Upcoming writing conferences

            Thanks to Melissa Abraham of the Writer’s Guild of Acadiana for letting me know about the following:

            The Bay St. Louis Little Theatre and the Gulf Coast Writers Association will offer a Valentine’s Poetry Contest where participants may submit a poem of any style or length as a .doc or .docx attachment to writerpllevin@gmail.com with “BSLLT Valentine Poetry Contest” in the subject line. There is no entry fee, and each participant may submit up to two poems. The deadline for entries is midnight Sunday, Feb. 7, and the winner will be invited to read his/ her work at a special variety show on Feb. 13 at the Bay St. Louis Little Theatre. For more information, visit www.gcwriters.org/valentine_contest_2016.html.  

            Sylvia Ney and Laurie Kolp will conduct an all-day writing workshop to help aspiring writers complete at least one submission of 1,500 words or less on Feb 13 at Howell’s Furniture in Beaumont, Texas.

            The Friends of the Terrebonne Parish Public Library have announced that this year’s Jambalaya Writers’ Conference will be April 2 at the Houma main library.  The keynote speaker will be novelist Neely Tucker, slated to cover this year’s presidential election for the Washington Post. Also featured at this year’s conference will be agents, editors, poets and food writers. The conference fee — as always a fabulous bargain — is $35 if paid in advanced and $40 at the door. For more information on the conference, as well as the fiction and poetry contests, visit http://mytpl.org/jwc/.

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, “A Cajun Dream” and “The Letter.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Writes of Spring Award Winners

Elementary through middle school Writes of Spring winners were recognized May 2 and high school winners were recognized May 7 at the South Regional Library of Lafayette. The High School ceremony also featured a talk by young adult author Sarah Guillory.

The Writes of Spring is an annual writing contest that encourages students in grades K-12 from Acadiana to submit original works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in English and French.

Winners received a printed anthology of the winning pieces, donated by Touche Printing and Signs.

  

Some of the high school winners of the Writes of Spring contest, with YA author Sarah Guillory, are front row, from left: Janine LeBlanc, Alexandra Gjertson, Hope Johnston, Victoria Latiolais; second row: Brennan Higginbotham, Paul Guilliot, Cameron Baker, Elise LaFleur, Author Sarah Guillory, Benjamin Mouton, Mary Broussard; and third row: Brayden Dupuy, Gerard Drake, Bennet Narby, Aiden Fletcher, Seth Jones.

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.

Faulkner Society's events include radio show, Irvin Mayfield book launch, writing competition and more

A few items of note from the Pirate’sAlley Faulkner Society of New Orleans.

The deadline nears for the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. Writers have May 15 to turn in their postmarked and electronic submissions. There was some confusion about the date so organizers offer one deadline for all. If writers have previously submitted works and would like to make some changes, they may re-submit electronic files; there is no need to resubmit hard copies of entry forms. For those who have yet to submit, guidelines and entry forms may be downloaded from the organization’s web site, www.wordsandmusic.org.

Coming up on May 13 is “An Evening with Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson” performed by international opera stars Michael Spyres and Tara Stafford in the format of an old-fashioned radio show at 6 p. m. in St. Mary's Catholic Church of New Orleans. The event is free and open to the public and will feature a reception following the program in the Ursuline Convent garden. The program is presented in concert with the Archdiocese of New Orleans and St. Louis Cathedral for the benefit of Bishop Perry Center and sponsored by Doerr Furniture Company and Faulkner House, Inc. Voluntary donations to the Bishop Perry Center will be most appreciated.

            And there’s more!

            On May 19 the Faulkner House Books and the Faulkner Society will have a launch party for Irvin Mayfield's new book, 304 pages of stories about music and musicians, including his own stories, and seven CDs of music. “Irvin Mayfield's New Orleans Jazz Playhouse” is introduced by author and journalist Walter Isaacson with a foreword by Louisiana author Ernest Gaines and an afterword by Wynton Marsalis. The event, free and open to the public, begins at 5:30 p.m. at the historic Cabildo in the long second floor gallery facing Jackson Square of New Orleans. There will be free cocktails and finger food. To reserve your copy of the book in advance, call Faulkner House Books with credit card information at (504) 524-2940. Please e-mail the Faulkner Society, faulkhouse@aol.com, to reserve a place.
            And on June 5 the Faulkner Society's annual prelude to the summer social season and fundraiser, Juleps in June, will be from 7 p.m. to 10 p. m. at the residence of Honorary Co-Chairs Tia and James Roddy, 26 Audubon Place in New Orleans, featuring mint juleps, open bar, summer buffet supper and music. Ticket reservations can be made through faulkhouse@aol.com, by calling (504) 524-2940 with credit card information or mailed to Faulkner Society, 624 Pirate's Alley. Proceeds benefit the Faulkner Society's literacy projects such as BIG READ and events for writers and readers.

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.