10,000 of Issa's haiku. He is a past president of the Haiku Society of America. In April 2014, he won a Norman C. Francis Excellence in Scholarship Award.

Melinda Palacio

7 p.m., Monday, April 16, 2018

Melinda Palacio is a 2007 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellow and a 2009 alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Her poetry chapbook, Folsom Lockdown, won Kulupi Press’ Sense of Place cash prize and publication, Spring 2010. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies, including BorderSenses, Buffalo Carp, Black Renaissance Noire, PALABRA: a Magazine of Chicano/Latino Literary Art, Poets and Artists, the Maple Leaf Rag III and IV, La Bloga, Askew Poetry Journal, Latinos in Lotus Land: an Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature, Poets of the American West, Strange Cargo, El Tecolote, San Pedro River Review, Pilgrimage Magazine, Quercus Review, Eleven Eleven, the Mas Tequila Review, Hinchas de Poesia, Phati’tude Literary Magazine, 200 New Mexico Poems, the San Diego Poetry Annual, and Southern Poetry Anthology.

Palacio’s first novel, Ocotillo Dreams, (ASU Bilingual Press 2011) is the winner of the Mariposa Award for Best First Book at the 2012 International Latino Book Awards at the Instituto Cervantes in Manhattan and a 2012 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles award for Excellence in Literature. Latino Stories named her a Top Ten New Latino Author of 2012. She is a 2012 Glimmer Train Finalist and received an Honorable Mention in April’s Family Matter 2012 short story contest. Tia Chucha Presspublished her full-length poetry book, How Fire Is a Story, Waiting Fall 2012.

Mary Emma Dutreix Pierson

7 p.m., Monday, April 23, 2018

Mary Emma Dutreix Pierson’s most recent book is New Orleans: City of My Heart. It consists of more than 40 poems composed by Pierson during the past decade. They are personal reflections, vignettes and poems by a life-long native, a love song to the city she loves. Pierson is a poet and retired speech and language pathologist. She holds a doctoral degree in educational assessment and has more than 30 years of teaching experience in the Orleans Parish School System. She obtained a bachelor’s of fine arts degree in performing arts (dance/drama) from Loyola University. Pierson is a weekly reader at the Maple Leaf Bar open mic poetry series and has been a member of the New Orleans Haiku Society since its inception. She has chaired the spring poetry festival of the Louisiana Poetry Society for the past 20 years. 

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards announced

The State Library of Louisiana announced the results of the 2017-2018 Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards, which include a chapter book following the adventures of two hilarious pranksters, a graphic novel exploring the awkward middle school years and a Young Adult fantasy/dystopia featuring a powerful queen. With the program in its 19th year, Louisiana’s young people read more than 73,597 books and cast 24,749 votes.

Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Grades 3-5 Winner:

The Terrible Two (Abrams) by Mac Barnett & Jory John, illustrated by Kevin Cornell

 

Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Grades 6-8 Winner:

Awkward (Yen Press) by Svetlana Chmakova

Louisiana Teen Readers’ Choice Grades 9-12 Winner:

Red Queen (HarperTeen) by Victoria Aveyard

Honor titles include Ellie’s Story (Starscape) by W. Bruce Cameron for the grade 3-5 list, Backlash (Scholastic) by Sarah Darer Littman for the grade 6-8 list, and All American Boys (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books) by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely for the teen list. Winners are selected from diverse booklists chosen by committees of school and public librarians statewide, and many students cast their ballots on voting machines supplied by the Secretary of State’s Voter Outreach Division.

An awards ceremony for honored book authors will be held at the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, Nov. 10, in Baton Rouge. For more information about the program, including previous winners, how to participate, and additional resources such as free bookmarks, posters, study guides, etc., visit www.state.lib.la.us.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Saints and Sinners this weekend in New Orleans

Saints and Sinners, an annual LGBTQ literary conference, will run concurrently with the The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, March 23-25, 2018. The Festival celebrates this city’s longstanding attraction for LGBTQ writers, and offers both established and emerging authors, as well as readers, the opportunity to meaningfully connect, gain information and nurture their craft skills. In 2018, organizers are adding an educational outreach component with support from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s LGBT Fund established by community champions. 

A SAS weekend pass ($150) includes the welcome reception, “Glitter with the Literati” on Friday, March 23, at the historic Beauregard-Keyes House & Gardens; panel discussions; a reading series made possible by premiere sponsor, the John Burton Harter Foundation; the Ninth Annual SAS Short Fiction Contest Book Launch Party in the Hotel Monteleone’s Vieux Carre Room; and admission to our Hall of Fame Closing Reception.

Saints and Sinners includes noted speakers such as:

• Jericho Brown, Whiting Writers Award-winner and author of the poetry collections Please and The New Testament.
  
• Jaffe Cohen, award-winning screenwriter (Feud, 2017), author, actor, educator, and the distinction of one of the first openly gay standup comedians on national television.
• Elana Dykewomon, award-winning author of eight books foregrounding lesbian heroism, including the novels Riverfinger Women, Beyond the Pale and Risk.
• Jewelle Gomez, author of the double Lambda Award-winning novel, The Gilda Stories, and an activist and playwright. Her play Waiting for Giovanni is a dream play exploring the inner life of author James Baldwin.
• Greg Herren, author of more than 30 novels and 50 short stories. He has won numerous awards, including the Anthony Award, the Lambda Literary Award (twice) and two Independent Press medals for outstanding work in young adult mystery/horror.
• Andrew Holleran, author of three novels including the seminal work Dancer from the Dance, a book of short stories and a collection of essays on AIDS. He is a regular contributor to the Gay and Lesbian Review
• Martin Hyatt, author of award-winning novels, A Scarecrow’s Bible (2006), named a Stonewall Honor Book by the American Library Association and won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and his new novel, Beautiful Gravity (2016), also received a Stonewall Honor Book Award from the ALA
• Michele Karlsberg, publicity and marketing expert
• Barry McCrea, professor of comparative literature at the University of Notre Dame where he teaches on its campuses in Indiana and Rome, and author of the award-winning novel The First Verse
• Felice Picano, acclaimed author of over 30 books of poetry, fiction, memoirs, nonfiction, and plays
• Radclyffe, author of over fifty romance and romantic intrigue novels, she is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance  and erotica. She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies
• Lauren Sanders, author of the critically acclaimed novels Kamikaze Lust, (Lambda Literary Award), and With or Without You. Her most recent novel is The Book of Love and Hate (Akashic Books October, 2017)
• Elizabeth F. Schwartz, lawyer and same-sex marriage activist, author of Before I Do; A Legal Guide to Marriage, Gay and Otherwise
• Martin Sherman, an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for his 20 stage plays which have been produced in over 60 countries. He rose to fame in 1979 with the production of his play Bent, which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust
• Tammy Lynne Stoner, author of Sugar Land (Red Hen Press, 2018), publisher of Gertrude Journal, wrangler of GERTIE: A Queer Book Club, and creator of Dottie’s Magic Pockets—the first show for kids in gay families
• Justin Torres, author of the best-selling debut novel We the Animals and a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop
• Nick White, author of the novel How to Survive a Summer and the forthcoming short story collection, Sweet & Low, (Penguin/June 2018). 

Panel topics at the 2018 Festival include: 

• Civil Rights in the Era of Trump; 
• LGBT Books that Changed My Life and Influenced My Writing; 
• Queer Fiction as Activism #Resist; 
• We've Been Through This Before: Baby Boomer Lesbians Talk About Writing, Resistance, and Relevance, and many more. 

For a complete schedule visit: SASFest.org.

Spiess to discuss 'Beautiful Crescent' history book

Editor Kathy Chappetta Spiess will discuss "Beautiful Crescent, A History of New Orleans," a book that's now in its ninth edition, at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie. Originally written by Joan B. Garvey and Mary Lou Widmer, this book is regarded as a primary text for tourists, locals, teachers and students. Complete with a new forward by Barbara Robichaux, a professional French Quarter tour guide, this history directs the reader through the diverse traditions and cultures of New Orleans. The updates in this tricentennial edition celebrate the 300-year history of New Orleans, with chapters including details of the city’s founding, changing European rule, slavery, and more. It contains a list of notable figures and events.

Spiess is a short story, poetry, and corporate literature writer. Spiess has served as a judge for the annual Dixie Kane Memorial writing contest, mentoring several fledgling writers in the process. Spiess and her sister, Karen, previously co-owned the Tale of Two Sisters bookstores. Chappetta designs quilts for her business, Creative Quilt Designs.

The book was originally written by Joan B. Garvey and Mary Lou Widmer. Garvey was a New Orleans public school teacher and administrator. She also taught New Orleans History and Tour Guiding at the University of New Orleans. She has been a guide for Smithsonian Southern Tours and co-authored "Louisiana: The First 300 Years." Widmer, a New Orleanian, is a member of the Louisiana Colonials and the Daughters of 1812. A graduate of Loyola University, she has written several books with Pelican, including "New Orleans in the Twenties," "New Orleans in the Thirties," "New Orleans in the Forties," "New Orleans in the Fifties," "New Orleans in the Sixties" and "Margaret, Friend of Orphans" and co-authored "Louisiana: The First 300 Years."

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

LSU Press offers butterflies and German Coast recipes

It’s difficult to imagine a “German Coast” in Louisiana with parish names like St. Charles and St. John the Baptist, but the region upriver from New Orleans housed a settlement of German immigrants as far back as 1719. Several of my ancestors landed there, evolving from Friedrichs to Frederics in only a generation so it’s easy for people to imagine these areas as being strictly French.

Nancy Tregre Wilson, who owned and operated with her husband and parents Louisiana Gourmet Enterprises Inc., a food specialty business that produced the Mam Papaul’s brand of dinner and cake mixes, hails from the German Coast. She titles her new book, “Memere’s Country Creole Cookbook: Recipes and Memories from Louisiana’s German Coast.” Memere (I so wish I could add accents on this blog) relates to Tregre’s French and German great-grandmother, Nellie (pronounced Na’lee) Schexnayder Zeringue, all good German names. Inside are lots of recipes, from deer sausage and tomato mayonnaise sandwiches to crab cakes and alligator sauce piquante. Each recipe includes a remembrance as fascinating as the dish. I loved learning about blackbird jambalaya and Mississippi River shrimp.

Wilson’s other books include “Mam Papaul’s Country Creole Basket,” “Louisiana’s Italians, Food, and Folkways,” and “Lorraine Gendron: Louisiana Folk Artist.”

Also by LSU Press is Craig Marks’ “Butterflies of Louisiana: A Guide to Identification and Location.” This fat guidebook comes loaded with color photos and great detailed information, including host plants, sightings, seasons to find certain species and the author’s personal records. Marks also breaks down butterflies by parish and regions and cites specific places to find certain butterflies. It’s a fabulous comprehensive guide but because it’s specific to the state, readers won’t have to dig through pages of specimens that don’t pertain to our area.

Marks is a member of the Lepidopterist Society, the Southern Lepidopterist Society, and the North American Butterfly Association, and the author of many articles on butterflies.

For information on LSU Press books and to see what titles will be released next, visit https://lsupress.org/.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery. Chere also loves taking photos of butterflies in her Louisiana garden, and now she can identify them.

Southern Review 2018 winter issue now available

The Southern Review’s winter 2018 issue features fiction, essays and poetry from all manner of snowy locales, including Jill Osier’s poetic view of Alaska; Barrett Swanson’s snowy holidayscape in “The Live Ones”; and James Arthur’s poem “Hundred Acre Wood,” which describes a father walking through a wintry Michigan with his infant son. All three evoke the season—and provide great reading for a cold winter’s day.

The winter issue also offers two very different takes on historic fiction: Cary Holladay, who first published with the journal 25 years ago, shares “Carbon Tet,” a piece set in rural Virginia circa 1910; while first-time contributor Lailee Mendelson writes about Russia immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain in “So, the Cold War Is Over.”

Nonfiction writing features Debra Spark’s “Finish It, Finish It: Options for Ending a Story,” a compelling mix of personal memoir and craft talk, and Michael Down’s “Jim at 2 AM” a hilarious and heartfelt portrait of the author’s wayward neighbor.

The issue includes new poems by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stephen Dunn, as well as a pair of densely woven meditations by Jane Springer, whose previous contribution to the journal (“Walk,” autumn 2015) won a Pushcart Prize. Christine Poreba writes about the immigrant experience in her suite of poems, while Chris Dombrowski’s long poem “Going Home” explores how the ripples of a friend’s murder affects the landscape of his youth.

The artwork of German artist Sibylle Peretti is also featured. Her innovative use of cast glass tiles and sculpture creates landscapes and portraits at once delicate and magnificent: close inspection of the glass surface reveals the artist’s hand in her precise engraving, silver and gold leaf applications, and painting.

The winter issue is now available for purchase online at http://thesouthernreview.org

Tuesday Ebook Spotlight: A Cajun Dream

For this week only, my award-winning novel, "A Cajun Dream," part of the Cajun Series of historical romances, is only 99 cents at Amazon.com. I wrote this book in 1999, during Louisiana's FrancoFete, or 300th anniversary celebration. At the time it was a stand-alone novel but I was asked to write a novella as a follow-up and then a longer series, so I decided to tie them all together as one family. 

The Cajun Series begins now with "Emilie" and continues with three more historical romances until "A Cajun Dream," but each book stands alone. 

Here's the book description:  

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Spurned by the Americans living in the South Louisiana town of Franklin because of her Catholic upbringing, and forbidden to associate with the French Creoles and Cajuns by her father, Amanda Rose Richardson believes she is destined to become an old maid. When she finds herself in a compromised situation by the town rogue, it is her good friend René Comeaux, the darkly handsome and passionate Cajun who rescues her. Unbeknown to Amanda, René has been in love with her for months. But can René convince her father his intentions are honorable and win the heart of the "Jolie Blonde" he adores? 

You can read a preview here.

Here's what others have said about my novel:

"A Cajun Dream will bring a smile to readers' faces. Ms. Claire has captured the sweetness of falling in love the first time with the gentleness of Dorothy Garlock and the tenderness of Pamela Morsi." — Maria C. Ferrer for Romantic Times magazine

"What a marvelous debut! Cherie Claire is sure to earn a bevy of fans with this charming and heartwarming tale." — Rexanne Becnel, author of "Blink of An Eye" 

And if you do want to start at the beginning, "Emilie" is FREE to download. In fact, the first book in all my series is a FREE ebook.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," the first book in the Cajun historical series, "Ticket to Paradise," the first book of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.