Several new books examine New Orleans of 19th century

             Examinations of 19th century New Orleans seem to be on everyone’s minds these days for several exciting new books have hit the markets.

            One of the country’s first sensationalized kidnapping cases, in which two established Creoles of color are accused of stealing a blond, blue-eyed Irish child, makes up Michael A. Ross’s “The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law, and Justice in the Reconstruction Era.” Not only does Ross keep readers hanging as the crime and resulting court case unfolds, but he showcases the city in the light of Reconstruction, when black men serve on both the police force and the jury.

            Gary Krist moves on to late 19th century New Orleans when Reconstruction and its efforts at race equality have failed and the city’s elite white leaders fight to reestablish control against an underworld of vice and crime in “Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz. Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans.” The book takes readers through the murder of Chief of Police David C. Hennessy, the riot and lynching against Italians accused of his murder, prostitution and the establishment of a red light district known as Storyville, the emergence of a new sound called jazz and the “Axman” serial killer. New Orleans has seen many decades of varied interest, but this time period is especially fascinating. Krist will be speaking at the New Orleans Book Festival this Saturday in City Park, New Orleans.

            Alan G. Gauthreaux looks at the large influx of Italian immigrants into New Orleans — and Louisiana — in the 19th century, their impact on the city and state and its economy, their contributions and the massive riot following the death of Hennessy that resulted in 11 Italian deaths in “Italian Louisiana: History, Heritage and Tradition.”

           Bayou St. John curving through New Orleans near City Park used to be a major source for transportation to the colonial city. In 1708 Antoine Rivard de Lavigne built a house on the bayou, and James Pitot purchased the architecturally significant home in 1804. In 1964, the house was in danger of demolition and the Louisiana Landmarks Society moved the Pitot House and restored it. To get a sense of the history of this magnificent house, read the newly released book “The Pitot House: A Landmark on Bayou St. John” by James Wade, a member of the Society’s board of directors, where he is also the correspondence secretary, chair of the publications committee, preservation editor and docent at the Pitot House museum.

            Rien Fertel, a visiting professor of history at Tulane, honors the early writings of white Creoles in New Orleans — literary names such as Grace King and George Washington Cable — in “Imagining the Creole City: The Rise of Literary Culture in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans.”

            Lake Charles resident Mike McHugh is a featured contributor in “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Cats” with his story “Cat-awampus.” The series creators Dahlynn and Ken McKowen spent 10 years developing and co-authoring books for Chicken Soup for the Soul before launching their own anthology. There are now 10 books in the “Not Your Mother’s Books” series.

Spell-a-bration
            The Lafayette Public Library Foundation presents Spell-a-bration, a corporate spelling bee benefiting the Lafayette Public Library on Thursday at the Lafayette Science Museum. Corporate-sponsored teams of three can compete in a spelling bee for adults with a “To Bee or Not to Bee” theme in celebration of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Proceeds go toward funding for the Children's Entrance at the new Main Library downtown. For information or purchase tickets, call (337) 593-4770, email spellabration@lplfoundation.com or visit www.lplfoundation.org/spellabration.

Book events

            The fifth annual New Orleans Book Festival featuring authors Wally Lamb, James Carville, Mary Matalin, Trombone Shorty, Richard Campanella, William Joyce and many more will be Saturday at City Park in New Orleans. For more information, visit http://nolabookfest.org/.

            The Center for Louisiana Studies’ Bayou State Book Talks presents Genaro Ky Ly Smith, author of “The Land Baron’s Sun: The Story Ly Loc and His Seven Wives” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the South Regional Branch Library. The event is free and open to the public.

            Ava Levell Haymon, author of “Eldest Daughter,” and Kelli Scott Kelley, author of “Accalia and the Swamp Monster,” will sign copies of their books from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Barnes and Noble at LSU in Baton Rouge, in honor of University Press Week. 

            Author Mona Lisa Saloy, author of “Red Beans & Ricely Yours,” will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday at Peltier Auditorium at Nichol’s State in Thibodaux. The discussion is part of the university's Fletcher Lecture Series and is free and open to the public. Saloy also will take questions from 10:30 a.m. to noon Thursday in Le Bijou Theater in the Bollinger Memorial Student Union. Saloy is a folklorist and English professor at Dillard University in New Orleans.

            New Orleans Comics and Zines Fest will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the New Orleans Main Library. For more information, visit www.nocazfest.com.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Louisiana Book Festival this Saturday in Baton Rouge

            I’ll also be in fabulous company when I sign my latest book, “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History” at 10:45 a.m. Saturday in the State Capitol of Baton Rouge for the annual Louisiana Book Festival. The event brings together a wealth of literary greats, children’s activities, special events, live music and more — and it’s all free. Don’t miss it.
            Here are a few others who will be discussing and signing their books at Saturday’s Louisiana Book Festival:

            Darrell Bourque, author of “Megan’s Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie” and “if you abandon me, comment je vas faire: An Amédé Ardoin Songbook,” served as Louisiana poet laureate from 2007 to 2008 and 2009 to 2011. He is on the boards of the Ernest J. Gaines Center, Festival of Words and NUNU Arts and Culture Collective, and he is a founding member of Narrative 4 of Chicago. He will receive the Louisiana Writer Award at 10 a.m., followed by “A Conversation with Darrell Bourque” at noon.

            Charles M. Blow of Louisiana, the New York Times’ visual op-ed columnist, has written a memoir titled “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” which travels back to his youth and his examination of race, poverty and the abuse he suffered. Blow is also a CNN commentator, and has appeared on many news stations. He will be speaking at 3 p.m.

            Best-selling author Gary Krist looks at New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century in “Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans,” relaying stories of sin and violence stretching from 1890 to 1920, when reform efforts transformed the city’s more decadent nature. Krist, the award-winning author of “City of Scoundrels” and “The White Cascade,” will appear at 12:15 p.m. at Saturday’s festival and at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Octavia Books in New Orleans.

Ernest Gaines

            The University Press of Mississippi has published two books on the tenuous relationship between oil companies and environmental activists and the media. “Hydrocarbon Hucksters: Lessons from Louisiana on Oil, Politics, and Environmental Justice” by Ernest Zebrowski and Mariah Zebrowski Leach pits the industry’s long-running prosperous presence in Louisiana with the state’s low rank in education, public services and the environmental and asks why the state suffers such ills under great profits. “Oil and Water: Media Lessons from Hurricane Katrina and The Deepwater Horizon Disaster,” by coauthors LSU Dean Andrea Miller, Tulane doctoral candidate Shearon Roberts and Western Kentucky assistant professor Victoria LaPoe, studies the double whammy of Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and crisis journalism. Miller, also author of “News Evolution or Revolution? The Future of Print Journalism in the Digital Age,” will speak at 10:30 a.m. and Zebrowski will speak at 3:30 p.m. at the Louisiana Book Festival.

            Tulane law professor Olive A. Houck recounts six decades exploring America’s rivers, creeks and swamps in “Downstream Toward Home” by LSU Press. The travelogue leads readers down more than 32 rivers where Houck provides observations that range from footprints of red wolves to an aqueous forest of cypress trees. Houck has received two National Educational Press Association awards for children’s literature and was most recently honored by the Environmental Section of the American Bar Association with its Distinguished Achievement Award. He will be speaking at 3:15 p.m.

            And award-winning, best-selling author Ernest J. Gaines will speak on his works, his life and his career at the festival as well as at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Moody Hall, Room 103.

Author Dinner

            Rheta Grimsley Johnson, columnist and author of “Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana,” will be the guest author of the Lafayette Public Library’s annual Author Dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Petroleum Club in Lafayette. 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.” Admission is $25 and includes a social and buffet dinner. Tickets must be purchased by noon Tuesday; call Bobbie at 984-8661. Johnson will sell and sign her books following the presentation.

NaNoWriMo

            This weird combination of letters stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is November for all your hardy souls willing to take on writing a novel within one month. The object is to get writing , to make yourself put words on paper and finish a 50,000-word novel by Nov. 30. If you want to know more, the NaNoWriMo Kickoff Event will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the South Regional Library Meeting Room in Lafayette. Refreshments and information on the worldwide writing challenge will be available at this event, plus group write-ins are scheduled throughout Lafayette Parish in November. For information on the library events, call 981-1028. For more information on National Novel Writing Month or to sign up, visit nanowrimo.org.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.