End the month with poetry!

Sign on the street in Oxford, Mississippi.

Unless you don't read Facebook posts, signs on bookstore windows or watch C-Span Book TV — or even this blog —you probably missed that April is National Poetry Month. It began in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets to celebrate "poetry's vital place in our culture," according to the website. In honor of National Poetry Month, we offer a look at two children's books to encourage the poet of the next generation and to inspire others to read.

The former national poet laureate Maya Angelou published "Life Doesn't Frighten Me," a collection of modern poetry and art, in 1993 to introduce young readers to both inspiring art forms. Illustrated with paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died too young at the age of 27 and whose artwork is exhibited around the world, the book is "a powerful exploration of emotion and its expression through the careful blend of words and arts," according to School Library Journal.

The book has been re-released by Abrams as a 25th-anniversary celebratory book. And if the talents of these two don't sway you enough, the fearless message might.

"I go boo

Make them shoo

I make fun

Way they run

I won't cry

So they fly

I just smile

They go wild

Life doesn't frighten me at all."

Award-winning author and poet Lee Bennett Hopkins edits a collection of poetry accented by artwork in a gorgeous board book titled "World Make Way: New Poems Inspired by Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art." There's "Cat Watching a Spider" by Julie Fogliano next to Oide Toko's painting of the same name, "Early Evening" by Charles Ghigna accented by Winslow Homer's "Boys in a Dory" and "Studio" by Marilyn Nelson with Kerry James Marshall's "Untitled (Studio)" in which an artist shapes a subject's face in preparation for being painted. Even the editor has a page, his "Endgame" poem coupled with "The Chess Players," a Liberale da Verona painting of 1475.

Both are engaging books celebrating art at its highest form and perfect for young readers.

If you want to catch live poetry before the month is up, visit the Festival of Words and NUNU Arts and Culture Collective’s "Every Woman," a celebration of women's voices in poetry, story and music, at 7 p.m. Wednesday April 25, 2018, at Chicory’s Coffee and Café in Grand Coteau. Featured performers include poet Clare L. Martin reading from her upcoming poetry collection, author Sherry Broussard sharing from her book of “Zydeco” and a performance by playwright Sue Schleifer. Women are invited to share original creative work and both men and women are invited to share favorite poems, stories and songs by or in honor of women. For more information, contact festivalwords@gmail.com or 337-254-9695. 

Clare L. Martin

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Two great poetry events happening this week

It’s National Poetry Month and we have two great events to announce.

First up is former Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque reading poems from his most recent publication, “Where I Waited,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Chicory’s Coffee & Café in Grand Coteau, part of the Festival of Words literary organization. Bourque will be joined by Bernice Murry of Grand Coteau, offering oral history of the area to be videotaped and placed in the Cajun and Creole Archives at the Center for Louisiana Studies in the “Grand Coteau Voices” collection. Bourque is professor emeritus of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he directed the interdisciplinary humanities program and served as the first Friends of the Humanities professor. He is a founding member of Narrative4, an international story exchange program, a member of the board at the Ernest J. Gaines Center at ULL and a former Louisiana Poet Laureate. “Where I Waited” is his 10th work. The chapbook “if you abandon me, comment je vas faire: An Amédé Ardoin Songbook” is the best-selling book in Yellow Flag Press history, now in its ninth printing. Bourque recently won the 2016 James William River Prize in Louisiana Studies from the UL Center for Louisiana Studies. The prize selection committee cited Bourque’s “longstanding commitment to and leadership in the realm of preserving and expanding our understanding of Louisiana through poetry.”

Guests to Wednesday’s event are welcome to bring their own poems, songs or stories for the open mic. This free, community event is suitable for all ages. For more information, call Patrice Melnick at (337) 254-9695 or email festivalwords@gmail.com. 

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Louisiana Center for the Book will host its seventh annual “Just Listen to Yourself: The Louisiana Poet Laureate Presents Louisiana Poets” program with current Louisiana Poet Laureate Peter Cooley from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Seminar Center of the State Library, 701 N. Fourth St., Baton Rouge. Cooley has invited poets across the state to participate in readings of their work, including Jack Bedell, Gina Ferrara, John Gery, Clare Martin, Biljana Obradovic, Andrea Panzeca, Mona Lisa Saloy and John Warner Smith, as well as previous Louisiana poet laureates Bourque and Julie Kane. Attendees are not required to register for this free event but are invited to bring brown bag lunches.

The Louisiana Center for the Book was established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 to stimulate public interest in reading, books and libraries. For more information, visit www.state.lib.la.us.

New releases

John L. Carr, the University of Louisiana at Monroe Kitty DeGree Endowed Professorship in biology and the curator of the ULM Museum of Natural History, and Jeff Boundy, a herpetologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, has published “Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana: An Identification and Reference Guide” by LSU Press. The book describes 139 native amphibians and reptiles, along with eight non-native species now found in the state.

The Southern Review’s spring 2017 issue is out and features an academic visiting Oxford to write on the films of Hitchcock in Robert Hahn’s “The Poisoner,” a trafficker in Singapore bringing “soccer players” from Nigeria in Iheoma Nwachukwu’s “Urban Gorilla” and Nicholas Mainieri’s “Port of Embarkation,” which imagines troops on the brink of the Mexican-American War. Nonfiction includes Sandra Gail Lambert’s assessment of her own declining mobility in “Etymology” and poetry includes R.T. Smith, a writer featured in the recent “Best American Poetry,” who takes readers to the Civil War through the eyes of a still-life painter. And there’s much more. The spring issue is now available for purchase online at http://thesouthernreview.org.

New Orleans native Tina DeSalvo has published “Out-lanta: a Second Chance Novella” as part of the Magnolias and Moonshine Series. De Salvo, who now lives in Cajun Conuntry, sets her book in in Atlanta when heroine Ania Darska runs out of her wedding right into the car of Luke Marcelle, who is sightseeing with his elderly Cajun matriarch friend, Tanté Izzy, and her niece, Ruby. The series features 20 New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestselling authors telling Southern love stories.

Joseph Willie has published “Blood in the Woods,” inspired by true events that occurred in his hometown of Hammond. Willie is a soldier currently stationed at Fort Polk.

Book Day

Independent Bookstore Day is Saturday, a day to support your local independent bookstore. How about visiting Jen Sincero, author of “You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth” at 2 p.m. today or Jon McCarthy, author of “Hard Roll: A Paramedic’s Perspective of Life and Death in New Orleans,” at 6 p.m. Thursday at Garden District Bookshop in New Orleans? Or meeting award-winning children’s book author David Wiesner, who will sign his latest, “Fish Girl,” at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Square Books Jr. in Oxford, Miss. Octavia Books of New Orleans is hosting Joan Nathan, author of numerous cookbooks, including “Jewish Cooking in America” and “The New American Cooking,” both of which won the James Beard Award and the IACP Award for best cookbook of the year. Nathan will sign her latest, “King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Jewish Community Center of New Orleans, appearing with James Beard Award-winning New Orleans chef Alon Shaya.

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.

Ernest Gaines Award winner Attica Locke to speak at UL-Lafayette Library, Hilliard University Art Museum

            Attica Locke, the 2013 Ernest Gaines Literary Award winner and author and writer for the Fox hit show “Empire,” will speak about her new book at 2 p.m. April 5 at the Gaines Center of the UL-Lafayetre Library. Locke will also speak at 6 p.m. April 6 at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Library on the UL campus.

            Locke is the author of the national bestseller “The Cutting Season,” which won the Gaines Award among other accolades - see review below. Her “Black Water Rising” was short-listed for the 2010 Orange Prize and nominated for several awards.

Locke’s latest book, “Pleasantville,” continues 15 years after “Black Water Rising,” following character Jay Porter as he struggles to cope with changes in his personal life and the disintegration of his environmental law practice. A girl goes missing in Pleasantville, a black neighborhood on the north side of Houston and a town Porter represents in the wake of a chemical fire. The missing girl was a volunteer for one of the local mayoral candidates, and her disappearance complicates an already heated campaign. When the nephew of a candidate, a Pleasantville local, is arrested, Jay reluctantly finds himself serving as a defense attorney. With a man’s life and his own reputation on the line, Porter is about to try his first murder in a case that will also put the electoral process on trial, exposing the dark side of power and those determined to keep it.

“Pleasantville” was included in the 2016 longlist for the Baileys prize, the United Kingdom’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman.
           

My tardy review of "The Cutting Season" follows. When I heard Locke was visiting Lafayette, I pulled this book from my to-be-read pile and dived into, enjoying every minute. Here's my review:

Caren Gray loses her home in Katrina. Before that, her relationship to the father of her child. Coming back to Belle Vie, a plantation upriver from New Orleans that her ancestors worked and lived on, is not her idea of a new start but the opportunity arises and she accepts, serving as manager while her daughter attends a private elementary school in Baton Rouge.

As she makes her rounds one morning across the massive plantation grounds, she discovers the body of a young Latino who had worked the nearby sugar cane fields for a corporate sugar company. Within hours several people are considered suspects, including Caren.

Because of her possible daughter’s involvement in whatever happened that night, and the mistrust of local authorities, Caren investigates the murder on her own. She’s aided by Eric, her daughter’s father who’s a lawyer, and a New Orleans reporter who is looking into the antics of the corporate sugar company.

Attica Locke provides us with a riveting mystery in “The Cutting Season” but lurking beneath the top soil of this sugar cane region lies a haunting history that dates back decades. Caren’s mother ran the kitchen of the plantation while Caren played with the owner’s sons, although neither was allowed in the “big house.” Their ancestors cut cane, providing the wealth for the plantation. Heading back further on Caren’s family tree is a slave named Jason, who received his freedom after the Civil War but his actions ultimately set an ironic stage for Caren and the owners of Belle Vie.
            Don’t miss this Ernest Gaines Award-winning novel, and more that have been published by the author since its publication in 2012.

 For more information on Locke, visit http://www.atticalocke.com/.

Poetry month

It’s National Poetry Month and each year the Academy of American Poets in partnership with American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association and the National Council of Teachers of English distribute more than 120,000 free National Poetry Month posters to classrooms, libraries and bookstores throughout the U.S.

Other initiatives by the Academy include:

Dear Poet, a multimedia education project that invites students in grades 5-12 to write letters in response to poems shared by award-winning poets serving on the academy's board of chancellors who will recite their poems in a series of exclusive videos presented on Poets.org.

On April 27, the Academy will hold its annual celebration, hosted by Meryl Streep, in New York City, featuring actors, dancers, artists, musicians and public figures on one stage sharing their favorite poems.

April 21 will be National Poem in Your Pocket Day, during which people throughout the U.S. select a poem, carry it with them and share it with others.

            Closer to home Dr. Abiodun Oyewole will offer a full day of spoken word and artistic expression on Saturday at Cité des Arts’ Second Stage. Oyewole will lead a poetry workshop from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., followed by a show at 7:30 p.m. featuring spoken word, hip-hop, dancing, and visual art with Sha’condria “iCon” Sibley, DJ Rabbit Rashad, Angie Joelle, Knowledge, Tyler Sho-Ked Wilson and Kemit Najee. The poetry workshop is free; tickets for the show are $10 in advance at citedesart.org, or $15 at the door.

Oyewole is a founding member of the American musical spieling group The Last Poets. The group — along with the artist Gil Scott-Heron — are credited as having had a profound effect on the development of hip-hop music. After being sentenced to four years in a North Carolina prison for larceny, Oyewole was forced to leave The Last Poets. He served two and half years of his sentence, during which he earned his bachelor’s degree. He went on to earn his Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York City, where he has served as a faculty member.  

Oyewole rejoined The Last Poets during its 1990s resurgence. The Last Poets took part in Lollapalooza in 1994 and released a new album, “Holy Terror,” in 1995 and the book “On a Mission: Selected Poetry and a History of the Last Poets” in 1996.

Oyewole’s workshop and show are sponsored by Lyrically Inclined, a Lafayette-based spoken word group headed by Alexandra “PoeticSoul” Johnson. More information is available at www.facebook.com/lyricallyinclined337.

Book releases

Jarita Davis’ collection of poetry titled “Returned Flights” will be released on Tuesday. Davis is a poet and fiction writer with a master and PhD from UL-Lafayette. Her work has appeared in the Southwestern Review, Cave Canem Anthologies, Crab Orchard Review, Tuesday: An Art Project, Verdad magazine, Plainsongs and the Cape Cod Poetry Review.

Book events

John H. Lawrence will speak on “Creole Houses: Traditional Homes of Old Louisiana” as part of McNeese University’s SAGE Program from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. A booksigning will follow. Registration is required; visit www.mcneese.edu/leisure.

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.

Greg Iles continues best-selling series with 'Bone Tree'

Some things come in small packages, others in sizes much like Harry Potter. Such is the latter of Greg Iles’s latest book in his gothic trilogy featuring Southern lawyer Penn Cage. “The Bones Tree” follows the first book in the thriller series, the New York Times best-selling “Natchez Burning.” Since I have not finished this captivating — and quite large — novel at press time, here’s the gist: Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger begins when FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who controls the terrorist group is the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox. The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over 200 years, a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

Iles will be signing “The Bone Tree” at 6 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 2590 Citiplace Court in Baton Rouge.

At the library

            Last week I was asked to do two programs at the Ouachita Parish Library in West Monroe — with librarians/branch managers Kathy Franks at West Ouachita and Vicky Powell at Searcy Memorial. Both the hospitality of the librarians and the kindness of the people who arrived to discuss my latest books was overwhelming.

            That following Saturday I was honored to be part of more than 40 authors attending the annual Authors Row at the Jones Creek Library in Baton Rouge, an event the librarians host to support local writers. I got to sit next to one of my most favorite people in the world, David Atwood, a voice-over specialist from Alexandria who’s written two amazing poetry collections.

            In case you haven’t picked up on this yet, I think Louisiana libraries and the people who run them unsung heroes of the literary world. Not only are libraries the pulsing hearts of our communities but on the front end of the fight against illiteracy. Plus, they help writers keep the lights on and get us out of our dark little corners where we work in solitude.

            I’m in awe of these wonderful people and I can’t thank them enough.

            One of the authors I reconnected with at my West Monroe workshop was Phil Sims of West Monroe, author of the Christian thriller surrounding a returning Vietnam soldier in “Not Without Purpose.” The book follows returning Eric Sanderson who reconnects with a high school friend, Johnny “Slick” Matthews, and ends up with a dead man in Matthews’ truck. The men dump the body where two Boy Scouts are beginning a hike on the Appalachian Trail and so begins the tale.

Sims, a Vietnam veteran and a Boy Scout scoutmaster, related how his publisher will be going out of business at the end of April so get your copies of this captivating novel now before it’s too late. Amazon and Barnes & Noble online also offer the book in ebook format, and if you still want a future paperback, Sims will be republishing.

            Today is the last day of National Library Week, but every week is a good time to visit your local library. 

Poetry Month

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Louisiana Center for the Book is offering its fifth annual Just Listen to Yourself: The Louisiana Poet Laureate Presents Louisiana Poets from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the State Library Seminar Center in Baton Rouge. Louisiana Poet Laureate Ava Leavell Haymon will host the event and poets from throughout the state will read their works, including Ralph Adamo, Jack B. Bedell, Darrell Bourque, Carlos Colón, Peter Cooley, Dorothy Early Davis, Gina Ferrara, Ashley Mace Havird, Julie Kane, Madeleine LeCesne, Melinda Palacio, Alison Pelegrin, Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore, Afton Wilky and Andy Young. Listen to Yourself is free and open to the public. Attendees are invited to bring brown bag lunches and come and go as their schedules allow. For more information visit www.state.lib.la.us.

Book events

“Making Medicine: Finding Health in Your Kitchen” will be offered from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Alexandre Mouton House/Lafayette Museum, 1122 Lafayette St. in downtown Lafayette. Local author, Master Gardener and medicinal herb enthusiast Lanier Cordell will explain how ordinary kitchen items can help keep you well. Refreshments will be served.

         The Jeanerette Museum is hosting a history talk by Robert Allen Alexander Jr. on “Last Island: The First Storm” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 22. Alexander, head of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Nicholls State University, will discuss what is considered Louisiana’s first great storm, the hurricane of 1856. He will draw from the books, “Chita: A Memory of Last Island” and “Last Days of Last Island,” to bring to life the chaos and devastation of the category four hurricane and its effect on Louisiana. For more information on this free program suitable for an adult audience, contact the Jeanerette Museum at (337) 276-4408, visit their webpage at JeaneretteMuseum.com or email the museum at jeanerettemuseum@yahoo.com.
            Kimberly Willis Holt, author of “Dear Hank Williams,” will be signing books at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at Octavia Books in New Orleans. Holt is the author of the many award-winning novels for young adults and children, including “The Water Seeker,” “My Louisiana Sky” and “When Zachary Beaver Came to Town,” winner of a National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. She is also the author of the bestselling Piper Reed series of chapter books and several picture books. For more information, visit http://www.kimberlywillisholt.com/.

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.