Support Louisiana Publishing

LSU Press’s nationally and internationally recognized program is built on books about the South. The Press is dedicated not only to the publication of fine works of scholarly research but also timely general interest and regional books. Each year LSU Press brings out 80 new books, mostly in the following areas:

Click here to view the Spring 2010 Catalog!

(From now through December 31, 2010, receive 35% off all the LSU Press books you order through the website.Use discount code 04ANNIVER during checkout and enjoy some of the wonderful books published at a discounted price.)

Katrina Chronicles: New Poetry

In Breach, (April 10, 2010 LSU Press) New Orleans native Nicole Cooley recalls Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in gritty, poignant detail, bearing witness to the destruction of a region and to its recovery. Ranging from the urgent to the reflective, these poems speak not only to the horrors of the immediate disaster, but also to family dynamics in a time of crisis and to the social, political, and cultural realities that contextualized the storm and its wake. In the title poem, Cooley invokes the multiple meanings of the word “breach”—breach of the levees, breach of trust—which resonate with survivors in the Crescent City, and in “Evacuation,” she recounts her efforts to encourage her parents to leave the city and her harrowing three-day wait to hear from them after they refused. A number of poems, including “Write a Love Letter to Camellia Grill,” “The Superdome: A Suite,” and “Biloxi Bay Bridge Still Out,” offer a broad range of voices and experiences to expand the perspective beyond Cooley’s own family. With language and images both powerful and precise, this compelling collection dares us to “watch the surface of the city tear like loose skin.” (from LSU Press)

Read a selection of Nicole Cooley's poetry here.

Romance Is In The Air

For all you romance readers, come out and support local author Liz Talley at Barnes & Noble on Youree Dr. in Shreveport on June 12 at 1:30pm! She is a dear friend to author, friend, and soon-t0-be Red River Pulpwood Queen Connie Cox. She will be doing her first ever signing of her upcoming book Vegas Two-Step. Come out and support another creative mind in the Ark-La-Tex!

Johnette Downing Library Event

Johnette Downing

(author, storyteller, musician)

June 10, 2010

10:00am-11:00am

Webster Parish Library

Minden, La

Johnette Downing is a multi-award winning author, singer, songwriter and musician performing music and presenting books with Louisiana spice for children internationally.

About Why Crawfish Lives in the Mud

One hot and humid day on the bayou back when Crab and Crawfish were still best friends, Crawfish was hungry, and as luck would have it, Crab had just gone fishing. Not only hungry, Crawfish was also lazy. Thinking only about himself-only about his empty belly, Crawfish decided to trick his friend out of his lunch. But Crawfish had taken advantage of Crab's good nature one time too many, and soon he learns about the consequences of cheating his friend. This cute cautionary tale, filled with Johnette Downing's signature Louisiana flavor and fresh collage-style illustrations, includes a glossary of Cajun phrases and crawfish fun facts. (from Johnette Downing: Music and Books for Children) Other books: Chef Creole; My Aunt Came Back from Louisiane; Down in Louisiana; Today is Monday in Louisiana; Today is Monday in Texas.

Centenary Book Bazaar Drop Off Dates

The Muses of Centenary College will be accepting donations for the 24th annual Centenary Book Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 7 and Aug 9 at the Centenary College Book House, located in Centenary Square, 108 E. Kings Highway, Shreveport. Volunteers will be on hand to help unload donations of gently used books, compact disks, videotapes, DVDs, records and cassettes. Receipts will also be issued to those donors requesting them.

The annual book bazaar is sponsored by the Centenary Muses with proceeds used to fund projects and programs for Centenary students. This year's bazaar will be held Sept. 10-11 in the Centenary Gold Dome.

For more information, contact the Book House at (318) 219-3409 or David Williams at (318) 869-5162.

July 23, 2010

12:00pm

West Monroe (West Ouachita Parish Library)

$30.00

Please let me know by the June meeting if you are interested in making this road trip so I can collect money and purchase tickets! If you cannot make the trip but want a signed book, please let me know ASAP.

Friends of the Ouachita Parish Library present: Lunch with the Editor. This is a ticketed event requiring pre-registration. Your $30 ticket is good for lunch and a signed copy of Louisiana Women: their lives and times. Tickets to be sold in advance by the Friends of the Library. Call 327-5414 for more information.

About Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times

Moving chronologically from the colonial period to the present, this collection of seventeen biographical essays provides a window into the social, cultural, and geographic milieu of women's lives in the state. Within the context of the historical forces that have shaped Louisiana, the contributors look at ways in which the women they profile either abided by prevailing gender norms or negotiated new models of behavior for themselves and other women. Louisiana Women concludes with an essay that examines women's active responses to problems that emerged in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The women whose absorbing life stories are collected here include Marie Therese Coincoin, who was born a slave but later became a successful entrepreneur, and Oretha Castle Haley, civil rights activist and leader of the New Orleans chapter of CORE. From such well-known figures as author Kate Chopin and Voudou priestess Marie Laveau, to lesser known women such as Cajun musician Cleoma Breaux Falcon, this volume reveals a compelling cross section of historical figures. The women profiled vary by race, class, political affiliation, and religious persuasion, but they all share an unusual grit and determination that allowed them to turn trying circumstances into opportunity. Lively yet rigorous, these essays introduce readers to the courageous, dedicated, and inventive women who have been an essential part of Louisiana's history.

Historical figures included:
• Marie Therese Coincoin
• The Baroness Pontalba
• Marie Laveau
• Sarah Katherine (Kate) Stone
• Eliza Jane Nicholson
• Kate Chopin
• Grace King
• Louisa Williams Robinson, Her Daughters, and Her Granddaughters
• Clementine Hunter
• Dorothy Dix
• True Methodist Women
• Cleoma Breaux Falcon
• Caroline Dormon
• Mary Land
• Rowena Spencer
• Oretha Castle Haley
• Louisiana Women and Hurricane Katrina

GF Weekend Authors Announced!

11th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend Author Extravaganza, January 13 - 16, 2011

Want to know more about the authors attending Girlfriend Weekend? Click on an author name to go directly to his or her website! It's not too early to decide which books you want to pick up and get signed! Get your tickets for the event soon! $150 for the entire weekend(for Pulpwood Queens only).

Keynote Speakers:

Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe)

Pat Conroy (The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, South of Broad)

Rick Bragg (All Over But the Shoutin', The Prince of Frogtown)

Other authors on our list to be featured are:

Robert Leleux (The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy)

Bernie Schein (If Holden Cauldfield Were in My Classroom)

Cassandra King (Queen of Broken Hearts, Making Waves)

Janis Owens (The Cracker Kitchen: A Cookbook, My Brother Michael)

River Jordan (Saints in Limbo, Magnolia Street, The Gin Girl)

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson (Suck Your Stomach in and Put Some Color On!)

Ad Hudler (Man of the House, Househusband, Southern Living)

Todd Johnson (The Sweet By and By)

Mark Childress (Crazy in Alabama, One Mississippi)

Charles Martin (The Mountain Between Us, Where the River Ends)

Denise Hildreth Jones (Savannah series, Flies in the Butter)

Michael Morris (Slow Way Home, A Place Called Wiregrass)

Sam Bracken (My Orange Duffel Bag)

Echo Garrett (My Orange Duffel Bag, Why Don't They Just Get a Job?)

Patti Callahan Henry (Driftwood Summer, The Art of Keeping Secrets)

Jeanine Cummins (The Outside Boy, A Rip in Heaven)

Susan Parker (Walking in the Deep End)

Kathi Appelt (Keeper, The Underneath) for young readers

Kimberly Willis Holt (The Water Seeker, My Louisiana Sky, Piper Reed series) young readers

Melissa Conroy (pOppy's Pants) young readers

Vladimir Radunsky (Hip Hop Dog, You?, Where the Giant Sleeps) young readers

Elise Blackwell (The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, An Unfinished Score, Grub, Hunger)

Judy Christie (Hurry Less Worry Less series, Gone to Green series)

Lisa Wingate (Beyond Summer, The Summer Kitchen)

Marsha Fine

Neil White (The Sanctuary of Outcasts)

Amy Bourret (Mothers and Other Liars)

Deanne Gist (A Maid to Match, Beguiled, The Measure of a Lady)

and more to be announced.