Celebrating Louisiana’s writers

In May 2002 I loaded up my silver Hyundai and drove almost 1,400 miles to my “temporary” new home: Baton Rouge. I jumped off the New York City corporate ladder in favor of pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing at LSU. I loved language; I loved books; I wanted to languish in the sultry, literary soul of southern Louisiana.

Six months after my arrival, like an eager lover with an early anniversary gift, the State Library of Louisiana hosted the first-ever Louisiana Book Festival. Seven years have since passed, and we’re both thriving and well and nurturing our love affair with Louisiana literature. This year, as in years past, I will graciously accept my anniversary present—the piece of the festival I believe to be created especially for me: the presence of word-wizard Roy Blount Jr., author of the recent Alphabet Juice and regular on NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me.

On Saturday, Oct. 17, downtown Baton Rouge will host this year’s Louisiana Book Festival as the main event in support of the Louisiana Center for the Book, a group tasked with celebrating and expanding literacy and the literary talent in our state. Like all southern Louisiana festivals, its name cannot begin to do justice to the event itself.

Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and festival participant, is a man who understands why ours is truly a premier event. “I really believe people in Louisiana love the written word almost as much as they love their food, and they demand from their books the same richness, the same texture, the same satisfaction,” he says. “The Louisiana Book Festival is like dinner on the ground for readers, a chance to get together with the cook and say, ‘Now, why did you put that in?’ But it’s also a great pleasure for the writer, to meet these people and find out what it is in your books that matters to them and hopefully even touches them.”

Bragg adds, “And when it’s all over, there’s shrimp. What’s better than that?”

The Louisiana Book Festival brings together all that makes us proud to live in such a culturally rich region as music, food and language converge in a communal celebration. Check out the full list of panels at louisianabookfestival.org. The site also gives complete festival details and an event schedule, so map out your own must-sees, and please, if you should spot me dreamily meandering down 4th Street, don’t forget to wish me a happy anniversary.

Book hounds

Among the A-list authors slated for this year’s panels is fiction writer Tim Gautreaux, recipient of the Louisiana Center for the Book’s 2009 Louisiana Writer Award. The award recognizes a writer whose body of work exemplifies an extraordinary contribution to our state’s literary heritage. Gautreaux’s 1996 short story collection Same Place, Same Things is this year’s selection for the Louisiana Book Festival’s Book Club. Led by Dr. Gary Richards, the second annual book club invites participants to read and then discuss a common text that explores key elements of Louisiana culture.

As in years past, all genres will be celebrated. Panels will be dedicated to books about music, nature, history, food, fiction, gender, film, poetry and more. Close to 200 rising and seasoned writers and editors will be on hand to explore the richness of our literary landscape. And three anniversaries will be celebrated with dedicated panels for the Lincoln Bicentennial, the Edgar Allen Poe Bicentennial and the Eudora Welty Centennial.

Partygoers

After a day of honing your craft in the WordShops, you can purchase a $50 tax-deductible ticket for the annual Authors Party, hosted on the first floor of the State Library from 7 to 9 p.m. The Authors Party serves as a thank-you to the many prominent writers, poets, panelists and sponsors who make the festival possible and as a fundraiser for the non-profit Louisiana Library Foundation. The Michael Foster Project, Baton Rouge’s premier brass jazz band, will headline the event again this year—last year’s party ended with guests second-lining around the circulation desk. The Michael Foster Project will perform on Oct. 17 as well, along with Feufollet, the Cajun-French rising stars of Lafayette, and Rick Kelley, founder of “Music with a Message for Kids.”

Kids

In addition to the myriad of exhibits, readings, panels, musical performances and signings that target adults, the festival offers special programming and attractions for younger readers and writers. Tents devoted to Activities, Storytelling, Writing Enrichment and Face Painting will be within the Young Readers Pavilion in front of the State Library along North 4th Street. From Tuesday through Friday leading up to the festival, Rick Kelley will visit area schools as part of his “Don’t Just Sit There … Read Something” interactive program to promote reading and a passion for literacy among his young audience members. Last year, 3,000 students who might otherwise have no contact with the festival were able to participate with Kelley within the walls of their own schools.

Learn more at musicwithamessageforkids.org.