State Library of Louisiana

The Louisiana Book Festival is back! Louisiana’s world-class celebration of readers, writers and their books is returning to downtown Baton Rouge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29. Join in the fun and experience the Louisiana Book Festival from within by volunteering.

The eighth annual event is featuring more than 225 authors and panelists discussing their books; the Young Readers Pavilion, where children and parents will enjoy storytelling performances, face painting and other activities; and a wide variety of book-related activities, demonstrations, exhibitions and performances.

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 workshops 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/Volunteers.html.

The Louisiana Book Festival is co-sponsored by the Louisiana Center for the Book; the State Library of Louisiana; the Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism; Office of Lt. Governor and the Louisiana Library and Book Festival Foundation. Complete information on the 2011 Book Festival is available at www.LouisianaBookFestival.org or by calling 225.219.9503.

– www.crt.la.gov –

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2011

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 2011 Louisiana Book Festival is continuing the tradition of the One Book, One Festival discussion. Festival-goers can participate in the discussion by reading Of Love and Dust by Louisiana author Ernest Gaines before the Oct. 29 festival. Because some critics, as well as festival organizers, believe Of Love and Dust to be arguably the best Southern movie never made, the Book Festival will feature a hypothetical “casting discussion.” Scholar and writer Reggie Scott Young will ask participants to be casting directors for a film version of the book at 4 p.m. at the state capitol. Participating readers can prepare for the festival discussion by imagining the actors from today or the past whom they would select to play the roles of Marcus, Jim Kelly, Bonbon, Tite, Pauline and the other characters who appear in the story.

For more information about the Louisiana Book Festival, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org, call 225.219.9503 and like the Festival on Facebook.

– www.crt.la.gov –

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 20, 2011

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 Center for the Book in the State Library will host five creative writing WordShops. WordShops focus on writing styles including memoir, poetry and creative  nonfiction. They are taking place at the State Library of Louisiana, the Capitol Park Welcome Center and the Capitol Park Museum on Oct. 28, the day before the eighth annual Louisiana Book Festival.

Space is limited. To register for WordShops call Charlene Moore at 225.219.0946 or download the registration form at http://www.LouisianaBookFestival.org/LBFWordShops.html. Registration is $40 for  half-day WordShops and $75 for the full day. The fee for attending both a morning and afternoon WordShop is $75. Registration and payment are due by Oct. 25. Parking will be provided.

WordShops:
Full-day, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Rosemary Daniell — NERVE: Doing What It Takes to Turn the Truths of Your Life into Memoir

Half-day, 9 a.m. – Noon
John Biguenet — Function Follows Form: Why Genre Matters
Johnette Downing — Postcard Poetry for Elementary and Middle School Educators

Half-day, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Julie Kane — Semiformalists Have More Fun
Sheryl St. Germain — Conjuring Place: A Workshop in Creative Nonfiction

Complete information on the 2011 Book Festival and WordShops is available at www.LouisianaBookFestival.org or by calling 225.219.9503.

– www.crt.la.gov –

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2011

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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Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing this year’s recipient of the Louisiana Center for the Book Louisiana Writer Award, acclaimed author James Wilcox. Lt. Governor Dardenne and State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton will recognize Wilcox at an award ceremony during the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, Oct. 29.

“After a one-year hiatus, the book festival will return to Capitol Park to celebrate books by authors from Louisiana and the rest of the world,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “The festival is a perfect time to give the Louisiana Writer Award which honors the best writers from our great state.”

The Louisiana Book Festival is a free, daylong event where authors such as Wilcox will hold workshops to discuss their works and careers. Writing workshops for hopeful authors are available as well as food, entertainment and activities for children.

Wilcox, director of creative writing at LSU, is the author of nine novels, most of which are set in or feature characters from the fictional town of Tula Springs, La. His most famous novel, Modern Baptists, was released in 1983 and has been included in Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon and was listed in the GQ 45^th anniversary issue as one of the best works of fiction published in the past 45 years.

“James Wilcox and his enduring and ongoing work, from Modern Baptists to Hunk City, exemplify Louisiana’s rich cultural and literary heritage,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said. “Born in Hammond, James has drawn on his Louisiana experience to create unforgettable residents of his fictional Tula Springs. Though it doesn’t really exist, anyone who lives in Louisiana has been there or knows somebody who lives there.“

Wilcox’s book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Elle. His eighth novel, Heavenly Days, was featured on the New York Times Notable Book list. Wilcox currently holds the MacCurdy Distinguished Professorship in the LSU College of Arts and Sciences.

The Louisiana Writer Award is given annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the literary and intellectual life of Louisiana. Past recipients include novelist and short story writer Tim Gautreaux; children’s author William Joyce; poets Yusef Komunyakaa and William Jay Smith; historian Carl A. Brasseaux; novelists James Lee Burke, Ernest J. Gaines, Shirley Ann Grau, Elmore Leonard and Valerie Martin; and scholar Lewis P. Simpson.

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

– www.crt.la.gov –

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2011

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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Following a successful pilot program in Ouachita, Jefferson Davis and West Baton Rouge parishes, the State Library, in partnership with public libraries, is implementing a statewide laptop check-out program. The program is funded through an $8.8 million competitive grant awarded to the State Library of Louisiana in February 2010 from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program of the Department of Commerce. The State Library is supplying 640 laptop computers to public libraries throughout the state, with each parish receiving 10 laptops. The process will be carried out on a regional basis to reduce travel costs and facilitate speedy deployment. Laptops will be available in every parish for patrons to borrow by the end of the year.

“This new laptop program is designed to give more citizens access to technology that can better their future and Louisiana’s future,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “Many Louisianans do not have home computers and only 43 percent of Louisianans have access to the Internet at home.”

The laptops are Internet-ready so that citizens can take them to any hot spot to access the Internet. The laptops also have GPS software that allows the State Library to recover them in the event of loss or theft.

The three-year grant that supports the laptop program, Louisiana Libraries: Connecting People to Their Potential, is also enabling the State Library to provide workforce development tools and training, online tutoring and health and wellness education available to citizens. Programs made available through the grant include high-end electronic resources that offer skills practice and live one-on-one tutoring to students and those preparing for various entrance exams. In addition, the State Library created the Louisiana Jobs & Career Center website, www.lajacc.org, compiling the best job search and career tools for Louisianans.

“We have an outstanding opportunity with this grant to make a fundamental difference in the lives of our citizens,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said. “To date, we have used only 39 percent of the total grant and have much left to do. We will continue to partner with Louisiana’s 339 public libraries to offer more training statewide.”

More than 7,000 citizens have learned computer application and business skills from attending the 1,200 free classes that the State Library has presented thus far in partnership with local public libraries.

To find out more, call 888.487.2700 or visit www.lajacc.org or www.state.lib.la.us.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2011

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713   
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Left to right: Nykala Shea Bell, Annie Dronet, Holland Campbell, Ryan Voorhies. Sitting: Dallas Mouton.

Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing the Louisiana winners of the first Collaborative Summer Library Program, Teen Video Challenge, a national program managed locally by the State Library of Louisiana. A team of teenagers representing the Lafayette Public Library created the winning Louisiana video: Dallas Mouton, Holland Campbell, Nykala Bell, Anne Dronet and Ryan Voorhies. The video features the teens participating in a focus group to determine why they do not want to spend their summer at a public library. The video then shifts to showing the teens enjoying the summer activities they did not think they could actually do in a library.  To view the winning videos, visit the CSLP website and watch the Louisiana video, http://cslpreads.org/winners.html. 

“The reading enrichment programs that the State Library of Louisiana provides are critical to the future success of the state,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “A strong foundation in reading skills naturally produces a stronger, more educated workforce and that only strengthens Louisiana’s overall economy.”
Winning videos from the 20 participating states will be used by public libraries to promote summer reading nationwide. The video competition encourages teens to promote summer reading and public libraries with a focus on the 2011 slogan, You Are Here.

State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton is delighted with the creative, enthusiastic response from participating teens. “Teens have always been a hard market to reach and today it is even more difficult to attract their attention. They have numerous opportunities to choose from when deciding how they’re going to spend their time and energy. We are glad these teens chose a public library program to engage their creativity,” Hamilton said.

The national Collaborative Summer Library Program will award $250 to the winning team and $100 to the Lafayette Public Library System.

– www.crt.la.gov –

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2011

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713   
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Louisiana Winners in 2010-11 Letters About Literature Writing Competition
Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing the state winners of this year’s Library of Congress Letters About Literature competition, sponsored by the Louisiana Center for the Book in State Library of Louisiana in partnership with the Louisiana Writing Project.

The first place winners: Allison Walters of Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, Michel Elliot of Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Lake Charles and Dillon Hutson of Destrehan High School each qualify for the national competition, with those winners to be announced in April.

Louisiana’s finalists were chosen out of more than 1,000 entries submitted to the Letters About Literature Center for the Book national headquarters. A panel of judges which included teachers and librarians from all over the state selected the winning entries in each age group.

“Letters About Literature is a unique program that allows our young readers to truly consider the meaning of the work as it relates to their own lives,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “In doing so, it adds another level of involvement which improves Louisiana’s culture of literacy.”

To enter, students wrote a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre explaining how that author's work changed their way of thinking about themselves or the world and how the chosen books impacted their life or worldview.

Michel Elliot, the youngest first-place winner wrote in his letter to Dr. Seuss, “Books take me out of myself and into adventures that I would never think of on my own. I don’t look for hidden meanings, or drama or answers to mysteries of the universe. I read for fun….books, like life, should be fun.”

The following are the Letters About Literature Louisiana winners:

Level I (Grades 4-6)
1st Place:     Allison Walters, Ursuline Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Katie Martin

2nd Place:    Imogen Hoffman, Ursuline Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Katie Martin

3rd Place:     Regan Appleton, Runnels School, Baton Rouge
Teacher: Marsha Curry

Level II (Grades 7-8)
1st Place:    Michel Elliot, Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, Lake Charles
Teacher: Paula McLean

2nd Place:      Emma Brouphy, Mt. Carmel Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Kristen Hode

3rd Place:    Justice Cressley, Belle Chasse Academ
Teacher: Stephanie Andrews

Honorable Mention:    Tori Elizabeth King, Alexandria Middle Magnet School
Teacher: Renae Broussard

Level III (Grades 9-12)
1st Place:     Dillion Hutson, Destrehan High School
Teacher: Lynn Thompson

2nd Place:    Monika Daniels, Bolton High School, Alexandria
Teacher: Nancy Monroe

3rd Place:    Margaret Parsons, St. Scholastica Academy, Covington
Teacher: Elizabeth Tocco

Honorable Mention:     Abraham Younes, Bolton High School, Alexandria
Teacher: Nancy Monroe

Read the Letters

LAL 2010-11 State First Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Second Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Third Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Honorable Mention Letters

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 21, 2011

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713   
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In celebration of National Poetry Month, Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing a special event: Just Listen to Yourself: The Louisiana Poet Laureate Presents Louisiana Poets. Louisiana’s Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque is hosting the event from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, at the State Library.

Bourque has invited poets from around the state to participate in this reading of their work. Included are Caroline Ancelet, Jack Bedell, Marilyn Burel, Sidney Creaghan, Charles deGravelles, Elizabeth Foos, Julie Kane, Bonny McDonald, Alison Pelegrin, Brad Richard and Chancelier Skidmore.

“Darrell Bourque has worked tirelessly during his term as Louisiana poet laureate to promote poetry, literacy and creativity throughout the state, going far beyond the expectations of the role of poet laureate. He encourages appreciation for and development of the literary resources of our state,” Lt. Governor Dardenne said.

“This program is so wonderfully characteristic of Darrell Bourque’s selflessness and dedication to the art of poetry,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said. “Though he easily could have presented solo as one of the last appearances of his poet laureate commission, it was his preference to spotlight fellow Louisiana poets. It also speaks volumes about how much he is admired to see the number of highly regarded poets from across the state who responded to his call.”

The lunchtime program is free and open to the public. Attendees may bring their lunch and come and go as their schedules allow. The State Library of Louisiana is wheelchair accessible.

Darrell Bourque. Bourque’s work includes his most recent collection, In Ordinary Light: New and Selected Poems, Call and Response with Jack Bedell, Blue Boat and Plainsongs.

Caroline Ancelet, Acadiana High School, Scott. Ancelet is an active member of the Acadiana Writing Project and director of the Dead of Winter Poetry retreats sponsored by AWP. Her poems will appear in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Contemporary Louisiana Edition, forthcoming from Texas Review Press.

Jack Bedell, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. Bedell is a professor of English where he is the coordinator for programs in creative writing, editor of Louisiana Literature and the director of Louisiana Literature Press. Bedell is a finalist for the next Louisiana poet laureate.

Marilyn Burel, teacher, Baton Rouge. Burel teaches at the O'Brien House, a treatment center for female alcoholics and addicts, many of whom are impoverished and have been incarcerated. She is published in Sojourn, Florida English and the Rose and Thorn Journal.

Sidney Creaghan, psychotherapist, Lafayette. Creaghan is a visual artist as well as a poet. She has work forthcoming in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Contemporary Louisiana Edition.

Charles deGravelles, Episcopal High School, Baton Rouge. DeGravelles’ collection of poems, The Well-Governed Son, was published by New Orleans Poetry Journal Press. He contributed original music for the Louisiana Imagining Lincoln Project as part of the national observance of the Lincoln Bicentennial.

Elizabeth Foos, Forest Heights Academy for Excellence, Baton Rouge. Foos has worked the region as an independent, traveling poetry teacher before becoming a dramatic arts teacher.

Julie Kane, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches. Kane is a professor of English. Her most recent book, Jazz Funeral, is the winner of the 2009 Donald Justice Poetry Prize. Kane is one of the finalists for the soon to be named Louisiana Poet Laureate.

Bonny McDonald, Math, Science, and Arts Academy-West Bank, Plaquemine. McDonald is a teacher in the Baton Rouge area who has worked with the Big Buddy. She is a frequent contributor to Louisiana Writing Project activities and has worked with the Dead of Winter poetry retreats sponsored by the Acadiana Writing Project.

Alison Pelegrin, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. Pelegrin is on the English and writing faculty of Southeastern Louisiana University. She is a recipient of fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. Her most recent collections are Big Muddy River of Stars and Hurricane Party. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, and The Southern Review.

Brad Richard, Lusher Charter School, New Orleans. Brad is the chair of the creative writing program. His most recent book, Motion Studies, is the winner of the 2010 Washington Prize from The Word Works.

Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore, teaching artist with Big Buddy's WordPlay Teen Writing Project, Baton Rouge. Skidmore’s favorite movie is The Big Lebowski and he is currently the third ranked Slam Poet in the world.