Indies First is a day of activities and events in support of independent bookstores that takes place on Small Business Saturday (November 24, 2018). On a day dedicated to supporting the local businesses that help create jobs, boost the local economy, and preserve neighborhoods, Octavia Books is proudly hosting some wonderful local authors who are putting "indies first" by volunteering as front-line booksellers for the day - including historian Justin Nystrom (11AM - 1PM) who wrote CREOLE ITALIAN and journalist John Pope (2PM - 4PM) who wrote GETTING OFF AT ELYSIAN FIELDS. Do visit us on this fun and exciting day. And, ask the authors for a recommendation or to sign copies of their own books. And we will be giving away lots special gifts, too -- from tote bags to T-shirts.
In Creole Italian, Justin A. Nystrom explores the influence Sicilian immigrants have had on New Orleans foodways. His culinary journey follows these immigrants from their first impressions on Louisiana food culture in the mid-1830s and along their path until the 1970s.
No city in America knows how to mark death with more funerary panache than New Orleans. The pageants commemorating departed citizens are often in themselves works of performance art. A grand obituary remains key to this Stygian passage. And no one writes them like New Orleanian John Pope.