Carl Brasseaux, November 2003

Historian and Louisiana native Carl Brasseaux received the Louisiana Writer Award in 2003. He was honored by the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana for his extraordinary contributions to the state's literary heritage exemplified by his body of work.

The prestigious Louisiana Writer Award has been given annually since 2000 to recognize outstanding contributions to the literary and intellectual life of Louisiana.

Brasseaux was born in 1951 in Opelousas, La. He studied at University of Southwestern Louisiana, receiving a B.A. in political science in 1974; he earned an M.A. in history in 1975. He completed post-graduate studies at Louisiana State University Law School in 1972 and Louisiana State University from 1976 to 1978 in history. In 1982, Brasseaux earned a doctorate in North American studies from the University of Paris.

At the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (formerly the University of Southwestern Louisiana), Brasseaux has served as assistant director of Center for Louisiana Studies since 1975, curator of Center for Louisiana Studies colonial records collection since 1980, and as a professor of history since 1987. In 1994, he served as a visiting professor at the Université Laval in Québec. He was named a University Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1995. In 2000, he was made a Louisiana Historical Association fellow.

Brasseaux has been interviewed for television and radio, making appearances on NPR, Australian National Broadcasting, Polish National Television, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Radio France, Belgian National Radio, CNN and German National Public Radio.

Brasseaux has authored more than 30 books, including numerous works on Louisiana history such as Acadian to Cajun: Transformation of a People, 1803-1877, Creoles of Color in the Bayou Country, The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803 and Scattered to the Wind: Dispersal and Wanderings of the Acadians, 1755-1809.

Under the pseudonym Antoine Bourque, Brasseaux has also written fiction.

In addition to the Louisiana Writer Award, Brasseaux has received the Kemper Williams Prize, 1979, for best manuscript on Louisiana history; Robert L. Brown Prize, 1980, for best article in Louisiana History; Presidents' Memorial Award, Louisiana Historical Association, 1986, for article "The Moral Climate of French Louisiana, 1699-1763" (published in Louisiana History, XXVII, 1986); book prize, French Colonial Historical Society, 1987; special lifetime achievement award, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1987, for contributions to the study of Louisiana genealogy; Golden Achievement Award, Breaux Bridge Historical Society, 1989; Chevalier, l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, diplôme, 1991, medal, 1994; and National Daughters of the American Revolution Award, 1995.