Debut novelist Shalanda Stanely to be featured at Louisiana Library Association conference

             This week I’m visiting the Louisiana Library Association’s annual conference in Baton Rouge and listening to Shalanda Stanley as the featured author. Stanley grew up in Louisiana, holds a masters in special education from UL-Monroe and a PhD from LSU in curriculum and instruction with a focus in reading and literacy education. She’s an assistant professor at ULM. Stanley is also the author of the debut novel “Drowning is Inevitable,” a story that centers on main character Olivia who has spent her life struggling to escape her dead mother’s shadow. Olivia leans on her best friend, Jamie; her handsome but hot-tempered boyfriend, Max; and their wild-child friend, Maggie, for the reality check that her small Louisiana town can’t provide. When a terrible fight between Jamie and his father turns deadly, all Olivia can think to do is grab her friends and run and the foursome become fugitives on the back roads of Louisiana. For more information on Stanley and her new book, visit www.shalandastanley.com.

Last chance!

            "Emilie," the first book in the Cajun Series of historical romances by Cherie Claire (my pen name) is FREE to download today and Monday, March 7, at Amazon.com.  

            Emilie Gallant and her Cajun family have traveled to Louisiana in search of their father, separated thirteen years ago during le grand dérangement, the brutal exile by the British from their Nova Scotia homeland. The last thing Emilie has on her mind as she enters the rugged bayou country is marriage to her longtime companion, Lorenz Dugas. Beautiful but stubbornly defiant, Emilie worshipped Lorenz as a child but having to fight to preserve her family has built a wall around her heart. But Lorenz is equally determined and his passion will prove that their love cannot be denied. As they make their way across the untamed Louisiana wilderness, hoping to reunite the Gallant family, Emilie learns that love has a way of healing all wounds — even in the most unusual places. 

Reviews:
“Pick up a copy of Emilie for your reading pleasure, and take a journey into the historical Acadian (Cajun) country of Louisiana for an educational, romantic read.”
—Carol Carter, Romance Reviews Today 

“The beauty of Ms. Claire’s tale is in the message that love makes one a stronger and better person. She leaves just enough hints to keep readers eagerly anticipating the next two sisters’ tales. As a history buff, I enjoyed learning about the Acadian (Cajun) culture, as well as the story’s characters.” 

—Evelyn Feiner, Romantic Times magazine

New releases

            To celebrate the 100^th anniversary of our National Park Service, National Geographic has published several books for both children and adults.

The guidebooks to the national parks offer tips, maps, directions, photos ops and so much more and, of course, are filled with gorgeous photos from the talents of the National Geographic staff. It’s a bit information overload in small spaces, and I’m on the fence over whether readers will love the myriad of information on every page or repel from too many photos and info boxes. On the flip side, the guidebooks are not comprehensive; many parks, such as Jean Lafitte in Louisiana, aren’t included.

National Geographic Kids also publishes cute children’s stories with a park theme, such as “Buddy Bison’s Yellowstone Adventure” by Ilona E. Holland, and the “Funny Fill-In: My National Parks Adventure.” My favorite of the bunch was the “Funny Fill-In” which blindly asks for nouns, verbs and the like to place into a story and then children read the crazy tale they have created, all of which relates to national parks.

            Celeste Fletcher McHale of central Louisiana plays on the South’s love of desserts and the loyalty of friends in her latest, a humorous novel, “The Secret to Hummingbird Cake.” Her first novel, “Save Us A Seat,” is based on a true story about herself and her two best friends.

            Erin Entrada Kelly follows two Filipina-American sisters as they walk the line between real and make-believe to cope with their difficult life in Louisiana with a cruel stepmother in the young reader book, “The Land of Forgotten Girls.” The book is geared toward ages 9-12.

            I find out about so many Louisiana books and authors online. One example is A.L. Vincent of Cajun Country (not sure what town) who released “Tangled Up in You,” the first in the “Fleur de Lis” series (www.lisaslouisianahome.com). How about Kimberly Lang, who has published 19 romance novels with four of them set in Louisiana, one during Mardi Gras (www.booksbykimberly.com).

In Baton Rouge

Today (March 6) at 4 p.m., Baton Rouge Gallery’s ARTiculate Artist Talk series will offer a special presentation in conjunction with its “Logophilia” exhibition. Moderated by poet and LSU’s McElveen Professor of English, Laura Mullen, the panel of writers and artists will delve into the relationship between visual imagery and the written word. Panelists include Darrell Bourque, Kathryn Hunter, Laura Mullen, Jacqueline Dee Parker, Ronlyn Domingue, Chancelier Xero Skidmore, Kelli Scott Kelley and Forward Arts Inc.

 

Book events

A graduate of USL and the first female ROV supervisor in the world, Leah Hebert from Oceaneering International Inc. will speak about the world of ROVs and how she played a part in the competition as a judge from the book, “Spare Parts,” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at South Regional Library.

            Photographer an author Phillip Gould will speak on "Ghosts of Good Times: South Louisiana Dance Halls Past and Present," a book he is creating with Herman Fuselier, at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Hilliard University Art Museum.

Marlene Trestman speaks on and signs “Fair Labor Lawyer” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Octavia Books in New Orleans.

            Dr. Richard Brettell will give the second annual John Bartholomew

Bienvenu Lecture, “Impressionist Gardens Beyond Giverny: Pissarro’s House and Garden in Eragny,” at 7 p.m. Friday, followed by a book signing at the Paul & Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum. The free event is open to the public on a first come, first serve basis.

“Celebrating the Written Word” literary conference returns for its third year on Saturday in various downtown Hammond locations. There will be local authors discussing various types of writing from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The highlight of the event will be a reading by Louisiana Poet Laureate Peter Cooley. Registration is $35, which includes a full day of workshops, panel discussions and master classes.

Cheré Dastugue 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.” She also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Louisiana young adult novels bring history to life

             Teaching Louisiana history to tweens and young teens can be a daunting task. When it’s in the form of a young adult novel, odds improve considerably.

            Here are two young adult novels that bring Louisiana history to life through the eyes of young people.

            Stacy Demoran Allbritton is a New Orleans native now living in Monroe and long fascinated by Acadian and Louisiana history. She tells the story of the Acadian exile from Nova Scotia in a new young adult novel out from Pelican Publishing.

            “The Diary of Marie Landry, Acadian Exile” reads much like the American Girls novels, a diary penned by a young girl who is forced as a child from her home in the Canadian Maritimes in 1755. She and her Acadian family grow up in exile in Oxford, Maryland, separated from her father and brother.

            The book begins as Marie is preparing to sail to Louisiana with hope of a better life. While we read of her preparation to leave, she recounts what actions led to her family coming to Maryland — the British expulsion of the Acadians from their homeland and the displacement of these residents up and down the Eastern seaboard. She also explains the separation and reunion with her brother Normand, who had escaped to the Nova Scotia woods and the safety of the Micmac Native Americans, then traveled throughout the colonies until he found his family.

            Marie’s journey to Louisiana is long and difficult and the family eventually settles at St. Jacques de Cabonnocé, near present-day Donaldsonville, after spending time in New Orleans.

            The novel, with illustrations by Joyce Haynes, is well-researched and offers a lively narrative. Written on a sixth-grade reading level, “The Diary of Marie Landry” will be the perfect complement for the Louisiana history curriculum taught in public schools.

            Mary van Rheenen lived in Ebarb during the 1980s, conducting research on the Choctaw-Apache Tribe and collecting oral histories, stories and genealogy along with her “workpartner” Janet Shoemaker. These gems have been used to tell a sweet young adult story in “The Treasure Team.”

            Four children have heard the stories about buried treasure in the Toledo Bend area, and when one’s Uncle Tee Procell becomes ill with cancer, they decide to gather the stories and head out on the trail Uncle Tee swears will bring them fortune. Along the way, as they travel to places such as Zwolle and Ebarb in Sabine Parish, they learn about the area’s heritage, genealogy and oral history.

            “The Treasure Team” makes for engaging reading and tweens and teens will love the adventure. The charming story is based on Rheenen and Shoemaker’s works and is accented by real photographs and sketches. The cover art was created by Allen Ebarb, a student at Ebarb High School, and proceeds from the novel will help support the scholarship fund of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb.

            For more information, visit www.Treasure-Team.com.

New releases

            Best-selling romance author Kimberly Lang will help launch Harlequin’s KISS line with two books set in New Orleans and featuring the LaBlanc sisters (no, that’s not a misspelling of the name). “The Downfall of a Good Girl” will be released in February, followed in March with “The Taming of a Wild Child.” 

             New Orleans-based journalist Keith O’Brien has published his first book, “Outside Shot: Big Dreams, Hard Times, and One County’s Quest for Basketball Greatness,” about the Cardinals of Scott County High School in central Kentucky. The book chronicles a school with a strong basketball history that descended upon a two-year drought. The narrative follows four of the team’s top seniors and their coach as they struggle to redeem themselves in the face of impossible odds: once-loyal fans now turned against them, parents who demand athletic greatness and scouts who weigh their every move. O’Brien has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe and National Public Radio. In 2009 he won the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.

            New Orleans children’s picture book author Cornell Landry (“Goodnight NOLA”) has published a Mardi Gras tale about a boy and his bead dog titled “The Amazing Adventure of Mardi Gras Bead Dog.”  

Tennessee Williams

            The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, now in its 27^th year, has announced its lineup of scholars, writers and performers for the event to be held March 20-24 in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

            Some of the writers attending this year will be Michael Cunningham (“Home at the End of the World”), John Patrick Shanley (screenwriter of “Doubt,” “Moonstruck”), columnist Leonard Pitts, Douglas Brinkley (“Cronkite”), John Shelton Reed (“Dixie Bohemia: A French Quarter Circle in the 1920s”), Maureen Corrigan (“Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading”), John Jeremiah Sullivan (“Blood Horses”), Zachary Lazar (“Sway”) and Ayana Mathis, whose debut novel “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie” was recently selected by Oprah Winfrey for her Book Club 2.0.

            In addition there will be master classes for writers, theatrical performances, music, a scholar’s conference and the Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest. For more information, call (504) 581-1144 or visit www.tennesseewilliams.net.

            In festival news, the finalists and grand prizewinner of the third Annual Poetry Contest have been announced. The winning entry is Amie Whittemore for “Blackberry Season.” Whittemore’s poems will appear in Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine, she’ll receice $1,000 and there will be a public reading at the festival.

Book news

            “When The Hurricane Came” (CreateSpace) by Nechama Liss-Levinson was a finalist in the children’s and young adult literature division of the 2012 National Jewish Book Awards. The book begins as Hurricane Katrina is about to strike New Orleans and young Gertie and her family are forced to evacuate. As she spends the year in Memphis, going to a new school, making new friends and celebrating the Jewish holidays in someone else’s house, Gertie learns about loss and healing from from loss, about tzedakah and giving, and about what’s really important in life. “When The Hurricane Came” was also awarded the Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award by the Association of Jewish Libraries. Liss-Levinson volunteered in New Orleans after the storm.

             Now in paperback is Wiley Cash’s debut novel, “A Land More Kind Than Home.” Cash was one of the honored presenters at last year’s Louisiana Book Festival. For more information and a schedule of Cash’s appearances, visit http://www.wileycash.com. To read a review I wrote of his novel last year, visit http://louisianabooknews.blogspot.com/2012/07/wiley-cash.html.

            Pamela Thibodeau’s inspirational novel “The Visionary,” which is set in Lake Charles, was released in 2011 in hardcover but is now available on the Kindle.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.