Category: EBRPL Author Focus

2024 One Book One Community Pick: Tasting History by Max Miller

Come explore the past through 4,000 years of recipes! From Babylon, circa 1740 BC, all the way to 20th century U.S.A, immerse yourself in cultures and cuisine! Join us this spring in reading our 2024 One Book One Community selection, Max Miller’s Tasting History! The 18th annual One Book One Community initiative will highlight Miller’s book as well as many other culinary and historical programs for all ages throughout the Library system. It all begins with a FREE Kickoff Party for the whole family on Friday, March 8, 5-7 p.m., at the Main Library at Goodwood, featuring live
music by RJ & Zydeco Smoove, free food, children’s activities, community organizations, and more!
The six-week celebration will culminate in a special presentation by Max Miller at the Main Library at Goodwood in April. For more information, please visit here.

Virtual Author Talk Series: Kim Scott

The Library continues its Author Talk Series with three new authors in February! Each live, virtual event features a different bestselling author, along with an interactive Q&A session where participants can ask questions directly to the author. See February selections and dates/times below.
Visit here to register for these virtual events, learn about other upcoming conversations with bestselling authors, and view previous author talk recordings. For more information about these and other virtual events, visit here.

Wednesday, February 28 at 1 p.m. – Why is feedback so difficult, and how can we make it easier? The idea is simple: You don’t have to choose between being a pushover and a jerk. Kim Scott, New York Times bestselling author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss
Without Losing Your Humanity, will explain the Radical Candor feedback framework and how you can practice it today. She’ll offer practical, tactical tips for how to solicit criticism, give praise and criticism, gauge how what you’re saying is landing, and build a culture of Radical Candor. She’ll also discuss ensuring that bias, prejudice, and bullying don’t masquerade as feedback. Radically
Candid relationships with team members enable bosses to fulfill their three core responsibilities: creating a culture of compassionate candor, building a cohesive team, and achieving
results collaboratively. Keep your humanity while living your life with Radical Respect and Radical Candor. Register now to start your practice!

Breaking Barriers: A View from the Bench

As part of the Library’s Special Collections Lecture Series, join Judge Freddie Pitcher, Jr. at the Main Library at Goodwood on Wednesday, February 21 at 6 p.m. as he describes how he made history in Baton Rouge by becoming the first African American to be elected to judgeships at three different levels of the court system. His new book, Breaking Barriers: A View from the Bench, highlights his personal story of humble beginnings— from the bench outside the local grocery he and his
friends frequented as young boys— and how he rose from “the bench to the bar to the bench”—the judicial bench. Judge Pitcher will shed light on the perseverance and determination required to overcome obstacles. He is now with a nationally known law firm and a professor at Southern University Law Center.

Virtual Author Talk Series: Jason Mott

The Library continues its Author Talk Series with three new authors in February! Each live, virtual event features a different bestselling author, along with an interactive Q&A session where participants can ask questions directly to the author. See February selections and dates/times below.
Visit here to register for these virtual events, learn about other upcoming conversations with bestselling authors, and view previous author talk recordings. For more information about these and other virtual events, visit here.

Tuesday, February 20 at 3 p.m.  – You’re invited to join us as we talk to New York Times bestselling author Jason Mott about his recent novel, Hell of a Book. This magnificent work of fiction is deeply honest, at times electrically funny, and is a book that goes to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon Black Americans and America as a whole. In Hell of a Book, a Black author sets out on a cross-country publicity tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives Hell of a Book and is the scaffolding of something much larger and more
urgent: Mott’s novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour. Unforgettably told, with an electrifying plot and characters who burn into your mind, Hell of a Book is the novel Mott has been writing in his head for the last ten years. And in its final twists, it truly becomes its title. Register now!

Book Premieres: Learning the Language of Positivity

Join author Nicholas Davis for the premiere of his book, Learning the Language of Positivity, at the Main Library at Goodwood on Sunday, February 18 at 7 p.m. Learning the Language of
Positivity is like a daily roadmap to new beginnings. It’s a starting point of rebuilding and reconstructing to remove the things and people that won’t allow you to reach your next
positive dimension in life. In this 365-day journal, you will find daily inspiration and positive quotes, plus you will also be able to read and meditate on prayers connected to the affirmations and quotes on each page.

Virtual Author Talk Series: Tessa Bailey

The Library continues its Author Talk Series with three new authors in February! Each live, virtual event features a different bestselling author, along with an interactive Q&A session where participants can ask questions directly to the author. See February selections and dates/times below.
Visit here to register for these virtual events, learn about other upcoming conversations with bestselling authors, and view previous author talk recordings. For more information about these and other virtual events, visit here.

Thursday, February 8 at 7 p.m.  - Join us as the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Tessa Bailey, talks about the launch of her new super-hot sports romance duology about a bad boy professional athlete who falls for his biggest fan in her new book, Fangirl Down. Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his “promising” career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter, Josephine Doyle. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory, and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life. So, a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal: be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. Can Josephine make the difference? Register to find out!

Virtual Author Talk Series: Dr. Robert Lustig

The Library continues its Author Talk Series with three new authors in January! Each live, virtual event features a different bestselling author, along with an interactive Q&A session where participants can ask questions directly to the author. See January selections and dates/times below.
Visit here to register for these virtual events, learn about other upcoming conversations with bestselling authors, and view previous author talk recordings. For more information about these and other virtual events, visit here.

Tuesday, January 30 at 1 p.m. – Launch your New Year in a healthy way with Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric neuroendocrinologist who has long been on the cutting edge of medicine and science. He challenges our current healthcare paradigm which has gone off the rails under the influence of
Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government. One of Lustig’s singular gifts as a communicator is his ability to “connect the dots” for the general reader, in order to unpack the scientific data and concepts behind his arguments, as he tells the “real story of food” and “the story of real food.” He insists that if we do not fix our food and change the way we eat, we will continue to court chronic disease, bankrupt healthcare, and threaten the planet. But there is hope. Dr. Lustig offers a doable plan for us to heal and restore our health and well-being with real food.

Virtual Author Talk Series: Rajiv Nagaich

The Library continues its Author Talk Series with three new authors in January! Each live, virtual event features a different bestselling author, along with an interactive Q&A session where participants can ask questions directly to the author. See January selections and dates/times below.
Visit here to register for these virtual events, learn about other upcoming conversations with bestselling authors, and view previous author talk recordings. For more information about these and other virtual events, visit here.

Tuesday, January 23 at 1 p.m. – Start your New Year off right and learn how to avoid the hidden traps in retirement planning advice! Over his 20-plus years of experience in United States
elder law, Rajiv Nagaich has developed a step-by-step guide to retirement planning by connecting the various dots of the retirement planning process. The LifePlanning approach is a system that brings together legal, financial, and housing issues into a coordinated effort that can work to make sure you don’t end up being forced into institutionalized care, going broke, and being a burden on your family. In this enlightening and informative webinar, Rajiv explains why “retirement plan
failure” happens and how you can keep it from happening to you.

The Life and Times of a Governor’s Daughter

Join Victoria Edwards, daughter of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards for a presentation about her new book, The Life and Times of Governor’s Daughter, at the Main Library at Goodwood on Wednesday, January 17 at 6 p.m. Her life has been a little different than the average person’s because her father was in politics for so many years. His high profile, political life influenced her, which resulted in some very unusual experiences, many exciting adventures, a lot of heartache, and much joy. This talk is part of the Library’s Special Collections Lecture Series.