Author Event

Come join us when author/journalist Ken Wells talks gumbo, presenting and signing his new book. GUMBO LIFE: Tales from the Roux Bayou.

Ken Wells was to the gumbo born. Enhancing that felicitous beginning, he has traveled the Gumbo Belt researching, recording, and—most importantly—savoring the myriad interpretations of the iconic Louisiana soup. He even has recipes, including two of my favorites. (I’m not telling which ones!) Like a dense, flavorful gumbo filled with tastes of the region, this is a book to savor.” - Jessica Harris, author of High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America

Please join us for a when Maxine Gordon presents and signs her new book, SOPHISTICATED GIANT: Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, the highly-acclaimed official biography of her late husband. She will appear in conversation with Fred Kasten, host of WWNO's Jazz New Orleans.

Maxine Gordon astutely frames the fiery daring of Dexter Gordon’s generation of bebop innovators in the context of rising black consciousness and creative agency in midcentury America…“Sophisticated Giant” is a work of considerable sophistication, the first-person testimony of its subject employed with affectionate discipline, smartly contextualized and augmented by material from interviews Maxine Gordon conducted with the tenor saxophone masters Sonny Rollins and Jimmy Heath, the record producers Bruce Lundvall and Michael Cucsuna, and others."
-David Hajdu / The New York Times

Join us for a very special after-school author visit and booksigning featuring award-winning, best-selling children's picture book author Mac Barnett, presenting his new book, CIRCLE.

This book is about Circle. This book is also about Circle’s friends, Triangle and Square. Also it is about a rule that Circle makes, and how she has to rescue Triangle when he breaks that rule. With their usual pitch-perfect pacing and subtle, sharp wit, Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen come full circle in the third and final chapter of their clever shapes trilogy.

Join us for a special evening downtown at the main New Orleans Public Library with Albert Woodfox presenting SOLITARY, the extraordinary life story of a man who - despite spending four decades in solitary confinement in a 6-foot by 9-foot cell 23 hours a day in Angola Prison for a crime he did not commit - inspired fellow prisoners and now inspires all of us with his humanity.

Please join us and New Orleans writer/artist Carol Pulitzer in celebrating the launch of her new books MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED: A Collection of Very Short, Illustrated Nonfiction with Recipes, and LITTLE THEATER: A Collection of Very Short, Illustrated Fiction.  These are are "picture books for adults." Filled with the award-winning artist's original illustrations, each story can be enjoyed start to finish in a minute or two, a break from the constant digital incoming.