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.

'Generating Hope' examines BeauSoleil solar home at UL-Lafayette

            The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press and UL-Lafayette Architecture Professor W. Geoff Gjertson and Dege Legg, along with architects and guest writers Pliny Fisk III and Edward J. Cazayoux, will release “Generating Hope: Stories of the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home” at a special book launch during this week’s Festivals Acadiens et Créoles.

            From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Oct. 9-12, the public is invited to visit the BeauSoleil Home located at 140 Girard Park Circle in Lafayette and purchase signed copies of the book. At 2 p.m. Friday, Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil will give a special performance in celebration of the book’s release and the fifth anniversary of the home and its first place win in Market Viability and People’s Choice in the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C.

            “Generating Hope” tells stories of hope through personal interviews with the students, faculty and community partners — the team that designed and built the home and those that supported the effort — plus showcases the significance of the project, producing affordable, energy-efficient and hurricane-resistant housing. The book includes more than 180 photographs and sidebars that provide a guide for implementing solar and sustainable practices.

            Gjertson is a UL architect and professor and served as the faculty adviser for the BeauSoleil Home as well as subsequent Building Institute Projects. Legg is an award-winning writer and Grammy-nominated musician.

            Cazayoux will receive the 2015 SPARK Lifetime Achievement Award Oct. 24 at the College of the Arts’ Beaux Arts Ball.

New releases

            William Joyce of Shreveport and artist Kenny Callicutt have released a new children’s book about a smallish boy and a smallish pea who have to come up with a giant plan to save the kingdom in “A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack.” The fairy tale with a twist is the latest book from Moonbot Books, an imprint of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Simon & Schuster. The story concerns a kingdom where it hasn’t rained in days and the king has dictated that something must be done. With a little magic from a wizard young Jack, paired with his pea pod pal, will find a giant reason as to why there’s no water left in the kingdom.

            Judy Christie follows up her “Magnolia Market (Trumpet & Vine)” novel, set in Samford, Louisiana, with “Sweet Olive (Trumpet & Vine),” where fresh starts aren’t nearly as glamorous as they appear and love isn’t any easier the second time around. Publishers Weekly compares Christie’s “Sweet Olive” books to Jan Karon’s Mitford series, and Library Journal and Romantic Times praise it as a story that will draw readers into the ambience of the small-town South and the people who live there.

            Melissa Abraham of Lafayette, member of the Writers’ Guild of Acadiana, has published an essay on a German Shepherd mix who assisted her Labrador in birthing puppies titled “Doggy-Nanny” in “The Dog Did What?: 101 Amazing Stories of Magical Moments, Miracles and…Mayhem,” a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. The anthology of canine tales benefits the American Human Association and includes a foreword by Miranda Lambert.

            In the 1950s, Barbara Barnes Sims found herself in a male-dominated world as publicist and sales promotion coordinator at Sun Records in Memphis. She recalls her years in “The Next Elvis: Searching For Stardom at SUN Records” and signs copies at 6 p.m. Thursday at Garden District Bookstore in New Orleans.

            Born with Asperger's Syndrome and a love of Japanese films and art, writing came natural to Justin Wilson. At 20 and studying literature in college, Wilson has penned “The Boy in the Skull Mask,” where Detective Renee Chavez deals with a murder investigation involving supernatural creatures. The situation grows more complicated by the arrival of a teenaged, eccentric, supernatural hunter, the enigmatic Zero Ozawa. The two must combine their knowledge and work together.

            Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Amy Schwartz pens a delightful tale for young readers titled “100 Things That Make Me Happy.” Naturally, Schwartz lists 100 things that bring smiles to young children’s faces, from riding a bike to catching fireflies, all composed in a lilting rhythmic cadence and accented by adorable artwork. Children will love perusing this collection of happiness.

            Born in New Orleans and now residing in Chattanooga Poppy Jackson releases the second book of her “Imaginary!” trilogy, a series full of romance, vampires, intrigue and hope. The new book is titled “Rapture.” For more information, visit http://www.write2grow.org/PoppyJackson/rapture.php

Newcomb Pottery

            Pelican Publishing of New Orleans has compiled a handy resource book for pottery collectors titled “Newcomb Pottery: A Visual Treasury.” Chock full of photographs gleaned from the Louisiana State Museum, Tulane University and private collections, the book catalogues items hailing from Newcomb College’s art department in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

            You can view these gorgeous pieces at the State Museum or travel to the Stark Museum in Orange, Texas, for “Women, Art, & Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise.” The loaned exhibition features significant examples of iconic pottery, textiles, jewelry, bookbinding and more, organized by the Newcomb Art Gallery and Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

Book events

            Become Money Smart, a free two-session workshop sponsored by United Way of Acadiana, will be 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, Oct. 7 and 9, at North Regional Library. Preregistration required.  

            A film series honoring Ernest Gaines will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the South Regional Library; this week’s film is “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

            The Center for Louisiana Studies’ Bayou State Book Talks presents Marcia Gaudet and Reggie Young, authors of “This Louisiana Thing That Drives Me: The Legacy of Ernest J. Gaines” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the South Regional Branch Library, 6101 Johnston St. The event is free and open to the public.

            Barbara Barnes Sims signs her latest “The Next Elvis: Searching for Stardom at Sun Records,” from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

            Celebrate National Star Wars Reads Day with an intergalactic party from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at North Regional Library. Costumes are welcome for the event geared toward ages 6-12. Preregistration required.

            Bonnie Warner and Cheryl Gerber sign copies of “New Orleans Homes — Christmas” from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

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.

'Tilted World' a love story set against 1927 flood

             Tom Franklin, author of the New York Times bestseller “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter,” and award-winning poet Beth Ann Fennelly, have teamed up for a novel surrounding the 1927 flood in Mississippi in “The Tilted World.”

            Hard-working Dixie Clay Holliver meets a smooth-talking traveler in Alabama and agrees to leave her family, marry him and move back to his small town of Hobnob, Mississippi. Jesse Holliver turns about to be a bootlegger and their marriage disintegrates, especially after the loss of their first-born child. Dixie Clay throws herself into working the still in an effort to fill her days and because she excels in the process.

            The book begins with the appearance of federal revenue agent Ted Ingersoll and his partner, Ham Johnson, who arrive in the flood-prone town following the disappearance of two fellow agents who’d been on Jesse’s tail. In the middle of the torrential rains, the river growing daily to the tops of the town’s levee and an altercation with Jesse, the agents find an abandoned baby boy. Ted brings the child to Dixie Clay to rear and the two are immediately drawn to one another.

            “The Tilted World” follows the developing relationship between Ted and Dixie Clay, the baby’s appearance that offers a balm to Dixie Clay’s soul and the prospect of a sabauteur in town who may blow up the levee in exchange for money from a New Orleans interest.

            Fans of the “Great Flood” will enjoy this small town insider’s approach through a fictional story, and the relationship that develops between Dixie Clay and Ted is heartwarming amidst the terror of the Mississippi opening its mouth to devour the town. At times, however, the book drags, which is unfortunate since the plot structure of a love affair between a bootlegger and a federal agent offers wonderful conflict. For the most part the seams between the two writers are invisible but occasionally the voice appears tangibly different. But don’t let my minor disappointments deter you, book reviewers are raving about the story.

New releases

            New Orleans poet and UNO graduate Gina Ferrara has just published a new collection of poetry titled “Amber Porch Light.” Ferrara is also the author of a 2006 chapbook, “The Size of Sparrows.” Her poems have appeared in numerous journals including The Poetry Ireland Review, The Briar Cliff Review, and Callaloo. She is currently at work on a collection of poems about the leprosaurium located in Carville.

            Frank de Caro, a folklorist and professor emeritus of English at LSU, has published “a memoir that explores why all our stories matter” titled “Stories of Our Lives: Memory, History, Narrative” by Utah State University Press. Featuring personal stories from De Caro’s life and years of field research as a folklorist, the book is part memoir and part exploration of how the stories we tell shape our sense of self. De Caro is also the author of “Louisiana Sojourns: Travelers’ Tales and Literary Journeys” (1998, with Rosan A. Jordan), which received the Louisiana Humanities Book Award, and other books.

             “Dixie Redux: Essays in Honor of Seldon Hackney” is a collection of essays by one of the nation’s most distinguished Southern historians, a man who served as provost of Princeton University, president of Tulane University and the University of Pennsylvania, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The book contains essays from 18 historians, former colleagues and students of Hackney. The book is edited by Raymond Arsenault and Orville Vernon Burton.

            Shaquana Jackson of Abbeville has just published a novel titled “Now That the Cover is Removed,” available online through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. The book follows three girlfriends where when the truth is revealed their friendships take a beating. Read more at her Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/authorshaquana.jackson.

Spring picks

            Members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance choose books each winter, known as the Okra Picks, as those they are excited about selling. Here are a few Southern titles SIBA wants you to read. Look for reviews of these books in coming months to this column. They are:



            “The In-Between Hour” by Barbara Claypole White (Mira Books);


            “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking);

            “Starting Over: Stories by Elizabeth Spencer” (Liveright Publishing);

            “The Last Days of California” by Mary Miller (Liveright Publishing);

            “The Secret of Magic” by Deborah Johnson (Amy Einhorn Books);            

            “Without Mercy: The Stunning True Story of Race, Crime and Corruption in the Deep South” by David Beasley (St. Martin’s Press);

            “This Dark Road to Mercy” by Wiley Cash (Morrow)


            “The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing” by Sheila Turnage (Kathy Dawson Books);

            “One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band” by Alan Paul (St. Martin’s);

            “A Snicker of Magic” by Natalie Lloyd (Scholastic);

            “Long Man” by Amy Greene (Knopf); and

            “Down South: Bourbon, Pork, Gulf Shrimp & Second Helpings of Everything” by Donald Link (Clarkson Potter).

            For more information, visit sibaweb.com/okra.

Books by UL authors

            There have been several books recently published by UL-Lafayette graduates.

            Leslie Moise, who has a docorate in English from UL, published “Love is the Thread: A Knitting Friendship” with Pearlsong Press.

            Don Landry of Baton Rouge published “Boxing: Louisiana’s Forgotten Sport.”

            John Hornung has self-published four ebooks in the last two years.

            Deborah Little, who lives in Montgomery, Ala., has published “Growing Up Little: Uptown New Orleans and Rural Alabama.”

            April Fallon, a UL graduate and currently a professor of English at Kentucky State University, published “Universe of Discourse” with Finishing Line Press under the name of A.D. Fallon.

            Roy Bourgeois published his memoir, “My Journey from Silence to Solidarity,” which details his call to ministry and the founding of the School of Americas Watch.

            Daniel Haulman, chief of the Organizational Histories Branch of the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, has published “What Hollywood Got Right and Wrong about the Tuskegee Airmen in the Great New Movie, ‘Red Tails.’” He is also the author of “The Tuskegee Airmen and the ‘Never Lost a Bomber’ Myth.”  

            Tony Leuzzi published a collection of interviews with leading American poets titled “Passwords Primeval.”

Book events

            “The Story of Felicia Fuksman: Holocaust Survivor” begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at South Regional Library. Through photos and video clips, Katherine Watson, Southern Institute for Education and Research’s Goldring Teacher Fellow, will tell the story of Holocaust survivor Felicia Fuksman, her early childhood, experiences during World War II and her arrival in New Orleans.

            French Story Times will occur on select Wednesdays and Saturdays at Lafayette libraries. Bedtime Stories in French
will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Feb. 12

and special Saturday Story Times in French
begin at 11 a.m. Jan. 25 and Feb. 22 at South Regional Library.

            Children ages 5-12 can make a penguin collage at 4 p.m. Thursday at the South Regional Library. Preregistration is required.

            Nunu Arts and Culture Collective in Arnaudville will host authors

Philip Andrepont, Pat Morrow and Warren Perrin on Friday for their monthly potluck at 1510 Courtableau Road, Arnaudville. The three have written a pictorial history of St. Landry Parish titled “Images of America St. Landry Parish.” Copies of the book will be available. Visit www.nunucollective.org/ for more information.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, 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 cherecoen@gmail.com.