Three new members join Tennessee Williams board

The Tennessee William/New Orleans Literary Festival welcomes three new board members:

Native New Orleanian, C. Morgan Babst studied writing at NOCCA, Yale and NYU, and her essays and short  fiction have appeared in Garden and Gun, The Oxford American, Guernica, the Harvard Review, Lenny Letter and The New Orleans Review, among others. Her debut novel, “The Floating World,” was named one of the best books of the year by Amazon and Kirkus Reviews and was a New York Times Editors’ Pick.

A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Matthew Griffin worked for several years as Assistant to the Director of Highlander Research and Education Center, a hub of grassroots organizing for social justice throughout the South and Appalachia. His first novel “Hide” was the winner of the 2017 Crook's Corner Book Prize and an ALA Stonewall Honor Book. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Granta, Electric Literature and elsewhere. Born and raised in North Carolina, he lives with his husband in New Orleans where he teaches at Tulane University and Loyola University. 

Christy Harowski is the Chief of Staff for the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board where she focuses on policy execution, government relations, strategic planning, and special projects. Prior to joining the SandWB, Christy was Director of Special Projects for the Business Council of New Orleans. Before shifting to policy work, Christy practiced law for ten years. She serves on the board of Louisiana Appleseed, is an adjunct professor teaching trial advocacy at Tulane Law School, and was recently honored as a member of Gambit’s 40 Under 40. Christy lives with her husband and three sons in New Orleans.

The full board for 2019-20 includes:

President: Peggy Scott Laborde

President-Elect: Lawrence Henry Gobble

Vice President: Sara Woodard

Secretary: Brad Richard

Treasurer: Terry Verigan

Executive Committee Members at Large: Sara Barnard, Amelia Koch, Kim Vaz-Deville

Board Members: C. Morgan Babst, Patricia Brady, Cheryllyn Branche, Beau Bratcher, Lisa D’Amour, Janet Daley Duval, Joel Fredell, Matthew Griffin, Christy Harowski, Megan Holt, David Hoover, Susie Hoskins, David Johnson, Errol Laborde, John Lawrence, Molly Mitchell, and Cathie Weinstein.

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.