Pastorek to discuss Abbeville Red iris Wednesday

https://www.friendsofpalmetto.org/abbeville-red-iris.html

Paul Pastorek, former state superintendent of education from 2007-2011 and now a “sleuth of the swamp,” will discuss Louisiana irises and the loss of their habitat, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

Pastorek found the elusive I. nelsonii, which bears the common names of Abbeville Red Iris or Abbeville Swamp Iris. The plant exhibits large blooms in the spring in shades that include bright red, brownish red and purplish red. Sometimes it also produces a yellow bloom. Although the iris was first discovered growing in the Abbeville swamp in the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1966 that it was determined to be a new species and was named for Ike Nelson, a horticulture professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

  

Pastorek was born and raised in New Orleans. He graduated from De La Salle High School and Loyola University. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and was admitted to the Louisiana state bar in 1979. Pastorek had a long-term association with the law firm Adams and Reese, based in the New Orleans office of the firm. From 2002 to 2004, he was the general counsel to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a position to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush. In 2004, he left NASA and formed Next Horizon, a statewide non-profit organization and think tank on educational issues based in Baton Rouge.

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.

Six Louisiana poets to read April 30 at Metairie Library

Six local poets – Esme Franklin, Benjamin Aleshire, Elizabeth Gross, Brad Richard, Benjamin Morris and Cassie Pruyn – will discuss and read from their works at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

Esme Franklin earned a master of fine arts degree from Warren Wilson College. Her work is published or forthcoming in The Asheville Poetry Review, Fairy Tale Review, The Comstock Review, Peaxdunque Review, and elsewhere.

Benjamin Aleshire’s poems have appeared in The Times UK, Iowa Review, Boston Review, and an excerpt of his novel-in-progress, Poet for Hire: Kismet of a 21st Century Troubadour, is forthcoming. Aleshire received the Chighizola Award from the University of New Orleans, and a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council. The second edition of his artist-book of visual poems, Currency, was released in 2017.

Elizabeth Gross is a poet/translator/teacher/artist in New Orleans. This body/that lightning show, her first poetry collection, was selected by Jericho Brown for the Hilary Tham Capital Collection of the Word Works Press (2019). DEAR ESCAPE ARTIST, a chapbook in collaboration with artist Sara White, came out from Antenna in 2016. She teaches interdisciplinary humanities for the Honors Program at Tulane University.

Brad Richard has published four collections of poems: Habitations, Motion Studies, Butcher's Sugar, and Parasite Kingdom (winner of the 2018 Tenth Gate Prize from The Word Works). A former faculty member at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and founder and chair of the creative writing program at Lusher Charter School, he is transitioning to a life of writing and new educational endeavors.

Benjamin Morris is the author of Coronary (Fitzgerald Letterpress, 2011), Hattiesburg, Mississippi: A History of the Hub City (Arcadia/ History Press, 2014), and Ecotone (Antenna/Press Street Press, 2017). His work has received fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission, Tulane University, and A Studio in the Woods. Formerly a researcher with the University of Cambridge and the Open University (UK), he is a member of the Mississippi Artist Roster.

Cassie Pruyn is the author of Bayou St. John: A Brief History (The History Press, 2017) and the poetry collection Lena (Texas Tech University Press, 2017), winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Prize in Poetry and finalist for the Audre Lorde Award. Her poems, essays and reviews have been published in numerous publications. Born and raised in Portland, Maine, and a graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars, she lives and teaches in New Orleans.

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

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.

Adventures in readings — Pedersen's 'Swamp Kids'

We’ve been following the impressive publishing career of Leif Pedersen, who works as a professional fund-raising executive by day. He’s published several books in the “The Adventures of the Swamp Kids” series, incorporating many Louisiana celebrities in the telling, and selling the sweet children’s board books throughout Louisiana.

His latest is “The Swamp Kids Play Ball” (illustrated by Tim Banfell) and features the usual suspects such as TuTu the turtle, Boudin the pig, Plauche the pelican and other swamp creatures. Tutu wants to start a game of baseball but this ensemble doesn’t play like your average baseball team. Plauche catches balls in his beak, Mon Cher the raccoon rounds the bases fast for, well a raccoon, and Ribbideaux the frog uses his tongue to snag grounders. But when the Great Danes arrive, the Swamp Kids are no match for their dogs' baseball expertise.

In the end, the Great Danes score big and the Swamp Kids make one run, but they don’t mind because they had great fun. The group hauls Tutu on their shoulders and thank him for teaching them how to play the game.

It’s a sweet story about how winning isn’t always the end result, that having fun with friends is just as important. At the back of the book is a “Lagniappe Lesson” by LSU Head Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri, who reiterates the book’s moral. He advises readers to find a sport they enjoy, “work hard to be at the top of your game and enjoy playing with your teammates and against your opponents. Because many of them will be your friends for life.”

And if that’s not fun enough, you can sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with your kids at the book’s final page.

Pedersen hails from New Orleans and now lives in Slidell. He has been a big band singer for almost 40 years and spent a half dozen of those years as the featured vocalist with Buddy Morrow's Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He’s a former Marine and a member of Southeastern Louisiana University's Music Hall of Fame. 

Banfell also resides in Slidell and is a graphic artist and cartoonist who has developed a devoted following for his cartoon strip, "Wrong Key," which is featured in a number of newspapers around the coast of Florida. He currently works as a graphic designer and photographer for a major oil company. 

For more information about “The Swamp Kids Play Ball” and other books in the series, plus activity sheets and other supporting resources, visit www.theswampkids.com.

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.