Category Archives: Louisiana

2018 Natchitoches – NSU Folk Festival

Book Events, Louisiana, Writing, , ,

I’ll be back at the Natchitoches NSU (Northwestern State University) Folk Festival on July 21, 2018. As I’ve told my readers before this is my absolute favorite appearance I make as an author. Not only is it in my hometown of Natchitoches, La., but it is held at my alma mater and Dr. Shane Rasmussen and his crew at the Folk Center do a tremendous job of putting together a great festival with phenomenal Louisiana food from Natchitoches Meat Pies to a big bowl of cooked greens served with cornbread or hush puppies, or even the “Indian Fry Bread” which I believe is prepared by the Alabama Coushatta Tribe. I recommend stopping by one of the booths which sell handcrafted Jellies and buying a jar so you can smear some of that on top of the fry bread.

I have been invited and will be doing a presentation from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. on Family & Folk History: The Best Sources for Stories, in one of the meeting rooms. Of course, there will be bands playing on different stages all day long as well as participants in the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship.

Interestingly, I got my start doing historical research at the Cammie G. Henry Collection in what was then called the Louisiana Room at the Eugene P. Watson Library on the NSU campus. That collection will have a booth at the festival hosted by Dr. Mary Linn Wernet and her staff from the library and she always has interesting things to talk about and photos of Natchitoches that even I’ve never seen before.

I’ll have copies of all of my books available for signing and a portion of the proceeds are donated to the Folk Festival and the Folk Center to help keep Louisiana culture and history alive. I should have my first children / middle-grade book available and launched at the festival. The title of this one? “The Magic Toilet”. Yes, it’s not like my normal books but it is a title and topic I’ve had on my mind since my now 25-year-old twins were just little kids.

Seriously, this festival is the best value of anywhere you can possibly go to since the price of your ticket covers all of the music and crafters and, in addition, it is being held inside the Prather Coliseum which is air conditioned!!!  What more could you ask for during what I am sure is going to be an extra hot July?

Be sure and bring a few extra dollars for food and crafts and stop by my booth and say hello!

The New Book Almost Finished!

Louisiana

I was hoping to have it finished in February but due to a little medical issue that date was delayed, however, I’m now on the last stretch of a middle-grade book I am writing. I was shooting for 35k to 40k words, and I’m at 33,500 right now with the final scene still to come. With any luck I’ll finish it in the next few days and have it edited, the cover done, printed, and be completely ready for the Natchitoches/NSU Folk Festival on July 20-21, 2018. If you’ve never been, it is always great and it is indoors at the Prather Coliseum where it is air conditioned!

Great food, great music, and lots of craftspeople there. Many of the people who make these great crafts are in their twilight years so it’s a fantastic time to meet them, watch them work, and even support them by buying everything from Gumbo file (made by hand) to paintings. There are real bullwhips, jams, jellies, and jewelry!

The festival needs your support to keep this tradition alive!

Of course, I’ll be there signing my books, including the new one, and since my family has been in the Natchitoches area since before there was a Natchitoches, literally, you can drop by my booth and just visit with me and I can point out the best places to visit, to eat, or just to walk around.