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.

Exciting new releases by Louisiana authors

One of the true joys of writing this blog is meeting authors who I admire and watching their success and seeing writers that I love produce books of their hearts.

Margaret Simon of New Iberia has been writing for years and is a multi-published author but she’s also a gifted teacher and we mean that in both senses of the title. She’s been working for 31 years as an elementary school teacher, most recently teaching gifted students in Iberia Parish. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting her classroom and it's clear her love of creativity and literature has spread to her eager students.

Simon has just published “Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape,” a charming poetic journey that introduces readers to Louisiana life, then encourages them to write their own tales, draw their own renditions. I’m sure the focus of this small but inspiring book is on children as well as teachers looking for creative writing prompts, but I believe all ages will love exploring its pages.

“Any child who has this book has a sourcebook, field guide, workbook, nature guide, and a wonderful set of poems that teach everything a beginning poet needs to know…” wrote former Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque.

“Bayou Song,” published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, was selected to represent Louisiana in the “52 Great Reads” children’s book program at this year’s National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.  

Viola Fontenot lands in the second category. Vi has been in my life writing (memoir) class for many years and wrote a series of stories growing up during the Great Depression on the Cajun Prairie near Church Point, Louisiana. Her family struggled with simple necessities, things we take for granted, such as indoor plumbing and affording new shoes. Her stories, although heartbreaking at times, also showcase the joie de vivre of Cajun life — the lively music and dances, the rich culture, growing up bilingual, and living close to the land.

Fontenot’s stories were published this summer by the University Press of Mississippi as “A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years.” The publisher aims the title at young adult audiences but it’s fascinating for adults as well.

David Cheramie, CEO of the Bayou Vermilion District and former executive director of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, said this about the book: “With ‘A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years,’ Viola Fontenot offers us not a glimpse, but a panoramic view of rural Cajun life on the cusp of a radical transformation, from scratching out a meager living on the fertile fields and bayous of southwest Louisiana to the promise of modern life in mid-20th-century America. Many scholarly books and articles have been written about the Americanization of the Cajuns, but never before have we had such a passionate and elegant first-hand account of what those changes felt like to someone who lived through them. Fontenot tells an un-romanticized tale of the struggles, heartbreak, and simple joys of growing up the daughter of hard-working, hard-living sharecropper. It is above all the true story of Cajun culture’s survival in spite of much adversity.”

Fontenot will sign copies from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Books Along the Teche, 106 E. Main St. in New Iberia.

I had the pleasure of meeting Sami Parbhoo and learning of both his books and travels. Parbhoo lives in Lafayette now but has lived, worked and traveled throughout the world. He believes in the educational power that traveling offers a person.

“Traveling can make us humble and not so rigid in our ways, for there are many ways of living, many solutions to the world’s problems, many lessons to be learned,” he writes in his book, “Travels in the Seven Directions.” 

The book is a fictional collection of stories following Yonotan “Yono” Ekzista in his travels around the world, experiences based on Parbhoo’s own travels. The book is peppered with colorful photos of his travels as well.

 

Other new releases

Amos Wright of Alabama, who now calls New Orleans home, has written a debut book of literary fiction titled “Nobody Knows How it Got This Good,” published by Livingston Press of the University of West Alabama. Kirkus calls the collection of contemporary Southern stories, “a finely crafted collection that perfectly evokes a place and culture.” 

Alison Pelegrin, who teaches at Southeastern Louisiana University, has published the chapbook “Our Lady of the Flood” with Diode Editions. Pelegrin is the author of four poetry collections, most recently “Waterlines” with LSU Press. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, recent work of hers appears in The Southern Review, The Cincinnati Review and Image.

Douglas Villien Sr., a native of Abbeville and resident of Baton Rouge, who has written books about Maurice and Baton Rouge, has published “Des Montagnes aux Prairies: From Mountains to Prairies,” a bilingual short history of Maurice. His work has been featured in numerous regional publications.

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 Professor of Architecture Geoff Gjertson offers lessons learned in new book on solar home

            UL-Lafayette Professor of Architecture Geoff Gjertson will present lessons learned from the BeauSoleil Home — which won First Place in Market Viability and People’s Choice in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon — at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at South Regional Library.

            Gjertson is the author of “Generating Hope: Stories of the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home” and the talk is part of the Bayou State Book Talk series, a collaboration of the Center for Louisiana Studies at UL Lafayette and the South Regional Library. It is sponsored by UL Press, which published the book.

            “Generating Hope” celebrates the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home, discusses its significance for the future of sustainable design and affordable, energy-efficient, and hurricane-resistant housing in the Gulf Coast region and around the world. The book spotlights BeauSoleil Home’s technical innovations, experiments and professional collaborations accented by more than 180 photographs and drawings. The sidebars provide a do-it-yourself guide to implementing solar and sustainable practices for your own home.

            But the book is much more than that.

            “The book is really about the human stories,” Gjertson said in an interview for the UL College of the Arts web page. “That’s why it’s called ‘Generating Hope’ because hope was really the motivation, I think, for people to participate. Hope was generated for the community because it really got this kind of grassroots effort in our community. It got a discussion going about sustainability that maybe had started but wasn’t really tangible that the university had going that people could get behind. So, we had people supporting it almost like our football team.”

            To read the full interview, visit http://arts.louisiana.edu/.

Simon says

            Award-winning teacher Margaret Simon teaches gifted writing to lucky students in New Iberia and shares poetry, teaching advice, her kids’ work and inspiration in her blog “Reflections on the Teche.” In a recent blog post, Simon — who’s also a young adult author —turned me on to Stephanie Fournet of Lafayette, a high school English teacher who self-published her first romance novel titled “Fall Semester” with the help of a Kickstarter campaign.

            Margaret is the daughter-in-law of Anne L. Simon, who is also following her passion by self-publishing her first crime novel set in South Louisiana, “Blood in the Cane Field.” Anne Simon attended Wellesley and Yale and has a law degree from LSU. She has served as judge, taught at LSU law school and was an ad-hoc judge for the Louisiana Supreme Court. The novel is available at Champagne’s Grocery in the Oil Center of Lafayette, at Books Along the Teche in New Iberia, Fad’s New in Franklin and online.

            You can read more about Fournet, Anne Simon’s new book plus Margaret Simon’s musings and poetry at http://reflectionsontheteche.wordpress.com.

New releases

            I wrote about novelist Joe Reese in a past Louisiana Book News column and he recently informed me that his wife, Pam, has a series of cozy mysteries written under the name of T’Gracie Reese. The couple lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Pam Reese is teaching after finishing her dissertation at UL-Lafayette.

            “We’ve been busy writers,” Joe Reese wrote. “The sixth in our ‘cozy’ series of mysteries, ‘The Nina Bannister Mysteries,’ has just been published by Cozy Cat Press, a small independent publisher based in Chicago. The books are, in order, ‘Sea Change,’ ‘Set Change,’ ‘Game Change,’ ‘Oil Change,’ ‘Frame Change’ and ‘Sex Change,’” although the last title, he insisted, is “not what you think.”

            The main character, Nina Bannister, is a retired teacher and principal living in a seacoast town in Mississippi. She putters around in the curio shop of her good friend Margot, she walks on the beach, she feeds her cat Furl and, of course solves murder mysteries. One book leads her to Lafayette, and several to New Orleans, Reese said.

            All titles are available in hard copy or Kindle versions from Amazon. For information, visit www.reeseswrite.com.

Book events

            Stuart Smith signs “Crude Justice: How I Fought Big Oil and Won, and What You Should Know about the Environmental Attack on America” at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Garden District Book Store in New Orleans.
            The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana is hosting Morgan Molthrop to commemorate the Battle of New Orleans Bicentennial with a free program at noon Wednesday in the State Library’s Seminar Center. Molthrop’s new book “Andrew Jackson’s Playbook: 15 Strategies for Success” juxtaposes the cultural responses of New Orleans during the most important battle in early American history against the responses of Louisiana’s population after Hurricane Katrina. For more information, visit www.state.lib.la.us

Cheré Coen is 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.

UL-Lafayette to host Banned Book Read Out

            Banned Books Week begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday, bringing focus to the censorship of books throughout America. The event began in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. You might remember in the 1984 film, “Footloose,” a group of citizens burning books in front of the library.

            If you think things have cooled off, think again. Since 1982, more than 11,300 books have been challenged, according to the American Library Association, and 307 challenges happened in 2013. Some of the most challenged titles that year included “Captain Underpants,” “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morison and “The Hunger Games.”

            Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the National Association of College Stores, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the National Council of Teachers of English, PEN American Center and Project Censored.

            At 3 p.m. Wednesday, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Dupré Library will host its third annual Banned Book Read Out in celebration of Banned Books Week. Students, faculty and community members are invited to read a passage from one of their favorite banned or challenged books outside the Ernest Gaines Center on the third floor of the library. The event is free and open to the public.

 Acadie launch

            Warren A. Perrin and Mary Broussard are launching “Acadie Then and Now: A People’s History,” a collection of 65 articles by 55 authors that showcase Acadians from around the world, at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at Vermilionville in Lafayette. The book focuses on the Acadian communities in the United States, France and Canada. All profits from the book will be donated to 22 Acadian museums located in three countries. The book was also co-directed by Phil Comeau, an award-winning filmmaker and author living in Montreal. Prior to his death, Cajun artist George Rodrigue gave permission to use his painting, “Spinning Cotton in Erath (1977),” for the book’s cover. Contributors to the book include Louisiana singer, songwriter, poet and activist Zachary Richard; Cajun folklorist, author and UL-Lafayette professor Dr. Barry Jean Ancelet; Acadian poet, playwright and professor Dr. Herménégilde Chiqsson; and activist and journalist Jean-Marie Nadeau, who catalyzed the inaugural Congrès mondial acadien.

AWP Award

            Acadiana Writing Project Teacher Consultant and Iberia Parish teacher Margaret Simon has been named the recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English’s 2014 Donald H. Graves award for excellence in teaching writing. Simon will receive the award at NCTE’s annual national meeting in November. 

Faulkner’s birthday

            William Faulkner’s birthday is Thursday, but it falls in the middle of the Jewish high holidays so the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society will celebrate the novelist’s birthday at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at 818 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans. Also, because of the Saints game, the event will include a festive brunch instead of a summer supper, not to mention the fun starts after church services, since it’s a Sunday. Talk about being inclusive! Net proceeds from the event will go to support the non-profit Faulkner Society. For more information, visit http://www.wordsandmusic.org.

Book events

            Michael Marshall will discuss his book “Gallant Creoles: A History of the Donaldsonville Canonniers” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Jeanerette Museum, 500 E. Main St. in Jeanerette. Composed of Creole and Cajun citizen-soldiers, the Donaldsonville Canonniers were originally organized as a militia company in 1837 and were one of the most active and highly regarded Louisiana units during the American Civil War. The event is more suitable for an adult audience.

For information, visit JeaneretteMuseum.com.

            A film series honoring Ernest Gaines will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the South Regional Library in Lafayette; this week “A Lesson Before Dying” will be shown. Visit ernestgaines.louisiana.edu or facebook.com/ErnestGainesCenter for more information.

            Michael Rubin will be speaking and signing “The Cottoncrest Curse” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Old Governor's Mansion, 502 North Blvd. in Baton Rouge. Light refreshments will be served at 6 p.m. at the event presented by the Foundation for Historical Louisiana. For more information, visit www.fhl.org.

            Delphine Hirasuna will sign “The Art of Gaman” from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the World War II Museum in New Orleans. She will offer a presentation at 6 p.m. at the
Stage Door Canteen, following by the signing. During World War II, the 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were ordered into barbed-wire enclosed internment camps, allowed to bring only what they could carry. “The Art of Gaman” relates how the internees practiced the discipline of gaman enduring the seemingly impossible with patience and dignity by creating objects of beauty and utility out of scrap and found materials. For information, call (504) 528-1944.

            The DwnTown Poetry Krewe will offer an open mic and variety show at 2 p.m. Saturday at 101 Jefferson St., Suite 100, in downtown Lafayette. Poets, musicians, and people of other talents are invited.

            Bad Art Fête, which celebrates the ugly side of art, is ongoing through September at the Lafayette Library. Original art may be submitted (one entry per person) through Oct. 10. Voters will determine the best during voting at ArtWalk from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 11.

            Dennis Ward will read excerpts from his debut novel, “Mademoiselle Gigi” and Bonnie Friedman will screen her documentary “Operation Sussex” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at NUNU Arts and Culture Collective in Arnaudville. For more information on Operation Sussex, visit alliance-productions.net.

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.

It was a fun day to be a writer

            Booksignings can be a dull affair, particularly if you are by yourself, the crowds are few or unreceptive and worse, they have no need for a book and thus you go home empty handed. Today, I had the pleasure of being a part of the Author’s Alley at the South Regional Branch Library in Lafayette (Louisiana) and sitting with three wonderful Acadiana authors — Camilla Hunt Cole signing “Mesquite,” Andy Hebert signing “Christmas on a Bayou” and Genie Summers signing “Our Family’s Book of Acts.” We had a nice turnout, friends and visitors alike were very generous (merci beaucoup!) and it was great chatting with one another about writing, social media, our next books and much more.

            Camilla Cole is busy working on a Southern gothic mystery due out next year, Genie Summers felt compelled to write her two books about missionary work but now she’s having fun penning a novel and Andy Hebert’s topics ranged from his Christmas coloring book to his grandfather’s fascinating diary of the Iota (Louisiana) area.

            After three hours at the library I headed over to the Fire & Water Cultural Arts Celebration in Arnaudville, where the new coffee shop Little Big Cup was hosting an afternoon of writers. Besides me, there was former Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque, Poet Clare L. Martin (left), novelist John Francois, young adult novelist Margaret Simon (right) and photographer JohnSlaughter. I arrived in time to visit with Margaret and Clare (who organized the entire event – thank you Clare!) and again, it was such a treat enjoying the company of other writers (remember, we mostly work in solitude). I learned about Clare’s experiences writing her poetry book, “Eating the Heart First,” found out Margaret is a poet herself and listened to John reminisce about his life photographing the historic town of Grand Coteau.

            On the way home I stopped by Nunu’s arts center where musicians were performing, artists were demonstrating their work and selling beautiful items and Bayou Teche Brewery was serving up samples of their new Christmas beer. More creativity jive; the air crackled with it.

            This holiday season may I suggest giving something unique, creative and supportive of the local economy — art and books. We who serve in the trenches producing our stories and artwork because we must would surely appreciate it.

                       

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.

Catch Worth's romance while you can

    Writing romance novels is a lot more complicated than people imagine. There’s no formula, no outlines to follow and it’s not something easy to do.
    Take Harlequin books, for example. I once met a woman who wanted to write something “fast and easy” and thought Harlequin would be a good fit. She also imagined they would be easy to sell and she could quit her day job once that happened.

    Unfortunately, all of the above are myths. Nothing is fast and easy to write, nor quick to publish. Being a published author of romance novels myself, I can honestly say it’s a tough, tough business. And outside of James Patterson and J.K. Rowling — and a few others — most writers have day jobs.
    The reason I bring this up is that Lenora Worth of Louisiana has a new Love Inspired Suspense novel from Harlequin. “The Diamond Secret” takes place in New Orleans and concerns a treasure hunter, an antique shop owner and a mysterious diamond. The book is in stores for August and when Aug. 31 rolls around, will be gone. That’s another unfortunate reality about romance writing; the books don’t stay on the bookstore shelves very long.
    Here’s some more facts — Worth has written 32 books for three different publishers and is contracted for four more. In 2006 she received her 25th book pin from Harlequin. Her books have won both regional and national awards and she now has more than 1 million books in print.
    You won’t see Worth’s book highlighted like Patterson and Rowling so unless you’re on her mailing list, an avid romance fan (and there are millions) or read my column, you might never know her book is now available. So hurry to your bookstore before the end of the month and support a local writer doing well. 

New releases
    Tom Wooten of New Orleans has published “We Shall Not Be Moved: Rebuilding Home in the Wake of Katrina,” a narrative nonfictional account of recovery in five New Orleans neighborhoods.  Walter Isaacson, who writes the foreword, calls the book, “A moving portrait of a city’s struggle to rebuild. It is not an account of Katrina per se. . . . Rather, it is a story of the arduous endeavor residents have undertaken in New Orleans. . . . Every bit as gripping and important as tales from the storm itself.”
    Cooper Iris Books has published an ebook, “Disposable Girl, A Story of Bullying and the Quest for Acceptance,” written by Nancy Rust. The book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online stores.
     Thirteen-year-old Khalif Aziz of New Orleans has written the first science fantasy-adventure book in “The Magikh Series.” Aziz’s first installment, “The Black Phoenix,” is now available through Xlibris.com.
   
John in the news
    Elton John included the Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council of Lake Charles in the singer’s recently released book, “Love is the Cure.” John discusses the beauty of South Louisiana, as well as the dedication of the Council in the book.
    “There’s something magical about Southwest Louisiana. Cypress trees frame the haunting bayou. Flooded rice paddies and lonely prairies without a house or a living soul for miles,” he writes in “Love is the Cure.”
    “It’s one of the most rural places in America, and as much of rural America, there is a quiet but deadly AIDS crisis that has been simmering for decades.”
    The American Press of Lake Charles has a full story on the book and his mention of the Council at http://www.americanpress.com.

Book events
    Ron Thibodeaux will sign “Hell or High Water: How Cajun Fortitude Withstood Hurricanes Rita and Ike” at 6 p.m. Monday at the Vermilion Parish Library in Abbeville.
    Marie Bookman will sign her Katrina-inspired book of poetry, “Breach of My Heart,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Maple Street Bookstore in New Orleans.
    Margaret Simon of Lafayette will sign copies of her young adult novel “Blessen” from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Saint Street Inn, 407 Brook Ave. in Lafayette. Dinner will be served during this time it’s a great chance to enjoy this lovely new restaurant, as well as this outstanding book.

    Cornell Landry will be reading and signing his latest book “The Tiger and the Honey Badger Take on the Zoo,” illustrated by Sean Gautreaux, at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Maple Street Bookstore in New Orleans. Also at Maple Street Bookstore Saturday will be historical fiction novelist Katherine Howe, author of the New York Times-bestseller “The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane” at 6 p.m. She will read and sign her newest book, “The House of Velvet and Glass,” the story of a young woman poised on the cusp of the 20th century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball. I reviewed “Deliverance Dane” last year, found it a fascinating read and you can view this review on my blog at www.LouisianaBookNews.blogspot.com.
    Angus Woodward will discuss and sign copies of “Americanisation: Lessons in American Culture and Language” from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and Cajun historical romances under the name of Cherie Claire. She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com or visit her blog, www.LouisianaBookNews.blogspot.com.