Word Crawl of poets, spoken word artists this weekend

Time is ticking to sign up for Saturday’s Word Crawl, where every hour poets and spoken word artists will be performing along Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette. There will be performances at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, Reve coffee shop, Cite Des Arts, Lafayette Science Museum, Steam Press Coffee and Café and The Wurst Biergarten. Daytime hours welcome all ages, evening hours may include adult material and there is a portion for Francophone and multi-cultural writers.   It’s all to raise money for Festival of Words, an annual literary event (Nov. 3-4 this year) that brings established authors to Acadiana to give public readings and writing workshops in community centers and public schools. Saturday’s Word Crawl helps raise funds to ensure the continued expansion and success of Festival of Words’ programs. If you would like to share your own stories, poems, etc., you can pick up a packet by contacting Marie Touchet at aziesbusiness@gmail.com; Alex Johnson at PoeticSoul337@gmail.com or (713) 933-4448; or Martha Garner at mgarner70506@gmail.com or (337) 804-2482. Participants may also download a packet and see a complete list of participating authors and venues at festivalofwords.org.

Coke Trail

Coca-Cola is an international sensation, and Larry Jorgensen of Lafayette has written a book documenting the many places in the United States showcasing Coke history or attractions unique to Coca-Cola.

“The Coca-Cola Trail: People and Places in the History of Coca-Cola” includes Louisiana sites such as Joseph A. Biedenharn’s Vicksburg company where Coke was served and grew popular, which led to Biedenharn bottling the concoction for the first time in history, and Biedenharn’s home in Monroe, now a historic landmark with the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum next door.

Other spots mentioned in the book include bottling companies in towns across the nation, such as the Coke plant in Paducah, Ky., the inventors of the unique design of the Coca-Cola bottle and collectors such as teenager Daniel Morris, who collected an impressive array of memorabilia and opened a museum in a former bottling plant in Cedartown, Ga., in 2016. There’s also the World of Coca-Cola attraction in Atlanta, due to Atlanta pharmacist John S. Pemberton serving the drink for the first time in his drugstore.

Jorgensen spent two years researching this book, which is also filled with historic photos and recent shots of places and people. He is also the author of “Hot Wells: A Louisiana Ghost,” a historic book on the hot spring that once flowed near Cotile Lake in central Louisiana. He works as a marketing and media relations professional in Lafayette. For more information, visit https://thecocacolatrail.com.

Book events Sept. 3-9, 2017

Louise Penny discusses and signs “Glass Houses” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Octavia Bookstore of New Orleans.

Charlie Spillers will discuss “Confessions of an Undercover Agent” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Denham Springs-Walker branch library.

Kathryn K. Fontenot will sign copies of “The Louisiana Urban Gardener: A Beginners Guide to Growing Vegetables and Herbs” from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Crescent City Farmers Market, 750 Carondelet in New Orleans.

Alysson Foti Bourque will launch her latest children’s book, “Alycat and the Monday Blues,” at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at The Little Gym in Lafayette.

Stacey Wilson signs copies of “She Stands” from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, at The Conundrum bookstore in St. Francisville.

Cheré Coen is the author of the “Viola Valentine” Louisiana paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.