State Library of Louisiana

STATE LIBRARY CELEBRATES POETRY MONTH WITH POET LAUREATE EVENT

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the State Library of Louisiana is announcing the third annual Just Listen to Yourself: The Louisiana Poet Laureate Presents Louisiana Poets. Julie Kane, Louisiana’s poet laureate, will host the event from noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 at the State Library Seminar Center.

Poets from throughout the state will participate with Kane in readings of their works. Included poets are Nordette Adams, Jack B. Bedell, Darrell Bourque, Gina Ferrara, Charles Garrett, Christopher Hannan, Ava Leavell Haymon, Elizabeth King, Laura Mullen, Melinda Palacio and Jennifer Reeser.

“Louisiana has a rich poetic history that embodies the uniqueness of our culture,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said. “The State Library’s poetry month program provides this opportunity for our state’s talented poets to present their works.”

Just Listen to Yourself is free and attendees are invited to bring their lunch. For more information including biographies of the participating poets, visit www.state.lib.la.us.

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Short Bios: “Just Listen to Yourself” 2013

Nordette Adamsgrew up in New Orleans, having her first poem published in the Times Picayune before she was six years old. She's lived in other places, but New Orleans was always on her mind. Since she returned in 2007, she's been writing a series of poems about the city. She is a contributing editor to BlogHer.com.

Born and raised in Houma, Louisiana, Jack B. Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press.  His latest collection is Bone-Hollow, True: New & Selected Poems, from Texas Review Press.

A past Louisiana Poet Laureate, Darrell Bourque is professor emeritus in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His newest poetry collection is Megan’s Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie. He lives in a bamboo grove in rural St. Landry Parish with his wife Karen, a glass artist.

Gina Ferrara is a New Orleans native who lives near Bayou St. John. Her poems have appeared in journals including Callaloo, The Southern Poetry Anthology/Louisiana, and Poetry Ireland Review. Her second book, Amber Porch Light, will be forthcoming in September from WordTech Communications.

Charles Garrett lives in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, and works as a substitute teacher. He is also a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) practitioner. During a Night of Champions event at the Heymann Performing Arts Center in Lafayette this past February, he knocked out his opponent in three rounds.

Christopher Hannan is a New Orleans attorney. First prize winner in the 2012 Tennessee Williams Festival Poetry Competition, he has published poems in The Classical Outlook, The Texas Review, The Connecticut Review, The New Orleans Review, and LouisianaCultural Vistas.

Ava Leavell Haymon teaches poetry writing in Baton Rouge and directs a retreat center for writers and artists in New Mexico. She has published five chapbooks and three books, with a fourth one due out from LSU Press this fall. Her poems have appeared in journals including Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and The Sun.

Julie Kane was the Louisiana Poet Laureate from 2011 to 2013. Her two most recent poetry collections are Jazz Funeral, which won the Donald Justice Poetry Prize, and Rhythm & Booze, a National Poetry Series winner and Poets’ Prize finalist. She teaches at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches

Elizabeth King is 21 years of age. Born and raised in New Orleans, she is a junior psychology major at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. She is the current President of Brainy Acts Poetry Society at NSU, and she won first prize in the 2013 Argus literary magazinestudent poetry contest.

Laura Mullen lives on the parade route in Spanish Town in Baton Rouge. She is the McElveen Professor in English at LSU and the author of seven books. Her work is included in the new edition of the Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Poetry.

A native of South Central Los Angeles, Melinda Palacio married a Louisiana native and now divides her time between New Orleans and Santa Barbara, California. Her publications include the novel Ocotillo Dreams, winner of the 2012 PEN Oakland Award for Excellence in Literature, and the poetry collection How Fire Is a Story, Waiting.

Jennifer Reeser was born and raised in Lake Charles, her current home, where she attended McNeese State University. She has published poems and translations in journals including Poetry, The Hudson Review, and The National Review. Her most recent poetry book is Sonnets from the Dark Lady and Other Poems.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2013

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713
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Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
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The State Library of Louisiana will again participate in the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s Teen Video Challenge, a national video competition for teens to get involved with reading and their public library’s summer reading program.

Teenagers may enter the competition by creating a public service announcement that encourages teens to read and visit libraries during the summer using the theme “Beneath the Surface.”

“This is a fun competition that encourages teenagers to be creative and get excited about reading,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said. “Participating teens send a clear message that public libraries are important to them.”

The winning video from each participating state will be announced in spring 2013 and used by public libraries nationally to promote summer reading. The creators of the winning state video will be awarded $275 and their associated public library will receive prizes worth $125 from the CSLP.

The CSLP is a grassroots consortium of 49 states, Washington, D.C., American Samoa, the Mariana Islands, Cayman Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia that provides children, teens and families with a summer reading program. It also supplies public libraries with promotional materials.

Rules and details for the teen video challenge can be found on the State Library’s website, www.state.lib.la.us. Click Literacy and Reading, then Summer Reading Program and scroll to Teen Video Challenge.

– www.LouisianaTravel.com–

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The State Library of Louisiana is hosting a new exhibit featuring portraits by George Rodrigue. The exhibit, Walker Percy, Sylvester Stallone and the Blue Dog features 10 Rodrigue paintings, one of which features his famous Blue Dog. The exhibit will be displayed at the library from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30. During the Louisiana Book Festival on Oct. 27, Rodrigue will host a forum about the exhibit from noon until 12:30 p.m.

Nine of the portraits are part of a series Rodrigue painted during the 1980s of guest lecturers who took part in the Flora Levy Lecture Series at the then-University of Southwest Louisiana, now ULL. The portraits include authors Walter Percy and Shirley Ann Grau and artistic allusions to John Kennedy Toole and Robert Penn Warren.

The tenth portrait, , Rodrigue’s 6-foot tall painting featuring Sylvester Stallone as his famed character Rocky with the Blue Dog, is being exhibited for the first time.

“The early portraits represent classic literature, developing into pop culture through phenomena like The Moviegoer, All the King’s Men and A Confederacy of Dunces,” Rodrigue said. “Stallone’s contribution is a continuation of this tradition, combining a strong, iconic character with the medium of film.”

Rodrigue began painting as a boy growing up in New Iberia. In addition to the Blue Dog series, he has painted oak trees, Cajuns, hurricanes, Louisiana governors and U.S. presidents.

For more information on the Louisiana Book Festival, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org.

– www.LouisianaTravel.com –

 

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The Louisiana Book Festival is offering several programs geared toward young readers at its ninth celebration of readers and writers. Youth appropriate activities, book talks, ceremonies, readings, storytelling, film screenings and discussions will take place throughout the day.

The Festival will feature a children’s activity tent with crafts and face painting all day as well as the Brain Quest tent that will challenge children’s brains and bodies. There they will jump rope and play with beach balls and hula hoops all while answering Brain Quest questions to prove it is fun to be smart. Brain Quest team competitions for families and friends are scheduled at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Also scheduled for children are writing enrichment projects for fourth to ninth graders and a storytelling tent.

Costumed book characters Corduroy and Skippyjon Jones will be at the Festival for photos and visits throughout the Festival.

Several children’s and young adult authors and illustrators will be on hand to discuss their books. Among them are Camille Barnes, Lesley Crawford Costner, Johnette Downing, Mary Helen Blanchard, Sue Brunner, Irene Latham, Jennifer Brown, Ellie James and Shelia Goss.

Screenings of the 2011 Academy Award-winning short animated film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore will be held at 11 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.

Several discussions for young adult readers will take place at the Festival. One discussion will feature young adult author John Corey Whaley interviewing author Walter Dean Myers, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, at 1 p.m.

At 3:45 p.m. in the Capitol Park Museum Auditorium, WorldPlay’s Freshhhh Heat will conduct a teen open mic and competitive poetry slam.

The Louisiana Book Festival is Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Baton Rouge. It is free and open to the public.

Visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org for more information.

 

– www.LouisianaTravel.com –

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct 18, 2012

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713
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Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
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The Louisiana Book Festival will host two events encouraging festival goers to read the same book for a festival discussion. One Book, One Festival will feature a reader discussion of John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces led by Southern literature scholar Gary Richards. The second festival-wide discussion will be a Louisiana Big Read event, part of the statewide Big Read project, featuring Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Both discussions will take place at the Louisiana Book Festival on Oct. 27 in downtown Baton Rouge.

One Book One Festival’s discussion of A Confederacy of Dunces will pay equal attention to the artistry of the narrative and the brilliance of the sociological representations. Attention will also be given to the long comic novel form as well as to the effectiveness of individual moments of comedy.

Additional programming related to A Confederacy of Dunces will be featured at the festival: a discussion lead by author Cory McLauchlin about his Toole biography, Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of A Confederacy of Dunces and a screening of a documentary, JOHN KENNEDY TOOLE: the omega point, presented by producer Joe Sanford.

The Big Read event featuring The Things They Carried is presented by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The festival panel discussion will be moderated by Harry Laver of Southeastern Louisiana University and will include panelists Charles Elliott of Southeastern Louisiana University and Mary McCay of Loyola University.

O’Brien’s critically acclaimed The Things They Carried is a series of related stories about a combat platoon in Vietnam that weave the power of fiction and the honesty of personal account into a seamless expression of war as experience.

For more information on One Book One Festival, The Big Read and the Louisiana Book Festival visit, www.LouisianaBookFestival.org or the Louisiana Book Festival Facebook page.

– www.LouisianaTravel.com –

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct 11, 2012

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713
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Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
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The Louisiana Book Festival needs you! Join in the fun and experience the Louisiana Book Festival from within by volunteering.

Louisiana’s world-class celebration of readers, writers and their books is Sat., Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This nationally recognized literary event is free and will take place in the heart of Baton Rouge at the State Library of Louisiana, Louisiana State Capitol, Capitol Park Museum and in tents on neighboring streets.

Volunteers are essential to the festival’s success. Whether it is escorting the festival’s authors, serving as room monitors in the Capitol during panel discussions and author book talks or working with children in the Young Readers Pavilion, your help is needed.

If you are interested in volunteering and would like more information about the Festival as well as volunteer opportunities, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org and scroll down to the volunteer section.

For more information or to sign up, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 225.342.4996.

The ninth annual Louisiana Book Festival, free and open to the public, is featuring more than 125 authors and panelists discussing their books; the Young Readers Pavilion, where children and parents will enjoy storytelling performances; and a wide variety of book-related activities, exhibitions and other performances.

– www.LouisianaTravel.com –

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct 10, 2012

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713
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Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
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The tradition continues as the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library hosts four WordShops for Writers on Friday, Oct. 26, the day before the Louisiana Book Festival. Wordshops will take place in downtown Baton Rouge at the State Library and the Capitol Park Museum. This year’s four WordShops will focus on the fiction writing process, writing for young adults, writing about Louisiana and the process of getting published or self-publishing.

The all-day WordShop will feature Robert Olen Butler who will present “After Craft: The Process of Writing Fiction.” It starts at 9 a.m. at the Capitol Park Museum. Butler is the author of Pulitzer Prize-winning A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.

Three half-day WordShops are also scheduled, one morning session and two afternoon sessions. From 9 a.m. to noon, The New York Times bestselling young adult author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Walter Dean Myers will teach “Just Write: Here's How!  A Workshop for Writing Young Adult Novels” in the Seminar Center of the State Library. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Capitol View Room of the State Library, authors Cheré Dastugue Coen and Ronald M. Gauthier will present “So You Want to Be Published?” This WordShop takes a look at the challenges and rewards of getting work published.

Also from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., author Ken Wells will present “Selling Louisiana: Think Locally, Publish Nationally” in the Seminar Center of the State Library.

To register for WordShops call Michelle Hobkirk at 225-342-4931 or download the registration form from the “Exhibits & Workshops” section of www.LouisianaBookFestival.org. Registration and payment are due by Oct. 23, $40 for  half-day WordShops and $75 for the full day. Free parking is available.

More about the programs and faculty:

After Craft: The Process of Writing Fiction presented by Robert Olen Butler

This workshop will focus on the fundamentals of the creative process for fiction writers who aspire to create enduring literature.  It will address such issues as what is art; what is distinctive about the way the artist addresses the world, the inner self, and the objects to be created; and what are the essential characteristics of fiction as an art form.  It will also deal with more practical matters including how to pre-plan a novel without sacrificing its spontaneity; how to make use of the intimate relationship between fiction techniques and film techniques; and how to edit and revise without losing touch with the creative unconscious.  Depending on the size of the workshop and the preferences of the workshoppers, there may be a chance to do an in-class coached writing exercise.

Robert Olen Butler, who won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 1993 for his short story collection, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, has begun a novel series for Otto Penzler and The Mysterious Press. The first “Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller” is The Hot Country.  The second, The Star of Istanbul, will be published in the fall of 2013.  Butler has written twelve other novels, six collections of stories, and a book on writing fiction.  He teaches creative writing at Florida State University.  He taught for 15 years at McNeese State University in Lake Charles and still thinks of himself as a wandering Louisianan.

Just Write: Here's How!  A Workshop for Writing Young Adult Novels presented by Walter Dean Myers

National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Walter Dean Myers presents a program for writers who wish to create works for young adults.  According to Myers, the hardest part of writing is finishing the manuscript you know is going to shake the market and win the awards. This workshop, by a writer who has finished over a hundred and ten books, will tell you exactly how to finish that novel that's been in the drawer, in your closet, or even in the back of your mind!

Walter Dean Myers is a critically acclaimed author of books for young people. His award-winning body of work includes Sunrise Over Fallujah, Fallen Angels, Monster, Somewhere in the Darkness and Harlem. Myers has received two Newbery Honor Awards and five Coretta Scott King Awards. He is the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award (for excellence in young adult literature, given by the American Library Association) as well as the first recipient of Kent State University's Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2008, he won the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Award. He is considered one of the preeminent writers for young people.

So You Want to Be Published? presented by Cheré Dastugue Coen and Ronald M. Gauthier

What does it take to create a successful, publishable book? Writing the book is only half the journey. This workshop will discuss compiling a book proposal that will make agents and editors notice, the pros and cons of self-publishing, the process of e-publishing and creating books such as cookbooks and historical texts to raise money for organizations. We’ll also discuss social media tactics, effective publicity, dealing with unsavory agents or editors and the economic realities of publishing. Attendees will go home with everything they need to know about having their work published.

and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Ronald M. Gauthier was a library branch manager in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina forced him to relocate to Atlanta.  In addition to working in the library, he has served as an adult literacy instructor for the prison system in Louisiana and a social services counselor.   He is currently a manager in Gwinnett County Library System in Georgia, a suburban community 25 miles outside of Atlanta.  Mr. Gauthier co-authored Killing Time: an 18-Year Odyssey from Death row to Freedom, a nonfiction title chronicling the odyssey of John Thompson, a man wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Louisiana. His book won the Innocence Project Media Award, the Indie Award for Best Fiction, and it was selected by the Chicago Sun Times as one of the best books of 2010.

Mr. Gauthier has short fiction and nonfiction published in the Write Room Literary Journal, Cigale Literary Journal, the Times-Picayune, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Atlanta Voice, Library Journal, the BCALA Journal, and was a finalist in a literary contest at Glimmer Train.  His short story, Modern Black Boy will be published in the March, 2013 issue of the Long Story, and short nonfiction, Appalling Silence, in Witness in the fall of 2012.

Selling Louisiana: Think Locally, Publish Nationally presented by Ken Wells

Ken Wells, a native of Houma but a citizen of the world, has done as well as any Louisiana-born contemporary writer using his home state as a canvas to publish fiction and non-fiction books with national publishing houses including Random House, Knopf Young Adult, Simon & Schuster and Yale University Press. Part One of his presentation is the Louisiana Advantage--how the state's unique place in American history and lore, its cultural traditions, its world renowned food, music and landscapes make it an attractive canvas for publishers seeking authentic voices, characters and stories. He will discuss how to harness these advantages by providing insights into his own publishing breakthroughs. In Part Two, Wells, who for three years served as editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal's book-publishing program, will get into the concrete details of how you pitch and sell your work to national publishers. While the session will primarily focus on the art of writing successful non-fiction book proposals, Wells will also deal with issues of significance to would-be novelists, including the art of networking and finding an agent.

Ken Wells is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and the author of the critically acclaimed Catahoula Bayou Trilogy--Meely LaBauve, Junior's Leg, Logan's Storm--published by Random House. Tom Wolfe praised his fourth novel, a gumbo western called Crawfish Mountain, and his fifth, a young adult novel called Rascal: a Dog and His Boy, was named one of the best books of the year by the Center for Children's Books. All are set in Louisiana. Wells' second non-fiction effort, The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous, is a Katrina action adventure story chronicling the real-life heroics of a band of St. Bernard Parish shrimpers who rode out the storm on their boats and saved hundreds of people from Katrina's surges. It won the prestigious 2009 Harry Chapin Book Award. Wells began his writing career on the Houma Courier newspaper and has since worked for The Miami Herald, The Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast Portfolio magazine. He lives in New York City and is a now senior writer for Bloomberg News/Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. He is hard at work finishing up his sixth novel, also set in Louisiana.

All faculty for the WordShops will also be participating in the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, October 27th. 

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct 8 2012

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Louisiana Book Festival is returning to downtown Baton Rouge on Saturday, Oct. 27, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Festival-goers of all ages will celebrate books with more than 125 authors and panelists who will present and discuss their latest works. The nationally recognized literary celebration is free and open to the public and will take place in the heart of Baton Rouge at the State Library of Louisiana, Louisiana State Capitol, Capitol Park Museum and in tents on neighboring streets.

“Each festival ignites a spirit of literacy and learning,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said.  I encourage every Louisianan to attend and get to know a few accomplished authors and enjoy Louisiana’s famous festival atmosphere.”

Last year nearly 16,500 visitors from throughout the nation and other countries attended the festival. The festival will again feature presentations by Louisiana and Southern writers as well as national bestselling authors, panel discussions, a Children’s Pavilion, live music and food vendors.

The festival counts on volunteers to help make the event a success. Whether it is escorting the festival’s authors, serving as room monitors in the Capitol during panel discussions or working with children in the Young Readers Pavilion, volunteers are essential. If you are interested in volunteering, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org/Volunteers.html.

Information about the 2012 Book Festival is available online at http://www.LouisianaBookFestival.org or the Louisiana Book Festival Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LABookFestival .

– www.LouisianaTravel.com –

 

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