On Thursday, Rheta Grimsley Johnson discusses 'Poor Man's Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Country"

Rheta Grimsley Johnson

As part of the local Water/Ways exhibit project, the Jeanerette Museum Board and Iberia Parish Library have partnered to present a book discussion of "Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Country" by Rheta Grimsley Johnson at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 28, 2019, at the Jeanerette Library, 411 Kentucky St. in Jeanerette.

For more than a decade, syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson has been spending several months a year in Southwest Louisiana, deep in the heart of Cajun Country. Unlike many other writers who have parachuted into the swampy paradise for a few days or weeks, Rheta fell in love with the place, bought a second home and set in planting doomed azaleas and deep roots. She has found an assortment of beautiful people in a homely little town called Henderson, right on the edge of the Atchafalaya Swamp.

These days much is labeled Cajun that is not, and the popularity of the unique culture’s food, songs and dance have been a mixed blessing. The revival of French Louisiana’s traditional music and cuisine often has been cheapened by counterfeits. Confused pilgrims sometimes look to New Orleans for a sampler platter of all things Cajun. Close, but no cigar.

"Poor Man’s Provence" helps define what’s what through lively characters and stories. The book is both personal odyssey and good reporting, travelogue and memoir, funny and frank. This beguiling place is as exotic as it gets without a passport. The author shares what keeps her coming home to French Louisiana.

And as NPR commentator Bailey White observes in her foreword, "Both Rheta's readers and the people she writes about will be comfortable, well fed, highly entertained, and happy they came to Poor Man's Provence."

Johnson has written for several regional newspapers and is a member of the Scripps Howard Newspapers Editorial Hall of Fame. She has lived and worked in the South all of her career and now lives part-time in Henderson. Her books include “Hank Hung the Moon” and “Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming.” 

This program is a part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities made possible through funding from the Walton Family Foundation. This program is also sponsored by the Friends of the Jeanerette Museum and the Friends of the Library.

For more information, download/print the PDF flyer, call the Jeanerette Library at (337) 276-4014, visit Iberia.Evanced.Info/SignUp and JeaneretteMuseum.comor contact Gail Garcia at (337) 380-9057 or JeaneretteMuseum@yahoo.com. The museum is located at 500 E. Main St. on the corner of Main Street and Moresi Alley in Jeanerette.

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.