State Library of Louisiana

Louisiana Book Festival announces schedule for pre-festival event

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Book Festival is excited to announce the faculty for the 2022 writing workshops: Jericho Brown, Robert Olen Butler, Gerard Collins, and Emily Nemens. These prominently published authors include two Pulitzer Prize recipients, an international creative writing instructor, and a recent editor of two distinguished literary journals.

These WordShops – half-day writing workshops on a variety of topics to take place at the State Library of Louisiana in Baton Rouge on Friday, October 28. The courses are designed for people writing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and are appropriate for writers of all levels of experience.

"Louisiana has such a rich literary history, and the WordShops that preceded the annual Louisiana Book Festival are part of that history," said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. "We are excited to announce this exceptional opportunity at the State Library of Louisiana for writers to further develop their craft."

"If you've ever dreamed of seeing your name on the cover of a book or in a periodical, our WordShops offer a rare and intimate opportunity for local aspiring writers of all backgrounds to study with celebrated authors from all over the country – and this year internationally with an author from Canada," said State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. "Louisiana is full of stories and people who write those stories. We hope these opportunities advance our attendees down the path toward becoming contributors to our literary culture."

The classes, taught by these award-winning and bestselling professional authors, will cover a wide range of topics for honing the writers’ craft, including strategies for generative revision, the usefulness of writer fear as a tool, and the fundamentals of and expanding of the creative process.

The WordShop schedule for Friday, October 28, 2022, include two concurrent sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon:

·       9 a.m. – Noon

o   Writing Through Your Fears, Regardless – presented by Gerard Collins

o   After the Draft: Revising, Editing, and Publishing Your Work – presented by Emily Nemens

·       1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

o   Jumpstart Your Engines Poetry Workshop – presented by Jericho Brown

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

Full WordShop descriptions as well as short author biographies can be found in the attached document and on the Louisiana Book Festival WordShops webpage.

Registration for each WordShop is $50; for a person attending two WordShops, the cost is $90. Space is limited. Registration and payment are due by October 24. After that date, registrations will be accepted only as space allows.

To register, call 225-219-9503 or visit the WordShops webpage.

Each of the instructors will be featured at the Louisiana Book Festival with their latest works. For more information on the 2022 Louisiana Book Festival, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org and follow us on Facebook.

The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisinaa's rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

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Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Barry Landry
Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism
225-342-7009
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"When I was an Alligator" and "Economy Hall" chosen as Louisiana Titles

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana has selected one youth book and one adult book by Louisiana authors from Louisiana publishers to represent the state at the 2022 National Book Festival.

• Youth Book: When I Was an Alligator by Gayle Webre (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press)
• Adult Book: Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood by Fatima Shaik (The Historic New Orleans Collection).

Both titles will be part of the Library of Congress Center for the Book’s Great Reads from Great Places program. The program features books and authors representing the literary heritage of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Marianas. For over 20 years, this program has included a highlighted youth title from each affiliate center, and for the first time will feature adult titles this year.

“We appreciate any opportunity to celebrate Louisiana authors,” says Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, “There are not many better stages to do that on than the Great Reads from Great Places program of the National Book Festival. I am proud to have authors Gayle Webre and Fatima Shaik represent us.”

This year’s National Book Festival is Saturday, September 3, in Washington, D.C. The festival is in person but includes many livestreamed and recorded virtual programs. Gayle Webre will take part in an online panel conversation with the chosen children’s authors from other state Centers for the Book in the Central II Region. Webre and Director the Louisiana Center for the Book Jim Davis will discuss how she and her book connect with Louisiana; how it fits with the theme of the festival, “Books Bring Us Together;” and more. This and other panel discussions will be posted toward the end of August on the National Book Festival website and the Library of Congress’s YouTube channel.

“We are thrilled for the return of an in-person National Book Festival where we can represent Louisiana, just as we are ours at the end of October, and where people from around the world can experience examples of what Louisiana has to offer to the world of literature,” says State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. “We are just as excited for the opportunity to showcase these two Louisiana authors’ books at the festival and Gayle’s children’s book as part of the virtual programming so that anyone in Louisiana and beyond can share this experience.”

Gayle Webre’s lifelong home is the heart of Cajun country. She holds a master’s +30 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, working in elementary education for 25 years, primarily designing and implementing enrichment curricula for gifted children. Webre generally lives with her nose in a book or talking about books she has read. You might also find her writing, hosting gatherings for family and friends, playing with her grandchildren, or riding her tricycle.

Fatima Shaik, 2021 Louisiana Writer Award recipient, has written for The Southern Review, Callaloo, Tribes, The Root, In These Times, the Review of Contemporary Fiction, and The New York Times. Her seventh book is Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood (“lyrical and mysterious and always captivating” -- NY Times). She is the recipient of grants from the NEH, LEH, and the Kittredge Fund. A member of The Writers Room in NYC, Shaik is an ex-officio Trustee of PEN America.

Both of Louisiana’s Great Reads authors will be making appearances at the Louisiana table and signing books, and another Louisiana author, Alex Jennings (The Ballad of Perilous Graves), a featured National Book Festival author, will drop by to say hello.

The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisiana’s rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.Please follow us on Facebook for more information.

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Contact:

Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Barry Landry
Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism
225-342-7009
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Louisiana Center for the Book Presents 12th Annual National Poetry Month Program

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana will celebrate National Poetry Month with “Just Listen to Yourself: Louisiana’s Poet Laureate Presents Louisiana Poets.”

 This free, in-person event takes place Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. in the first floor Seminar Center of the State Library of Louisiana, 701 North 4th Street, Baton Rouge, LA.

 Louisiana Poet Laureate Mona Lisa Saloy hosts the 12th annual program, and invited nine poets from across the state to read their work. Participating poets include Nordette N. Adams, Johnette Downing, Kelly Harris-DeBerry, Ashley Mace Havird, Sunni Patterson, Chuck Perkins, Karisma Price, Gian Francisco Smith, and José Torres-Tama.

 “It is wonderful that conditions are such that Louisiana poets and poetry lovers can convene in person once again this year for National Poetry Month just as we are looking forward to the return of the prestigious live and in-person Louisiana Book Festival at the end of October this year,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser.

 “Louisiana Poet Laureate Mona Lisa Saloy, a long-time supporter and participant of this annual celebration of poets in our state, has done an admirable job in continuing the tradition of assembling new voices as well as established poets with whom we have become familiar,” says State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton.

 Copies of poetry collections will be available for purchase at the program or online through Cavalier House Books, the Louisiana Book Festival’s bookseller.

 Attendees are welcome to bring their own lunch and to come and go as their schedules allow. The State Library is wheelchair accessible.

 The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Please follow us on Facebook for more information and any updates regarding this event.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225-342-7009
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BATON ROUGE, La. – The State Library of Louisiana is excited to announce the winners of the 2021-2022 Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards. Louisiana’s young people have read nearly 1.35 million books and cast over 424,000 votes in the twenty-three years since the program began.

Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice

Grades 3-5:

The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

written by Natascha Biebow, illustrated by Steven Salerno

Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice

Grades 6-8:

New Kid(Quill Tree Books, Harper Collins)

written and illustrated by Jerry Craft

Louisiana Teen Readers’ Choice

Grades 9-12:

Two Can Keep a Secret(Delacorte Press, Penguin Random House)

by Karen M. McManus

Honor titles include Titan and the Wild Boars: The True Cave Rescue of the Thai Soccer Team (HarperCollins Children’s Books, HarperCollins), written by Susan Hood and Pathana Sornhiran, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk for the Grades 3-5 list; Maybe He Just Likes You (Aladdin, Simon & Schuster) by Barbara Dee for the Grades 6-8 list; and With the Fire on High (Quill Tree Books, HarperCollins) by Elizabeth Acevedo for the Grades 9-12 list. Winners are selected from diverse booklists carefully chosen by committees of school and public librarians from across the state, and many students cast their ballots on voting machines supplied by the Secretary of State’s Voter Outreach Division.

“Now in its 23rd year, the Louisiana Readers’ Choice program is a great way to introduce students to some fantastic reads, especially during such a stressful time when we could all use an escape,” says Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “The use of actual voting machines and encouraging an interest in the democratic process through our partnership with the Secretary of State’s Office are added bonuses.”

“The State Library of Louisiana is proud to continue facilitating the selection of high-interest titles with the collective expertise of our public and school librarians statewide,” notes State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. “We hope to foster a love of reading that contributes to the lifelong development of Louisiana youth as skilled readers.”

An award ceremony for honored book authors will be held at the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, October 29. For more information about the program, including previous winners, how to participate, and additional resources such as free bookmarks, posters, and study guides, please visit the Louisiana Readers' Choice Award page.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225-342-7009
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Louisiana Center for the Book Presents its Inaugural Women’s History Month Program

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana will present its inaugural program celebrating Women’s History Month with a presentation by Louisiana native Dr. Tara T. Green, author of Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson. The presentation will be held in the first floor Seminar Center of the State Library in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. The State Library of Louisiana is located at 701 North 4th Street, Baton Rouge, LA.

By the time of her death in Philadelphia, PA, in 1935, Alice Dunbar-Nelson had earned a reputation as a fierce fighter for political and racial justice. To understand who she was, however, requires going back to her first twenty years in her hometown of New Orleans where she was born in 1875 to a formerly enslaved woman and a man whom her family would not discuss publicly. This secret undoubtedly motivated her career of uplifting the Black race while also holding firmly to secrets about her familial and sexual identity.

Biographer Green will provide an overview of Dunbar-Nelson’s life in New Orleans as a student, educator, and a founding club member, including her early correspondence with her first husband, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

“Hosting a program during this month of celebration gives us the opportunity to honor a few of the women in Louisiana’s history who have been responsible for change,” says Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “By highlighting Dr. Green and Dunbar-Nelson, we are empowering women and young girls across our state.”

Tara T. Green is professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she teaches literature and gender studies courses. She is from the Westbank of New Orleans and is a graduate of Dillard University and Louisiana State University. In addition to the featured biography, Dr. Green recently published See Me Naked: Black Women Defining Pleasure During the Interwar Era.

“We are delighted that Dr. Green is traveling from North Carolina to her home state of Louisiana for this inaugural Women’s History Month event celebrating a Louisiana woman,” noted State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. “Women have worked hard and fought for equality for hundreds of years, and we are thrilled to feature two Louisiana women whose identities and work highlight the intersectionality of gender and race.”

Copies of Green’s biography of Dunbar-Nelson will be available for purchase at the program or online through Cavalier House Books, the Louisiana Book Festival’s bookseller. Copies of the just-released Modern Library Torchbearers edition of Dunbar-Nelson’s stories, The Goodness of St. Rocque, will be on hand as well.

The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Please follow us on Facebook for more information and any updates regarding this event.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225-342-7009
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BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana will celebrate Black History Month with a virtual presentation featuring author Ann B. Dobie, author of Black Women Writers of Louisiana: Telling Their Stories, and joined by Dr. Phebe Hayes. The recorded presentation will be available on YouTube and Facebook on Wednesday, February 16, 2022.

The presentation will profile three of the early Black women writers of Louisiana – Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson, Sybil Kein, and Pinkie Gordon Lane – who as trailblazers charted a way for other women writers through their stories, poems, dramas, journalism, and more. They not only made a name for themselves as writers, teachers, and cultural promoters, they changed the literary landscape by introducing readers to their worlds and their cultures. Their lives, as women and as writers, have a fascinating history of their own.

“Louisiana is rich with Black history and culture, and we honor that diversity with the State Library’s Black History Month program each year,” says Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “The contributions of the Black women writers featured in this year’s program have significantly shaped Louisiana’s literary heritage.”

Ann B. Dobie is professor emerita of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she directed graduate studies in rhetoric and the university's writing-across-the-curriculum program. She has also directed a summer institute at the University of Vermont and worked with the Malta Writing Program in Valletta, Malta. She is the author or co-author of fifteen books, compiler and editor of three literary anthologies, and author of numerous articles on literature and composition. She founded the National Writing Project of Acadiana and served as director for 13 years. Her current research interest is Louisiana literature.

Since retiring from academia in 2013, Dr. Phebe A. Hayes has devoted herself to uncovering the hidden histories of African Americans in Louisiana. In 2018, she founded the nonprofit organization The Iberia African American Historical Society, the mission of which is to research, teach, and commemorate the true and inclusive history of Iberia Parish. As president of the society, she successfully submitted applications for state historic markers to the Louisiana Office of Tourism highlighting significant minority individuals and events in Iberia Parish. Dr. Hayes’s essays have been published in 64 Parishes and Acadiana Profile Magazine, and she has written reviews and/or forewords for many other historians. She is currently preparing manuscripts for publication about the history of African Americans in Iberia Parish.

“Black women are often under-represented and under-celebrated, yet we are seeing more and more light shed on their accomplishments and stories,” notes State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. “Ann B. Dobie has been a friend of the State Library of Louisiana and the Louisiana Book Festival for many years, and we are glad to have her former colleague Dr. Hayes joining her for this program. We are so grateful to them and to showcase this new book and the women in it: women who were and are ahead of their time.”

Black Women Writers of Louisiana: Telling Their Stories is available for purchase through Cavalier House Books, the Louisiana Book Festival’s bookseller. Use code LABOOKFEST for a 20% discount at checkout.
 

Contact Information:

--LouisianaTravel.com--

What to expect from the virtual event happening October 30 – November 14

 BATON ROUGE, La. – Mark your calendar as the 17th Annual Louisiana Book Festival will launch programs on Saturday and Sunday, October 30-31, 2021. Additional new content will be available over the following two weeks on Friday, November 5, through Sunday, November 7, and Friday, November 12, through Sunday, November 14. This free, family-friendly, annual festival celebrating readers, writers, and books is being presented virtually this year. More than 80 authors and presenters will discuss their books during more than 40 virtual programs, including 15 presentations for children, tweens, and teens. Virtual programs can be viewed on the Louisiana Book Festival YouTube channel.

 Authors participating in this year’s festival include 2021 Louisiana Writer Award recipient Fatima Shaik, Louisiana Poet Laureate Mona Lisa Saloy, and Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award winning author Tommy Greenwald (Game Changer). Other featured authors include David Armand (The Lord’s Acre), Rickie Lee Jones (Last Chance Texaco), Alecia Long (Cruising for Conspirators), Robert Mann (Backrooms and Bayous), Joshua Prager (The Family Roe), and Steven V. Roberts (Cokie: A Life Well Lived).

 To learn about additional authors and participants, see a complete list on the Louisiana Book Festival’s featured author page. A digital version of the program guide with more details is also available. More information and updates are available on the Louisiana Book Festival website and on Facebook.

 All featured titles will be available for purchase through Cavalier House Books. All purchases of featured festival books made through December 31, 2021, will receive a 20% discount with the festival code LABOOKFEST.

 The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisiana’s rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225-342-7009
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BATON ROUGE, La. –  The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana is proud to present the 17th Annual Louisiana Book Festival. The Louisiana Book Festival is a free, nationally recognized literary event that typically takes place live and in-person around Capitol Park in Baton Rouge. This year, because of the continuing pandemic, the festival is being presented virtually with 40 programs and over 80 authors and presenters.

"Since its inception, the Louisiana Book Festival has grown in size and popularity, drawing attendees from all over the world, with an annual attendance of nearly 30,000 people joining us in Baton Rouge to celebrate the literary culture of our state and its readers," said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. "While we look forward to the in-person return next year, we are excited to be able to bring the festival to you virtually this year."

The Louisiana Book Festival will launch programs on Saturday, October 30, with new content made available every weekend through Sunday, November 14. Author pages will be posted soon, and the full schedule of programs will be available mid-October. These and more information and updates can be found on the Louisiana Book Festival website and on Facebook.

"I am thrilled for us to be able to present this virtual version of the Louisiana Book Festival, and I am especially excited to participate by interviewing the iconic singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones about her memoir," said State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. "Although we will miss the personal interaction and intimacy only an in-person festival can bring, we are grateful for the many authors and participants who cooperated to make this year's festival possible."

One Book One Festival, which has become a festival tradition, continues with a discussion of Ernest J. Gaines's A Gathering of Old Men, presented again by the ever-popular Dr. Gary Richards, so attendees will want to prepare for that by reading or revisiting this timely Louisiana classic.

Copies of the novel as well as all books featured at the festival may be ordered through the official festival independent bookseller, Cavalier House Books of Denham Springs. Local artist Jonathan Mayers was commissioned to create the piece titled Lané a kawènn-la (which means The Year of the Turtle in the Creole language Kouri-Vini) for the festival. The original painting was photographed by David Humphreys and can be seen on the website.

The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisiana's rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225-342-7009
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