Come and meet local Louisiana published authors. Writers will be in attendance to discuss their works and sign their books. Many new authors participate in this program; these new talents may be tomorrow’s best-selling authors!
This program is held at the Jones Creek Library on Saturday, April 21st, from 2-5 PM. It is free, and registration is not required. For more information please call the Jones Creek Branch at (225) 756-1140.
Author Randall Ladnier will be at the Main Library at Goodwood, 7711 Goodwood Blvd., at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 21, to discuss his book The Brides of La Baleine. The book covers the history of 88 young French women who volunteered to come to the Louisiana colony in 1720 to become brides for the soldiers and settlers here.
The young women were transported on a ship named La Baleine, and they arrived in Biloxi in January 1721. Many of them married and had large families, with thousands of their descendants still living in the Gulf Coast states (including Louisiana!). For instance, one young woman named Catherine Melier married Pierre Prudhomme in 1724, and now their family line consists of more than 700 different surnames! Ladnier himself is a direct descendant of a bride named Marie Angelique Girard.
Adults are invited to this free event hosted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Special Collections Department. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Mark your calendar now! Bestselling author and novelist Elizabeth Berg will be at the Main Library at Goodwood at 7 p.m. Friday, March 3, for the Authors After Hours program!
Warm without being sentimental, optimistic without being cloying, and eminently readable, Berg has written 21 novels, three short story collections and two nonfiction books, many of which have been New York Times bestsellers. Three of her novels were television movies and she also has been honored with the NEBA Award for her body of work. Other awards received by Berg include Oprah’s Book Club Selection for Open House, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Best Books for Young Adults Award for Joy School, the AMC Cancer Research Center’s Illuminator Award for Talk Before Sleep and the ALA Best Books of the Year Award for Durable Goods.
To learn more about author Elizabeth Berg and her works, visit her website. To find a great new read, visit our catalog!
Claudia Gray, the author of YA series like Spellcaster, Evernight, and Firebird, and Star Wars novels Bloodline and Star Wars: Lost Stars, will be at the Main Library on July 18th from 2:30 – 4:00 PM. Books will be available for sale at the program, and the author will sign them after the Q&A. If you want to get a refresher on your favorite characters and plot points before she speaks, check them out!
Everyone loves a good period piece now and then. When it’s Jane Austen and happy endings are basically guaranteed, all the better. The latest Jane Austen-based film, Love & Friendship, is taken from one of her earliest novels: Lady Susan.
It’s been blisteringly well-reviewed. But it’s definitely not the only Jane Austen work to make a very entertaining film. Check out these other Jane Austen remakes from a library branch near you!
Whether you’ve never seen a Jane Austen movie in your life or you’ve watched the part where Colin Firth climbs out of the pond so many times that your DVD skips, there’s something here for everyone. Get started today!
The 36th Annual Author-Illustrator Program features Linda Sue Park, renowned author of books for children and teens. On Thursday, October 3, at the Bluebonnet Regional Branch, Linda Sue Park will present a free program for adults, teens, and children at 7:00 p.m.
On Friday, October 4, Linda Sue Park will lead a workshop for teachers, writers and students at the Bluebonnet Regional Branch. A continental breakfast will be offered at 8:00 a.m., and Linda Sue Park’s program will begin at 8:30 a.m. Registration is required to attend the Friday workshop; the registration fee is $25 for adults and $10 for students. The Author/Illustrator Program affords teachers, librarians, parents and other interested adults an excellent opportunity for an exchange of ideas with prominent writers, artists, scholars, and performers of literature for children and young adults.
Previous notable artists in the field of literature who have been featured include Avi, Patricia and Fred McKissack, E. L. Konigsburg, Stephen Kellogg, Paula Danziger, Mercer Mayer, and Richard Peck. Both events will include a book sale and autograph session, sponsored by Patrons of the Public Library. Linda Sue Park will autograph copies of her books that will be sold at the program.
With several books for children and young adults to her name, Linda Sue Park has won numerous awards including the Newbery Medal, ALA Best Book for Children, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Skipping Stones Honor Award.
For more information about the program and to register, call (225) 231-3760.
by Louise Hilton
Judy Blume is a beloved American author, best known for her books for children and teens. Her children’s books include several titles featuring Peter Hatcher and his irrepressible little brother Farley, better known as Fudge (highlights are Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, Superfudge, and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great), while her teen books such as Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Blubber, and Tiger Eyes have spoken to generations of young women in particular, focusing on adolescent rites of passage and female friendship.
With Banned Books Week just around the corner (September 22-28, 2013), it’s the perfect time to revisit an old favorite by Judy Blume, since she is one of the most frequently challenged authors, in particular for her teen novel Forever.
Visit her official website at http://judyblume.com/ for more on her books, her life, and a great section for budding writers. To see all the books that we have by Blume, search the library catalog.
Cara Black
by Louise Hilton.
Cara Black is an American author best known for her bestselling Aimée Leduc mystery series set in Paris in the mid-1990s. Black lived in Paris for many years and her intimate knowledge of the city comes across in her writing. There are currently 13 novels in the series and each one is set in a different quartier in the French capital. Black deftly weaves in tidbits about each neighborhood’s unique flavor and history into each mystery, which enhance the appeal of the series. The heroine is Aimée Leduc, a half-American, half-French private investigator, a quirky, smart, fiercely independent 30something with a penchant for “bad boys” and vintage Chanel. Her best friend and partner at Leduc Detectives is René, a dwarf, computer hacker, and martial arts expert. A host of other eccentric characters round out the cast in this intriguing series that is definitely worth a read. Check out the author’s official website for more details on each title.
Bastille Day’s tomorrow so curl up with one of Black’s novels and a café crème – or glass of vin rouge – and be swept away to the City of Lights!
Roald Dahl is a much-loved author, that millions of children around the world have grown up listening to, and reading his stories. I still vividly remember the first time I was taken into Dahl’s universe, reading The BFG. So many of his children’s stories have been adapted for the big screen and for the theatre. They are timeless fairy tales, often with a dark humor, with the hero almost always a child. It was the long term partnership with illustrator Quentin Blake that brought Dahl’s characters to life even more, with such memorable representations.
So today we want to pay tribute to the Welsh writer with the incredible imagination. You can find out more about his life and his work by visiting www.roalddahl.com. Take a trip down memory lane and read one of these classics or introduce a little one to them. To see all the books that we have by Dahl (too many to feature here!), search the library catalog.
