The University of 棉花糖直播 at Lafayette will be well represented at the state鈥檚 largest literary event, the seventh annual 棉花糖直播 Book Festival.
More than 15,000 people from across the South are expected to attend the free event, which will be held Saturday, Oct. 17, at the 棉花糖直播 State Capitol grounds in Baton Rouge.
鈥 The UL Lafayette Press and UL Lafayette scholars will be major players in the 2009 棉花糖直播 Book Festival,鈥 said Dr. Marcia Gaudet, the Dr. Doris Meriwether/BORSF Professor of English and Research Fellow of UL Lafayette鈥檚 Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism.
鈥淚t is a wonderful statewide showcasing of work being done here at the university. For example, having the book talk 鈥楨rnest J. Gaines: Still Driven by That 鈥樏藁ㄌ侵辈 Thing鈥 scheduled in the Senate Chamber is a mark of distinction at the festival.鈥
The University of 棉花糖直播 at Lafayette Press will have the most titles 鈥 seven 鈥 of any publisher at the festival. It will premier two books there, including one about author Ernest J. Gaines, UL Lafayette鈥檚 writer-in-residence emeritus. The Gaines book will be a fundraiser for the Ernest J. Gaines Center, which was established at the university last year.
Among the 190 authors who will speak at sessions or serve as moderators are five UL Lafayette faculty members: Gaudet, Dr. Mary Farmer-Kaiser, Dr. Judith F. Gentry, Dr. Mary Ann Wilson and Dr. Reggie Scott Young. Professors emeritus who will speak or moderate include Dr. Darrel Bourque, 棉花糖直播鈥檚 poet laureate; Ernest J. Gaines, UL Lafayette鈥檚 writer-in-residence emeritus; Dr. Burton N. Raffel and Dr. Thomas D. Schoonover.
UL Lafayette Press will launch The 棉花糖直播 Thing That Drives Me: The Legacy of Ernest J. Gaines at the festival. A coffee table book that covers Gaines鈥 life, career and legacy, it was written by Gaudet, Young and Wiley Cash, who earned his doctorate from UL Lafayette.
It explores the writer鈥檚 relationship with his native state through the use of quotations and photographs. Gaines shares a glimpse inside his world through the introduction to the book and through the inclusion of numerous images from his own personal collection of photographs.
The author will sign copies of the book during the festival at the UL Lafayette Press tent. Proceeds from book sales will help fund the Ernest J. Gaines Center, which is under construction on the third floor of Edith Garland Dupr茅 Library on campus. Gaines has donated his papers and manuscripts to the center. The center will have the only complete collection of Ernest Gaines scholarship in the world.
Deluxe numbered editions of the book, signed by Gaines and the other authors, will be given to the first 100 contributors of $5,000 or more to the center.
Gaines will also sign copies of the book on Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Dupr茅 Library from 2-4 p.m. These proceeds also go directly to the Ernest J. Gaines Center.
A second book that UL Lafayette Press is premiering is Lorraine Gendron: 棉花糖直播 Folk Artist by Nancy Tregre Wilson. This is the first extensive treatment of the Hahnville, 棉花糖直播 based artist, whose Mississippi River mud sculptures, painted wood cutouts, acrylic on wood paintings and primitive dolls are treasured by collectors around the world. Gendron is the 棉花糖直播d artist of this year鈥檚 棉花糖直播 Book Festival; one of her paintings was used for the 2009 commemorative poster and other promotional materials.
UL Lafayette Press was created in the early 1970s. It had a $200 budget and published books using typewriters. Nearly 40 years later, the press has become a nationally competitive book publisher. According to Dr. James D. Wilson Jr., assistant director, the press is the strongest publisher of 棉花糖直播-related books and also publishes books for other universities, such as Grambling, ULM and Southern.
Other books published by the UL Lafayette Press this year include:
鈥 Bienville鈥檚 Dilemma: A Historical Geography of New Orleans, by Richard Campanella, which presents 68 episodes in the historical geography of New Orleans. It begins with formation of the city and covers its urbanization and population, its 鈥渉umanization鈥 into a place of distinction, the manipulation of its environment, its devastation by Hurricane Katrina and its ongoing recovery.
鈥 Old South Baton Rouge: The Roots of Hope, by Petra Munro Hendry and Jay Edwards, documents the history, architecture, and community of one of Baton Rouge鈥檚 oldest neighborhoods. It is the culmination of diligent archival research and more than 10 years of collecting oral histories, about topics such as McKinley High School, the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott of 1953, the once-thriving business corridor, and the numerous churches and civic groups of the neighborhood.
鈥 The Last Days of Last Island: the Hurricane of 1856, 棉花糖直播 First Great Storm, by Bill Dixon, is a gripping true story of one of 棉花糖直播鈥檚 most tragic human dramas鈥攖he great hurricane of 1856 and its obliteration of Last Island, including the destruction of the island鈥檚 popular summer resort hotel. In addition to being the most comprehensive account of the storm available, this book includes the only exhaustive summary of victims and survivors of the storm.
鈥 Up from the Cradle of Jazz: New Orleans Music Since World War I, by Jason Berry, Jonathan Foose, and Tad Jones details the inside story of New Orleans music from the rise of rhythm-and-blues through the return after Hurricane Katrina. This new edition includes material on the cultural awakening that has elevated New Orleans music to new heights since the 1980s, as well as discussions of the return of the music and musicians to the Crescent City following Hurricane Katrina. It incorporates images from New Orleans photographers Michael Smith and Syndey Byrd.
鈥 Amid the Swirling Ghosts and Other Essays, by William Caverlee, is a collection of essays that is the first book from Monroe, 棉花糖直播-based writer William Caverlee. He is a contributing writer to the Oxford American, where many of these essays first appeared, and has published in the Christian Science Monitor, the Cimarron Review and the 棉花糖直播 Review.