Louisiana Book News: January 2019

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Jazz and Pop Harp Concert Feb. 2 at library

www.beginninginthemiddle.com

Robbin Gordon Cartier, a harpist from East Orange, New Jersey, is the featured performer at the fifth annual New Orleans Jazz and Pop Harp Concert at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie. The concert is free and open to the public.

Cartier is a teacher in the East Orange School District where she directs the harp program that she originally created for the Elizabeth School District. She has joined the faculty of Kean University in Union, New Jersey as Concert Artist/Adjunct Harp Faculty. Performance credits include appearances at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City; the New Jersey Performing Arts Center; the Pablo Casals Music Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the National Symphony Orchestra of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Cartier has appeared on several television shows and recordings and at events honoring Lord Guinness, Cicely Tyson and Sir James Galway. She was a member of the orchestra for the Three Irish Tenors concerts and Clay Aikens “Make a Joyful Noise” tour. Cartier is a Salvi Concert Artist and presented master classes and a concert at the French ambassador’s residence in Bogota, Columbia for the Salvi Harp Foundation.

Other artists who will perform with Cartier include the following:

-->

Patrice Fisher is a Latin jazz harpist who favors the music of Brazil and Cuba. She is a graduate of Tulane and Wolf Trap and lives in New Orleans, where she has been composing and performing since the 1980s. She has also appeared at numerous international jazz festivals with her group, “Arpa,” including Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Guatemala. She has recorded 15 CDs of original music, the latest being "Resilience." She has performed for more than 30 years at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Fisher also performs Celtic music and is director of the New Orleans Celtic Harp Ensemble. She is a Certified Music Practitioner and uses improvisation to play for patients in hospitals, schools, nursing homes and hospices.

Luke Brechtelsbauer is a New Orleans eclectic harpist, who performs regularly with Helen Gillet and Wazozo World music group. He is a Celtic Harper from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He studied with Anna Vorhes. He has performed in Scotland, Shanghai, China and Brazil. He is also a professional clown and a bagpiper.

Rebecca Babin is a professional harpist living in Baton Rouge. She teaches private music lessons full time and is a multi-instrumentalist who plays harp, piano, guitar, and upright bass, though harp is her specialty. Babin showcases the harp in two original bands. Hurricane Becca and her Outer Band is a rock band with harp, drums, bass, accordion, trombone, and clarinet. The Wilder Janes is a folk and harmony band with harp, banjo, marimba, mandolin, bass, and guitar. Babin makes guest appearances with many other Baton Rouge musicians playing both upright bass and harp.

Cassie Watson is a native of Brooklyn and now lives in New Orleans. Watson took an interest in harp as a young adult. She studied and plays various genres of music. She has played in various venues - from a relaxing retreat or traditional Irish pub to the Festivals at Lincoln Center.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana 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," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Burk, Donlon part of an evening of poetry and stories

The Festival of Words will host an evening of poetry and stories featuring poet Elizabeth Burk and author Sally O. Donlon at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30, at Chicory's Coffee and Cafe in Grand Coteau. The event is part of the Festival's monthly reading, music and oral history series.

Burk is a psychologist who currently divides her time between a clinical practice in New York and a husband and home in Breaux Bridge. She has published two chapbooks, "Learning to Love Louisiana" and "Louisiana Purchase" (Yellow Flag Press). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Atlanta Review, Calyx, Rattle, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The Louisiana Review, New Madrid, Spillway, Passager, Louisiana Literature and various other journals and anthologies. Her poems have been read on KRVS public radio in Lafayette and her work has been performed at Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Arts in Peekskill, New York, and a variety of other venues in New York and Louisiana.

Donlon was born and raised in downtown Lafayette, but has lived in California and New York state, north Louisiana and New Orleans. She has a checkered educational past and holds an MS in Urban Studies, is ABD in Cognitive Science and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in creative writing/nonfiction. Donlon is a researcher, writer, editor and activist who has visited almost every parish of the state, thanks to her work with organizations such as the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the Louisiana Bar Foundation. She is currently an assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Guests are welcome to bring their own poems, songs or stories for the open mic that follows. This free, community event is suitable for all ages. The venue is made available through the generosity of Chicory’s Coffee and Cafe. For more information call Patrice Melnick at (337) 254-9695 or email festivalwords@gmail.com.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Willis' 'Destiny' a sweeping Louisiana family saga

This week’s guest blog is by Randy Willis, author of “Twice a Slave,” “Three Winds Blowing,” “Louisiana Wind,” “Beckoning Candle,” “The Apostle to the Opelousas,” “The Story of Joseph Willis” and many magazine and newspaper articles. His latest novel is “Destiny,” a sweeping family saga that spans four centuries.

It begins and ends on Christmas Day 1941, at the Ole Willis Place located on Barber Creek near Longleaf, Louisiana. The Ole Willis Place was located on present-day Willis Gunter Road, off Boy Scout Road. There’s a huge gravel pit and sand dunes next to where the house once stood.

Destiny is a sweeping family saga that spans four centuries. It is the story of two great nations and Randy Willis's ancestor’s struggle from tyranny—religious and political. A powerful epic with love stories, battles, testimonies, drama, politics, history, and even humor. Inspired by true stories.

Destiny is more than a novel. It is a nonfiction novel inspired by true stories handed down by my ancestors. They depict real historical figures and actual events woven together with imaginary conversations with the use of the storytelling techniques of fiction. Truman Capote claimed to have invented this genre with his book “In Cold Blood” in 1965.

Watch the book trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkzpyTJfvR0

About Randy Willis

“Twice a Slave” has been chosen as a Jerry B. Jenkins Select Book, along with four bestselling authors. Jenkins is the author of more than 180 books with sales of more than 70 million copies, including the best-selling “Left Behind” series. “Twice a Slave” has also been adapted into a dramatic play at Louisiana College by Dr. D. "Pete" Richardson, associate professor of Theater with Louisiana College.

Willis owns Randy Willis Music Publishing (an ASCAP-affiliated music publishing company), and Town Lake Music Publishing, LLC (a BMI-affiliated music publishing company). He is an ASCAP-affiliated songwriter.

He is the founder of Operation Warm Heart, which feeds and clothes the homeless, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Our Mission Possible, empowering at-risk teens to discover their greatness in Austin, Texas. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Joseph Willis Institute for Great Awakening Studies at Louisiana College.

Willis was born in Oakdale, Louisiana, and lived as a boy, near Longleaf on Barber Creek. He currently resides in the Texas Hill Country.

Willis graduated from Angleton High School in Angleton, Texas, and Texas State University in San Marcos. He was a graduate student at Texas State University for six years. He is the father of three sons and has four grandchildren.

He is the fourth great-grandson of Joseph Willis and his foremost historian.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Darrell Bourque named 2019 Humanist of the Year, 'A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years' by Viola Fontenot named 2019 Humanities Book of the Year

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), in partnership with Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, has selected former Louisiana poet laureate Darrell Bourque as the 2019 Humanist of the Year and “A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years” by Viola Fontenot as the 2019 Humanities Book of the Year. The awards are part of the state humanities council’s effort to honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the study and understanding of the humanities. Bourque, Fontenot, and the other award winners will be honored on April 4, 2019, at the 2019 LEH Bright Lights Awards Dinner in Lafayette.

“All of us at the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism are proud to commend Darrell Bourque on being chosen as Louisiana’s 2019 Humanist of the Year,” said Nungesser. “Bourque epitomizes what it is to be a true humanist - not only does he share his gifts of poetry and creative writing with the world, but he’s also helped to nurture and mentor so many aspiring writers, poets and artists and do so with empathy and devotion.”

Bourque served as Louisiana’s second peer-selected poet laureate from 2007–2011, first appointed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco and then reappointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. A native of Church Point in Acadia Parish, he earned a BA and MA in English at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and a PhD in English from Florida State University. He returned to USL as a professor, later serving as department head and director of creative writing, and has published twelve books of poetry, the most recent of which is “if you abandon me, comment je vais faire: An Amédé Ardoin Songbook” (2014). Bourque is also one of the founding members of Narrative 4, an international story exchange project that works to bring about social change by cultivating radical empathy in its participants.

“In Darrell Bourque, Louisiana has a native son who is the embodiment of a humanist. His work, whether his poetry or his numerous other cultural pursuits, points to a person firmly grounded in his community and driven by a deep concern for the value and dignity of all people. We are thrilled to celebrate him as the 2019 Humanist of the Year,” said Miranda Restovic, president and executive director of the LEH.

“A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years,” authored by Viola Fontenot and published by the University Press of Mississippi, follows Fontenot’s life as the daughter of a sharecropper in Church Point. Reliving various aspects of rural Cajun life, such as house chores, boucheries, fais do-do, and the classroom mantra of “I will not speak French on the school grounds anymore,” Fontenot brings a female perspective to a previously male-dominated understanding of sharecropping culture.

LEH and Master of Ceremonies Nungesser will honor Bourque and Fontenot at the 2019 Bright Lights Awards Dinner at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Student Union. Tickets begin at $150. Table sponsorships are available to interested parties. For more information, contact Mike Bourg at (504) 620-2482 or bourg@leh.org, or visit www.leh.org.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Guest blogger and author Roger Johns asks, Who is Wallace Hartman and How Did She Get Here?'

Today's guest blogger is Roger Johns, a former corporate lawyer and retired college professor who's the author of the Baton Rouge-set Wallace Hartman Mysteries from Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press.

Who is Wallace Hartman and How Did She Get Here?

by Roger Johns

It all started as I was hustling across campus to teach a class on international business transactions, way back in 2006. This weird thought popped into my head and wouldn’t go away. To this day, I have no idea why I started thinking about the similarities between legitimate business enterprises and the South American cocaine cartels. Like their lawful counterparts, they have to acquire raw materials, manufacture a product, and deal with issues such as quality control, packaging, distribution, competition, employee compensation, and dispute resolution.

Despite these similarities, however, there are some very important differences. Possession, distribution, and use of the product is unlawful, and cartel managerial methods can be rather brutal. You never hear of one cartel filing a lawsuit against another cartel over trade secret appropriation or breach of contract––and you never will. To the best of my knowledge, the Medellin cartel has never filed a court action against the Cali cartel to complain about anti-competitive business practices. Nor have I ever heard of rank and file cartel workers going on strike for better wages and working conditions. Likewise, I am unaware of union organizers demanding access to a cartel’s workforce for the purpose of forming a collective bargaining unit. And, it’s the same with small-time matters like inventory shrinkage and cooperating with law enforcement. The cartels, like most criminal enterprises, settle these matters with their own brand of justice. A common criticism of the slow pace at which the legitimate criminal justice system grinds on––justice delayed is justice denied––does not apply to the dispute resolution mechanisms used by the cartels, where suspicion suffices as proof beyond a shadow of a doubt, due process arrives with the velocity of a speeding bullet, and all appeals are denied, ahead of time, with extreme prejudice.

Given these stark differences, we generally tend not to think of the cartels and their challenges in the same terms we think of legitimate companies. Nevertheless, for some reason, that day, on the way to class, I did exactly that. Specifically, my thinking came to bear on how they could solve one of their biggest, costliest problems––product distribution. Their supply chains are absurdly long and tortuous and subject to frequent disruption by competitors and the police. There had to be a better way. I just knew there was. In fact, I could picture it so perfectly. So why had this safer, faster, cheaper method never been adopted?

Well . . . there was a reason––a really good reason. I should have realized that if it could’ve been done it would’ve been done. It took a fair amount of research to find out that, although many had tried, what I was thinking of simply could not be accomplished. On that matter, I’ll say no more except to note that, upon discovering this impossibility, instead of abandoning the idea another weird thought popped into my head. A question: “But, what if . . .” What if it could be done? How would that look on the street to a law enforcement officer who encounters the arrival of this epic disruption in cartel methods as a series of bizarre and unexplainable murders?

The arrival of these questions gave birth to the idea of writing a story about the what-if possibilities, and (eventually, after many false starts) the story idea gave rise to the main character: Wallace Hartman––a woman in her mid-30s, a homicide detective in Baton Rouge, the bearer of a cross of guilt so heavy she was caught off guard when an unexpected chance at redemption materialized under the most dangerous and stressful conditions imaginable.

Once this character arrived, unbidden, amidst my thoughts, she proved to have many stories to tell, all of them taking place in and around her home town of Baton Rouge. In "Dark River Rising," her first outing, she had to deal with the aforementioned disruption in the illicit cocaine trade. In "River of Secrets," her second go-around, Wallace comes face to face with a disruption in the political and social fabric of Baton Rouge, when a social justice activist is accused of the racially motivated murder of a white politician. In both books, the plot is fast-moving, but the stories are Wallace’s to tell. She is the axis around which these tales revolve. They would not exist apart from her, and they would not work very well set outside Baton Rouge and its surrounding area.

The difficulties Wallace confronts challenge her mentally, physically, and emotionally, and she is changed by these encounters. The themes addressed in both books are common to all people and all places, but the stories themselves are rooted in the Deep South, in general, and in southeast Louisiana, in specific. With each passing book, the Wallace comes into sharper focus, but she maintains her ability to surprise me and she is seldom far from my thoughts. I am working hard on the next leg of her journey.

And, if you’re wondering about how these books came to be, here’s my secret formula:

1 writing teacher who taught us the basics during an 8-week class

3 critique groups (in 3 different towns)

5 writers’ conferences

7 major rewrites (plus uncountable drafts)

37 agent/editor queries over a 19-month period

36 rejections (some of which arrived even after I had withdrawn the manuscript from consideration)

Simmer in a broth of self-doubt for about 9 years, over the low steady flame of florid anxiety

Toss in 1 publication contract

Bake for 20 months in my publisher’s magic oven, and voilà:

"Dark River Rising" emerges into the world.

Roger Johns is a former corporate lawyer and retired college professor, and the author of the Wallace Hartman Mysteries from Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press: "Dark River Rising" (2017) and "River of Secrets" (2018). He is the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year (Detective·Mystery Category), a 2018 Killer Nashville Readers’ Choice Award nominee, a finalist for the 2018 Silver Falchion Award for best police procedural, and the 2019 JKS Communications Author-in-Residence. His articles and interviews about writing and the writing life have appeared in Career Author, Criminal Element, Southern Literary Review, and Killer Nashville Articles. Roger belongs to the Atlanta Writers Club, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. Along with four other crime fiction writers, he co-authors the MurderBooks blog at www.murderbooks.com. Please visit him at www.rogerjohnsbooks.com.

Where to buy “Dark River Rising”

Apple

Where to buy “River of Secrets”