Biography and Memoir
9:00 am to 9:45 am
State Library, Second Floor, Meeting Room
From the Quad to the Broadcast Booth: Telling Louisiana’s University Stories
Chris Kennedy, Louisiana Tech’s Dave Nitz: The Voice of Bulldogs
Michael S. Martin and Zachary G. Stein, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
9:00 am to 9:45 am
Bienville Building, Conference Center 118
Tender Battles: Fighting for Dignity in the Face of Decline and Bureaucracy
Virginia Evans, The Youngest Bee: A Louisiana Story of Sisterhood, Strength, & Alzheimer’s
Jeremy White, InHumana: An American Healthcare Story
with moderator Miki Pfeffer
9:45 am to 10:15 am
A.Z. Young Park, Author Tent C
Were You There?: A Biography of Emma Wakefield-Paillet
Phebe Hayes and Margaret Simon
(ages 12 and up)
10:00 am to 10:45 am
State Library, First Floor, Seminar Center
Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong
Ricky Riccardi with moderator Gwen Thompkins
10:00 am to 10:45 am
State Library, Third Floor
Whose South, Whose Story: What Hath Jim Crow Wrought?
Wendy A. Gaudin, Sunset Limited: An Autobiography of Creole
Adolph L. Reed Jr., The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives
with moderator Maurice Carlos Ruffin
10:00 am to 10:45 am
State Library, Fifth Floor, Capitol View Room
Fathers and Sons: Exploring Grief, Redemption, and Family Ties
John Dufresne, My Darling Boy: A Novel
Tripp Friedler, The Tunnel: A Memoir
with moderator Clancy DuBos
10:00 am to 11:00 am
Bienville Building, Conference Center 118
The Past Isn’t Dead: Memoirs at the Crossroads of Violence and Voice
Jordan LaHaye Fontenot, Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie
Bernice L. McFadden, Firstborn Girls: A Memoir
Lauren Rhoades, Split the Baby: A Memoir in Pieces
with moderator Teresa Tumminello Brader
11:00 am to 11:45 am
State Library, Third Floor
“Dr. Werthless”: He Studied Murder and Nearly Killed the Comics Industry
Harold Schechter with moderator Maurice Carlos Ruffin
11:15 am to Noon
Bienville Building, Conference Center 118
In the Shadow of the South: Memoirs of Prejudice, Truth, and Hope
Larry Bagneris, Call Me Larry: A Creole Man’s Triumph over Racism and Homophobia
Adam Gussow, My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir
with moderator A.E. Rooks
11:15 am to Noon
A.Z. Young Park, Author Tent A
Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter
Colleen Dulle with moderator Regine Richter-McClain
Noon to 12:45 pm
State Library, Third Floor
Pinchback and Long: Populism, Progress, and Political Power
Nicholas Patler, Pinchback: America’s First Black Governor
Thomas E. Patterson, American Populist: Huey Long of Louisiana
with moderator David Johnson
Noon to 12:45 pm
State Library, Fourth Floor
Charles Whitfield Richards: The Artist and His Circle
J. Michael Warner with moderator Miki Pfeffer
Noon to 12:45 pm
Outside Museum, North Tent
The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfield, Visionary of Weimar Berlin
Daniel Brook with moderator Gary Richards
Noon to 12:45 pm
Outside Museum, South Tent
The Creole Gumbo of Identity: Lineage, Passing, and the Ingredients of Race
John W. Durel, Descendants: The Divided Lineage of a Louisiana Creole Family
with moderator Dr. Joy Banner
12:15 pm to 1:00 pm
Bienville Building, Conference Center 118
Remembering, Reimagining, Becoming: Vietnamese Identity 50 Years After the War
Acclaimed author and co-editor Thi Bui and artist Sam Nga Blum discuss the evolution of Vietnamese diaspora identity with journalist Serena Puang. Using Bui's memoir, The Best We Could Do, as a touchstone for remembering the refugee experience, they will explore how contemporary writers and artists—as seen in the experimental and wide-ranging McSweeney's 78: The Make Believers—are now actively reimagining and creating a new, eclectic cultural language for what it means to be becoming Vietnamese in the world today.
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Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard
C.M. Kushins
1:15 pm to 2:00 pm
Bienville Building, Conference Center 118
Memoirs and Misadventures: Humorous Essays on Growing Up, Giving Up, and Getting Wiser
Lucie Frost, How the Hell Did I Not Know That?: My Midlife Year from Couch to Curiosity
Cason E. O’Banion, Fire Ants: Essays Around and About Texarkana
with moderator Stacey Balkun
1:15 pm to 2:00 pm
A.Z. Young Park, Author Tent A
The Art of Remembrance: Literary Memoirs on the Shaping of Identity
Catharine Savage Brosman, Partial Memoirs
Gavin Cologne-Brookes, Portraits from Paris: School and Travel Remembered from the City of Light
with moderator Tracy Carr
2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
State Library, Fifth Floor, Capitol View Room
Peace is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O’Brien
Alex Vernon
2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
State Library, Second Floor, Meeting Room
The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford
James McWilliams with moderator Ralph Adamo
2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
Bienville Building, Conference Center 118
Delicious Heritage: Memoirs of Mixed Identity, Mangoes, and Meatballs
Raj Tawney, Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience
Annabelle Tometich, The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony