Jan Risher: Of time travel and tea cakes

This week’s Louisiana Book News guest blogger is author and journalist Jan Risher, who writes a weekly column for The Advocate newspaper of Baton Rouge and has recently published a compilation of her columns in the book, Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and Other Long Stories Short.

On a seemingly normal afternoon last fall, shortly after my book was released, I time traveled.

There were no blue police boxes or Scottish stones in sight. Even so, in an instant, I was 12 years old sitting on my great-grandmother’s sofa.

It was powerful stuff, and all it took was one whiff. Like magic, the aroma transported me to another time and place.

I had just walked into a gathering of friends who wanted to celebrate my new book, Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and Other Long Stories Short. As I entered the party, a friend said, “Jan, come smell this cookie and tell me what you think.”

I thought it an odd request but was happy to comply. I took the cookie she was offering and held it to my nose. In a millisecond, I knew exactly what it was — my great-grandmother’s tea cake, her trademark, go-to-almost-cookie-but-a-little-like-hard-tack that cousins, aunts, uncles and friends have taken as sustenance the world over.

Nearly 15 years ago, I shared my great-grandmother’s beloved recipe in all its wonder and lack of precise measurements in a newspaper column. I ended up including that column and her recipe in my book (which is a collection of selected columns written over 15 years).

After a short list of ingredients, the last line of the recipe simply says, “enough flour to make a stiff dough.” Its telltale spice is nutmeg, and I suppose that’s what makes the teacakes so memorable.

I later learned that three 12-year-old girls, daughters of friends, made teacakes. Decades will pass before these girls have the capacity to comprehend the small miracle they pulled off.

The product they produced is also a testament to two of my cousins who captured my great-grandmother’s recipes years ago and made a family cookbook. They recognized at a young age the value of their grandmother’s cooking. Sheila spent hours in the kitchen with her grandmother, documenting exactly how the stuff that dreams were made.

The cookies I ate that afternoon could have easily come straight from my great-grandmother’s oven. They were identical in scent, texture and taste. Some were crunchy and some were soft. That variety is part of what made them wonderful. Every batch had an element of a surprise. I once asked my great-grandmother where she got the teacake recipe. She told me her mother taught her to make them. To put that in perspective, her mother was born in 1874 — and three 12-year-old girls made the very same teacakes.

I am grateful to all the women involved in making that moment happen, from my great-great-grandmother on down the family tree — and extending to the many beautiful flowers of friendship.

As Isaac Newton said in 1675, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” I do not profess to have seen further, but I am grateful for the giants who have walked before and beside me.

In that moment of the teacake, I felt it all.

Jan Risher’s Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and Other Long Stories Short is available at major booksellers and at www.janrisher.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.

Columnist Jan Risher to discuss her new short story collection Oct. 9 at the Bayou State Book Talks

Lafayette's Jan Risher, an award-winning journalist, columnist and former managing editor of the Times of Acadiana, will discuss her new book, "Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and Other Long Stories Short," at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018, at the Main Library in downtown Lafayette. The talk is part of the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Bayou State Book Talks and is free and open to the public.

Though Risher left full-time journalism in 2008, she has been writing a weekly column in Lafayette since March 2002 and, to date, has written more than 850 Sunday columns. Before her foray into Acadiana, she wrote columns for The Scott County Times, her hometown newspaper in Forest, Miss., in 1993 while teaching English in Slovakia. In 1999, as a young mother in El Paso, she began writing the column for the El Paso Times.

Risher worked with a team of editors to select favorite columns originally published in The Daily Advertiser between 2002 and 2017. The columns selected include big events like a trip to China to adopt a daughter, covering Katrina/Rita as a journalist, the 2016 South Louisiana flood and other events such as Christmas socks and her great-grandmother’s tea cake recipe. 

The book is published by San Souci Press, an imprint of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press.

“I was a blogger before it was a thing,” Risher said in the book’s press release. “I’m not sure why, but I always wanted to write a newspaper column. Maybe it was because I come from a family of storytellers. Getting a word in edged-wise was a challenge, but, never fear, I managed. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity all these years to consider stories and share my life, observations and experiences with readers.”

Sid Salter, chief communications officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs at Mississippi State University — and former editor of Risher’s hometown paper — penned the foreword for the book. “At heart, Jan Risher is a compassionate storyteller,” he said. “She shares deeply from her own heart and from the grand storehouse of her family. She writes honestly about family, home, love, mothers, and work – and about parenting, marriage, friendship, death, and all of life’s intangibles.”

“This book is a delight to read,” said ULL’s Michael S. Martin, the Cheryl Courrege Burguieres Professor in History and Managing Editor of Louisiana History. “Risher's storytelling ability shines in her tales of tragedy, triumph, and all points in between. She reminds her readers that, although we might not have the same backgrounds or current situations, we all confront circumstances that point to our fundamental interconnectedness as human beings.”

“Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers” is priced at $20 and available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.

In addition to her appearance at Bayou State Book Talks, Risher will be signing copies at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23, 2018, at Barnes and Noble, 5705 Johnston St. in Lafayette.

Bayou State Book Talks is a monthly discussion series led by authors from Louisiana who have written books that are of interest to Louisianians. The series is co-sponsored by the Center for Louisiana Studies, UL Lafayette and the Lafayette Public Library System.

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.

UL-Lafayette's Center for Louisiana Studies presents fall Bayou State Book Talks

The Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette launches its fifth season of Bayou State Book Talks beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, in the Main Lafayette Library second floor meeting room, 301 W. Congress Street in downtown Lafayette. Admission is free and open to the public. Bayou State Book Talks is a monthly discussion series led by Louisiana authors who have written books that are of interest to Louisianans. The series is co-sponsored by the Center for Louisiana Studies, UL Lafayette, and the Lafayette Public Library System.

The Fall 2018 season features:

September 11 - Elista Istre 

Creoles of South Louisiana: Three Centuries Strong

October 9 - Jan Risher

Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and Other Long Stories Short

November 13 - Joe Abraham

Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander to Hitler to the Corporation

In other UL-Lafayette news...

Margaret Simon, author of “Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape” (UL-Lafayette Press), will host a writing and illustration workshop for children ages 8-12 at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Lafayette Main Library in the Children's Activity Room. All materials will be provided. Read a review of Simon's book by Louisiana Book News here.

Rural Tourism Education Workshop

The Center for Louisiana Studies and the Mississippi State University Extension will host the annual MissLou Rural Tourism Education Workshop on Aug. 27-28, 2018, in Vermilion Parish, an immersive workshop that includes tours to existing agritourism operations as well as businesses considering expanding their services to include agritourism, presentations focused on the region's needs and assets, and guided working sessions to create a product that can be refined and implemented after the workshop. Registration is $100 for the two-day event and includes meals; sign up here. Lodging is available at the Best Western and Motel 6 in Abbeville. For more information, contact Jennifer Ritter Guidry at 337.482.6871 or clspresents@louisiana.edu.

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.

Travel down John Hart's 'Redemption Road'

           John Hart’s “Redemption Road” rolls through the Southern countryside, twisting and turning into secrets, betrayal, violence and despair. It’s a road worth traveling, a non-stop voyage that will have your fingers white upon the steering wheel until the very end.

            Someone’s abducting women in this his latest thriller, and we get a glimpse of the murderer’s point of view as the book begins. Thirteen years prior a woman named Julia Strange was found murdered in an abandoned church and local cop Adrian Wall took the rap. His colleague, Elizabeth “Liz” Black, knew in her gut that Adrian was innocent but her efforts to find proof failed.

            As Adrian is released from prison 13 years later, a tortured and broken man, Julia’s son is set on revenge and confronts him in a bar. Meanwhile, Liz has charges of her own after brutally killing two men in a current abduction case. And then another woman’s body is found on the church altar, in the same pose as Julia Strange.

            The storylines weave in and out, constantly providing new insight into all of the cases, the author showing us a host of suspects as Liz works feverously to clear Adrian’s name once again and keep herself out of jail. Time is of the essence, as well, as forces come down on them both, so readers really do feel as if they are speeding down a road to redemption.

            Best-selling author David Baldacci said that, “John Hart can flat-out write…read this novel. And then go back and read all of his others. He’s that good.”

            He is that good and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.

Louisiana Writers Retreat

Want to get away for a long weekend to write and think? Join Shift Key’s Jan Risher for the Louisiana Writers Retreat July 28-31 at Lake Cotile in Boyce. The retreat will feature unstructured writing time, facilitated writing workshops and nightly readings at two lake houses and will include accommodations and meals. The retreat also includes sending up to eight pages to an outside editor for feedback/edits and one-on-one sessions. The cost to attend is $435; email Risher at jrisher@goshiftkey.com for more information.

Book awards

Two Baton Rouge authors — M.O. Walsh and Greg Isles — won the 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. Winners are: The Great Santini Fiction Prize: “My Sunshine Away” by Walsh; The Prince of Tides Literary Prize: “Above the Waterfall” by Ron Rash; The Beach Music Mystery Prize: “Bull Mountain” by Brian Panowich; The Lords of Discipline Thriller Prize: “The Bone Tree” by Greg Isles; The Pat Conroy Cookbook Prize: “Soul Food Love” by Alice Randall; The Death of Santini Nonfiction Prize: “Dispatches from Pluto” by Richard Grant; The Water Is Wide History & Life Stories Prize: “Jacksonland” by Steve Inskeep; Poppy’s Pants Young Adult Prize: “Mosquitoland” by David Arnold and Poppy’s Pants Youngster’s Prize Winner: “Serafina and the Black Cloak” by Robert Beatty. You can read some of these books reviewed at my blog, LouisianaBookNews.blogspot.com.

Faulkner Society

Two authors will discuss and sign their books from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at the Faulkner House, 624 Pirate’s Alley in the French Quarter of New Orleans. John Gregory Brown, a native of the city, will discuss his recent novel, “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” and Richard Grant will discuss his new memoir, “Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta.” The event is free and open to the public; RSVP to faulkhouse@aol.com.

Book events

Get Pop-Cultured with Barnes & Noble, a month-long celebration of pop culture with special events, will run through Aug. 7 at the Lafayette store. At 7 p.m. Friday the store hosts a Star Wars night with trivia, bingo, giveaways and more. Pokemon takes over beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday as the store celebrates 20 years of Pokemon with games and photos.

Paula Hutchinson will sign her books from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Between the Lines Bookstore in Baton Rouge.

            On Saturday, Barnes & Noble will launch new tokidoki back-to-school and stationery product lines, which will be sold exclusively at all Barnes & Noble stores nationwide. To celebrate its arrival, Barnes & Noble Lafayette will be giving away free limited edition character trading cards and buttons Saturday, while supplies last. Also on Saturday at the store, Manga artist Camilla d’Errico arrives at 7 p.m. and there will be activities, cosplay and giveaways.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.