Change of July 3 Acadian Museum event location

UPDATE: The Acadian Museum of Erath will induct Maria Placer into its Order of Living Legends on Sunday, July 3, but the location has changed. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at L’Eglise located on 3203 Alcee Road in Abbeville (it is actually in the hamlet of LeBlanc off of LA Highway 339). Both Warren Perrin and I (Cheré Coen) will be signing books at this event.

Directions from Lafayette are:

From Lafayette:
From Ambassador Caffery Parkway, turn right at the intersection of Ambassador Caffery and Verot School Road (LA 339 South).

Verot School Road will come to a T and LA 339 will continue turning left (Chemin Agreable) and then a quick right (Decon Road). At the Decon Road turn there is a Chevron station.

From the Chevron Station, continue on LA 339 (Decon Road) for approximately 1.9 miles.

J. Alcee Road will intersect LA 339 on the right. Turn right at J. Alcee.

L'Eglise will be located on the left side of J. Alcee Road. There is a sign indicating L'Eglise at the intersection of J. Alcee Road and LA 339.

Visit www.legliseinc.com for further details.

Perrin captures Vermilion Parish history in new book

I was privileged to have seen “Images of America: Vermilion Parish” take shape as Lafayette-Erath lawyer and author Warren A. Perrin compiled this impressive tome. The Arcadia trade paperback is now available in bookstores, marrying both old and fairly recent photos with historical information to provide a fabulous overview in pictures of historic Vermilion Parish.

Perrin writes of the parish’s settlement by its variety of cultures, discusses the Acadian Diaspora, spotlights towns and hamlets, legends, musicians and entertainers, sports figures, education and so much more. It’s likely residents of Acadiana will spot friends and family in these pages.

Vermilion native Perrin is president of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana and is author of “Acadian Redemption: From Beausoleil Broussard to the Queen’s Royal Proclamation.”
Perrin will be signing copies of his new book from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 3, at the Acadian Museum Annex No. 1 in Erath, as part of the induction of Maria Placer into the museum's Order of Living Legends. The museum is located at 11607 Highway 89 on Lake Peigneur, just south of Lafayette. In case of inclement weather, the location will be changed to L'Église in LeBlanc. The event is a fundraiser for the museum and admission is $10, which includes a barbecue dinner, drinks and trimmings, with music by Joe W & Coulee Kinney Band. All proceeds from Perrin's book will benefit the Acadian Museum.

Other new releases include:

John la Fleur II has published a lovely cookbook that’s as much coffee table showpiece as it’s handy in the kitchen. Titled “A Cultural Legacy: Creole Gourmet Secrets of Louisiana,” the book is chock full of Louisiana and Acadiana history, gourmet recipes such as bacon-wrapped rabbit with mushrooms flavored with sherry and raspberries and photos by Norris Fontenot. La Fleur is owner of Courtableau House Plantation B&B in Washington and host of the weekly radio show at Fred’s Lounge in Mamou. The self-published book is available through www.creolebookstore.com.

Just in time for Independence Day and to honor those who have kept America free, Air Force historians Joseph Caver, Jerome Ennels and Daniel Haulman have published “The Tuskegee Airmen, An Illustrated History: 1939-1949” (NewSouth Books). The book profiles the only black American military pilots of World War II with 300 photographs, many never before published, plus those men and women who supported the Airmen. In addition, it offers a complete chronology, debunks myths and inaccuracies and utilizes source documents from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Grammy Award-winning musician Steve Earle (who just had a fictional run-in with a mugger on HBO’s “Treme”) has published his debut novel “I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

James L. “Buddy” Estes has self-published a Southern-themed cookbook titled, “Possum and Sweet Potatoes,” from D’Este Publications of Baton Rouge. For information, visit http://possumandsweetpotatoes.com.

Ebook news

New Orleans playwright Rosary O’Neill has just published an ebook titled “Tropical Depression” (Smashwords). The romantic woman’s novel tells the story of a wealthy student and housewife who runs off with a college professor only to be caught by a hurricane in a Louisiana swamp. The book cost $2.99 and can be downloaded at www.smashwords.com.

In celebration of his novel “John Raven Beau,” New Orleans author O’Neil De Noux is offering a free short story titled “21 Steps” through his Web site. Visit www.oneildenoux.net/dx/FREE_Story.html.

 

“The Flying Lady Diner” short story by Debra Gray De Noux and O'Neil De Noux of New Orleans,
with cover art by David Miller, is available as an Amazon Kindle for 99 cents.
The story concerns a private eye on a wandering son case who learns the value of brown eyes. 
Also, “Price Tag Attached” by Kent Westmoreland and O'Neil De Noux
is available and deals with murder and art theft from a New Orleans cemetery.

Daily Advertiser columnist Jan Risher has assisted in the writing of an immensely fascinating autobiography of Allyson Schram of Arnaudville titled “The Medium and the Mortician: She is Beautiful,” a book coming out in electronic serial form that’s as humorous as it’s fascinating.

Schram is a medium, or intuitive as she once told me who owns a delightful personality including a good sense of humor. People who have passed on send her messages, much like John Edwards on TV. What’s funny about Schram’s life is that she’s married to a mortician. The book is filled anecdotes and will be released in pieces for the Nook and Kindle at $2.99 a pop; the authors say a general Internet search will pull up where to purchase them. The second release will be June 21. 

            “They are not traditional full-length books, more of the novella length, but the stories don't make a novel,” Risher explained to me by email. “They are real and straight from Allyson’s life.

“I would describe the stories as Whoopi Goldberg’s character in ‘Ghost’ meets — and I’m struggling here — I want to say ‘I Love Lucy.’ Allyson is funny in person and in the stories of her life. While she has an amazing gift, she’s careful not to take herself so seriously. She understands that a lot of people don’t get what she does, but she knows the value of what she does and has come to a point in her life that she’s comfortable with her gift.

“Her path to acceptance started after her Baptist deacon, church-going father died and came to visit her afterwards,” Risher continued. “ ‘If this is OK with my sweet daddy, then it’s OK with me,’ Allyson said of the experience.’”

Book events this week

Jeff Kinney, author of the popular “Wimpy Kid” books, will be at the Nims Fine Art Center on The Academy of the Sacred Heart’s campus at 4301 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans on Friday.

Former FEMA Director Michael D. Brown will sign “Deadly Indifference The Perfect (Political) Storm: Hurricane Katrina, the Bush White House, and Beyond,” from 3-4:30 p.m. today (June 24) at Maple Street Book Shop and from 6-7:30 p.m. at Garden District Book Shop, both in New Orleans.

Kevin Henkes will sign copies of his children’s books at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 25, at Maple Street Book Shop. At Garden District Book Shop, New Orleans native and best-selling children’s author Mo Willems will sign his books from 3-5 p.m. Saturday.

New York Times best-selling young adult novelist Sarah Dessen will sign copies of her books from 1-2 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Octavia Books in New Orleans. David Unger will discuss and sign his book, “Price of Escape,” at 1 p.m. Saturday at the New Orleans Public Library.

Tomie DePaola (“Strega Nona,” “Let the Whole Earth Sing Praise”) and Richard Peck (“Three Quarters Dead”) will sign their books from 1-2 p.m. Sunday, June 26, and authors N.H. Senzai and Frances O’Roark Dowell will sign their new titles at 1 p.m. Monday at Maple Street Bookstore in New Orleans.

Kate DiCamillo, award-winning and best-selling author of middle grade books, will sign copies at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at Octavia Books in New Orleans. DiCamillo’s books include “Because of Winn-Dixie” (a Newbery Honor book), “The Tiger Rising” (a National Book Award finalist), “The Tale of Despereaux” (winner of the 2003 Newbery Medal), early chapter books about a pig named Mercy Watson and “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” (winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award). Also at Octavia this week are Ingrid Law, Jay Asher and Maureen Johnson signing books at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 26, and Elana Johnson, Jenny Han, Jessi Kirby and John Corey Whaley signing books at 2 p.m. and Tom Franklin (“Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter”) and Laura Lippman (“I’d Know You Anywhere”) signing at 6 p.m. Monday, June 27. Dorothea Benton Frank signs copies of “Folly Beach” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 28. 

Food writer Sheri Castle signs “The New Southern Garden Cookbook” from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 27, and Dr. Timothy Harlan signs “Just Tell Me What to Eat” from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

Keith Midkiff, author of “New Orleans Besieged,” will be reading from and signing his alternate history book at the Old Metairie Branch Library at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 29.

Carolyn Shelton will speak about cookbook writing at the Writers’ Guild of Acadiana meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, at Barnes & Noble, 5707 Johnston St. in Lafayette.

LSU Press publishes Civil War titles

LSU Press has published several new titles just in time for the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

Wallace Hettle, professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa, re-examines Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall Jackson in “Inventing Stonewall Jackson: A Civil War Hero in History and Memory.” Jackson died midway through the war and much of his life has been told through friends, relatives, newspaper accounts and a rags-to-riches biography. Hettle attempts to break through the myths to paint a more realistic account.

University of Virginia Professor Brian D. McKnight also tries to discern fact from fiction in the life of Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson, who was executed for murdering 53 loyal citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War, in “Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia.” Ferguson became a folk hero to Southerners and was used to create the composite role of Clint Eastwood in “The Outlaw Josey Wales.”

The Civil War brought on an onslaught of ingenuity by Southerners and H. Jackson Knight details these Confederate creations, everything from “combined knapsack and tent” to improvement on firearms, in “Confederate Invention: The Story of the Confederate States Patent Office and Its Inventors.”

Stretching ahead a few years is Rachel L. Emanuel and Alexander P. Tureaud Jr.’s biography of civil rights activist and attorney A.P. Tureaud, who fought desegregation for years in Louisiana. “A More Noble Cause: A.P. Tureaud and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Louisiana, A Personal Biography,” examines Tureaud’s 40-plus years working toward equal pay for Louisiana teachers, desegregating public accommodations and buses, voting rights and working with others to overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson, which ended segregation on a national level. Emanuel is director of publications and electronic media at Southern University Law Center and Alexander Tureaud Jr. a retired school administrator.