Darrell Bourque named 2019 Humanist of the Year, 'A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years' by Viola Fontenot named 2019 Humanities Book of the Year

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), in partnership with Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, has selected former Louisiana poet laureate Darrell Bourque as the 2019 Humanist of the Year and “A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years” by Viola Fontenot as the 2019 Humanities Book of the Year. The awards are part of the state humanities council’s effort to honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the study and understanding of the humanities. Bourque, Fontenot, and the other award winners will be honored on April 4, 2019, at the 2019 LEH Bright Lights Awards Dinner in Lafayette.

“All of us at the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism are proud to commend Darrell Bourque on being chosen as Louisiana’s 2019 Humanist of the Year,” said Nungesser. “Bourque epitomizes what it is to be a true humanist - not only does he share his gifts of poetry and creative writing with the world, but he’s also helped to nurture and mentor so many aspiring writers, poets and artists and do so with empathy and devotion.”  

Bourque served as Louisiana’s second peer-selected poet laureate from 2007–2011, first appointed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco and then reappointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. A native of Church Point in Acadia Parish, he earned a BA and MA in English at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and a PhD in English from Florida State University. He returned to USL as a professor, later serving as department head and director of creative writing, and has published twelve books of poetry, the most recent of which is “if you abandon me, comment je vais faire: An Amédé Ardoin Songbook” (2014). Bourque is also one of the founding members of Narrative 4, an international story exchange project that works to bring about social change by cultivating radical empathy in its participants.­

“In Darrell Bourque, Louisiana has a native son who is the embodiment of a humanist. His work, whether his poetry or his numerous other cultural pursuits, points to a person firmly grounded in his community and driven by a deep concern for the value and dignity of all people. We are thrilled to celebrate him as the 2019 Humanist of the Year,” said Miranda Restovic, president and executive director of the LEH. 

“A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years,” authored by Viola Fontenot and published by the University Press of Mississippi, follows Fontenot’s life as the daughter of a sharecropper in Church Point. Reliving various aspects of rural Cajun life, such as house chores, boucheries, fais do-do, and the classroom mantra of “I will not speak French on the school grounds anymore,” Fontenot brings a female perspective to a previously male-dominated understanding of sharecropping culture.

LEH and Master of Ceremonies Nungesser will honor Bourque and Fontenot at the 2019 Bright Lights Awards Dinner at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Student Union. Tickets begin at $150. Table sponsorships are available to interested parties. For more information, contact Mike Bourg at (504) 620-2482 or bourg@leh.org, or visit www.leh.org.

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.

William Joyce to be honored as Humanist of the Year by Louisiana Endownment for Humanities

Author, illustrator, and pioneer in the digital and animation industry William Joyce will be honored as the 2017 Humanist of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The award is given annually by the state's humanities council as part of its efforts to recognize the individuals and organizations making invaluable contributions to the culture of Louisiana. Joyce will be honored on Thursday at the 2017 LEH Bright Lights Awards Dinner at the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge. The event is open to the public, and tickets start at $150.

In 2009, Joyce co-founded Moonbot Studios, a multimedia storytelling company in Shreveport, exploring books, apps, films and video games. The studio's projects have won numerous awards and accolades, including an Oscar for Best Animated Short for “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore,” Annie Award, multiple Webby and Emmy awards and inclusion in the iTunes App Store Hall of Fame. Since beginning his career as children's book author and illustrator, Joyce has nearly 50 books to his credit.

The LEH will also recognize the following writers:

Humanities Books Awards goes to Shane K. Bernard, author of “Teche: A History of Louisiana’s Most Famous Bayou” and “Hard Scrabble to Hallelujah, Volume 1: Legacies of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana” by Christopher Everette Cenac with Claire Domangue Joller, both published by the University Press of Mississippi.

The Light Up for Literacy Award goes to Richard Louth, a professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University and founding director of the Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project.

The Lifetime Contribution to the Humanities will be awarded to author, editor and archivist Susan Tucker, who served as Curator of Books and Records at the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women from 1988 to 2015.

Bayou State Book Talk

Historian John Troutman will discuss his new book “Kīkā Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the downtown branch of the Lafayette Public Library, part of the Bayou State Book Talks. Troutman has taught courses in public history, American music history and indigenous studies at UL-Lafayette. He recently accepted a new position as Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. His first book, “Indian Blues: American Indians and the Politics of Music, 1879-1934,” won the Western History Association’s biennial 2011 W. Turrentine Jackson Prize for a first book on any aspect of the American West.

‘Garden Legacy’

The Historic New Orleans Collection, known for its publication of gorgeous coffee table-style history books, has added a new gem to its crown, “Garden Legacy” by preservationists Mary Louise Mossy Christovich and Roulhac Bunkley Toledano. The book offers a survey of more than three centuries of garden design in New Orleans. Both authors will be presenting their latest work at a book release party from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Historic New Orleans Collection, 533 Royal St. in the French Quarter and at 6 p.m. April 18 at Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St. in New Orleans.

New releases

Andrea Brew received her bachelor’s degree from Southern, followed by a master’s in education from Northwestern, and she shares her love of the annual Bayou Classic, where Southern University and Grambling meet in both football and marching band competition, with “’Twas the Night Before Bayou Classic” (Mascot Books). The children’s book, illustrated by Agus Prajogo, follows a Southern University family on the eve of the Bayou Classic, when who should arrive but a Grambling fan. Brew is a Louisiana native and has been working in education for 14 years, most currently as an elementary school librarian.

Releasing this past week was C.S. Harris’s “Where the Dead Lie,” the 12^th book in the Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery series.

Book events

The Civil War Book Review will sponsor a lecture at 11 a.m. Monday in Hill Memorial Library on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge. Patrick Hayes will speak about his most recent publication, “The Civil War Diary of Rev. James Sheeran, C.S.s.R.” Irish-born Sheeran was chaplain to the 14th Louisiana Regiment of the Confederacy, one of only a few dozen Catholic chaplains commissioned for the Confederacy and one of only two who kept a journal.

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.

Louisiana Humanities awards to be given Thursday

Zachary Richard

Zachary Richard, world-renowned singer-songwriter, poet, documentary film producer, cultural activist and environmentalist will be named Humanist of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities at an awards dinner Thursday, April 7, at the Marigny Opera House in New Orleans. 

Devoted to the preservation and promotion of Louisiana’s French-Acadian heritage and language, Richard directed the team that created a bilingual pair of middle-school-targeted history textbooks, “The History of the Acadians of Louisiana” and “Histoire des Acadiennes et Acadiens de la Louisiane.” He’s also produced two multi-part documentaries on the history of the Acadians and is a founding member of Action Cadienne, a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing and promoting French immersion education programs in Louisiana.

In addition to numerous other awards are the Humanities Book Awards. This year’s winners are “Beyond Freedom’s Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery” by Adam Rothman, the tale of an enslaved woman’s struggle to endure the consequences of the Civil War, and “Poverty Point: Revealing the Forgotten City” by photographer Jenny Ellerbe and historian Diana M. Greenlee, which sheds new light on Louisiana’s UNESCO World Heritage site.

Given in partnership with the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana and the Library of Congress, the Light Up for Literacy Award goes to Herreast Harrison, program director of the Guardian Institute, a New Orleans Ninth Ward community organization that promotes education and local cultural traditions.
            For more information on the awards dinner, contact Jan Clifford at (504) 620-2479 or clifford.org or visit www.leh.org.

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.

Cokie Roberts named 2015 Humanist of the Year

             The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities will honor Louisiana native Cokie Roberts as its 2015 Humanist of the Year at an April 23 awards dinner in Baton Rouge.

            The award is given annually by the state’s humanities council as part of its efforts to recognize the individuals and organizations making invaluable contributions to the culture of Louisiana.

            A native of New Orleans, Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News. She has served as senior news analyst for National Public Radio and from 1996-2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program “This Week.” In her more than 40 years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys, and has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

            Roberts’ books have included the bestsellers “We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters,” “Founding Mothers” and “Ladies of Liberty.” Her book with husband, Steven, “From this Day Forward,” an account of their more than 40-year marriage and other marriages in American history, was a New York Times bestseller.

            In addition to Humanist of the Year and other 2015 LEH awards, the Humanities Book Awards goes to Rick Bragg, author of “Jerry Lee Lewis,” about Ferriday’s famous musician, and Clayton Delery-Edwards for “Upstairs Lounge Arson,” a horrific fire that occurred in a French Quarter gay bar in the 1970s.            

            The inaugural Light Up for Literacy Award, given in partnership with the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana and the Library of Congress, goes to Ann Dobie, a retired English professor who taught almost 40 years at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, directed the Acadiana Writing Project, and continues to serve as the literature section editor for KnowLA.org. Dobie has published more than 50 scholarly works and serves as the head judge for Louisiana Letters About Literature, a statewide student writing competition.
          For more information about the 2015 LEH Awards, visit www.leh.org.

Louisiana Book News is written by Cheré Coen, the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “ExploringCajun 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.