Uptown Messenger (https://uptownmessenger.com/category/arts/books-and-literature/)
The Friends of the New Orleans Public Library’s Really, REALLY Big Book Sale is happening Saturday (Nov. 12) at the Latter Library. Held on the front porch of the historic building on St. Charles Avenue, the Really, REALLY Big Book Sale is the signature fundraiser of Friends of New Orleans Public Library. Sales of used books fund important New Orleans Public Library programs such as the Summer Fun Reading program, adult literacy classes and much more.
Cure: New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ’Em, a book by mixologist and entrepreneur Neal Bodenheimer and writer Emily Timberlake, is set to be released on Oct. 25.
More than just a typical cocktail book, Cure: New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ’Em features in-depth information about New Orleans cocktail and drinking history. Bodenheimer is a New Orleans native who owns Cure the stand-alone cocktail bar that opened on Freret Street in 2009. Bodenheimer also owns other spots, Cane and Table and Peychaud’s in the French Quarter and Vals across Freret Street.
Timberlake was a cocktail-book editor at 10 Speed Press for a decade before making the leap to full-time writer. A longtime fan of Cure, she teamed up with Bodenheimer to write a book that was not only a cocktail guide for locals but would serve as a guide to anyone who appreciates the city’s culture and stories.
Patrons of the star-crossed Nix Library can use the one-room branch on South Carrollton Avenue again. It reopened Monday (Aug. 22) after drain pipe repairs, after a brief reopening following 17 months of renovations to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act plus repairs to the roof and interior. The small library offers a wide collection of books, music and movies and has been an important part of the Carrollton neighborhood for almost a century. Nix Library
1401 S. Carrollton Ave.
It’s been a long wait, but the Carrollton neighborhood has its library back. Nix Library on South Carrollton Avenue reopened Tuesday (July 19) after 17 months. The tiny branch library was shuttered in February 2021 for American Disabilities Act upgrades, including the installation of an ADA-compliant wheelchair lift and improvements to make the public bathrooms more accessible. During the ADA renovations, workers found other “maintenance challenges” in the 92-year-old building, a library spokesperson told Uptown Messenger in March. The work included roofing and internal repairs.
Poydras Home is excited to introduce a new annual three-part speaker series beginning April 14. Poydras Home Conversations will host guest lecturers each spring, summer and fall, representing a wide range of topics. The first free event will be Thursday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. in the 1857 Hall of Poydras Home, 5354 Magazine St. Poydras Home is excited to launch the series with our inaugural speaker, Debbie Pearson, RN, based on the insights from her best-seller book “Age Your Way: Create a Unique Legacy.”
Experience a practical introduction to life planning that extends patients’ voices when they can no longer speak for themselves. Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of her book and its accompanying workbook, “The Blueprint to Age Your Way: Gather Your information.
A new book by a New Orleans author examines military strategy that can be applied to business success in the civilian world. James P. Farwell’s The Corporate Warrior: Successful Strategies from Military Leaders to Win Your Business Battles was released in early February, a few weeks before Russian invaded Ukraine, drawing many Americans into closely following military maneuvers.
Farwell said the Russian offense against the Ukrainians appears to be poorly organized and lacks a key leader and well-thought-out plan. “The Russian army was not prepared for this fight. Their troops are not well trained, armed or supplied,” he said. Comparing Ukrainians’ struggle against Russia to the Afghani’s struggle against the Taliban, Farwell discussed some intangible strategic assets.
Local writers Fatima Shaik and Michael Tisserand sat down Friday (March 11) to talk about “Hidden History: Black and Creole Influence and Culture in New Orleans” at the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University.
Shaik’s book chronicles the history of Black New Orleans through a group of free men-of-color, the Société d’Economie et d’Assistance Mutuelle. “Hidden” is part of the title because this society and its activities were unknown even though the men of the Economic and Mutual Aid Association community were significant figures in the city from the Haitian Revolution in the 1790s to the creation of jazz in the early 20th century. The name “Economy Hall” refers to the Tremé building where the association met and held events. Tisserand is the author of “Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White,” the acclaimed biography of New Orleans-born illustrator, journalist and cartoonist George Herriman, the creator of “Krazy Kat,” a newspaper comic strip that ran from 1913 to 1944. The book investigates his life navigating — or hiding from — the color line in the early 20th century.
Shaik relates that she and Tisserand discovered many affinities due to their deep research and dedication to unknown New Orleans stories.
The streets of New Orleans were among the wide range of topics covered at the inaugural New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. The sessions were not on the potholes or the perennial roadwork, though that was discussed, too. (“The problem with the streets is that we are sitting on top of an ever-changing river,” writer Jason Berry said.) They were on the spectacle of street life in New Orleans. Two Friday (March 11) sessions — a panel called “Visual New Orleans: A City of Neighborhoods” and a talk by Berry on his film and book “City of a Million Dreams” — covered recent works chronicling public rituals in the city’s Black communities that have become emblematic of New Orleans: the second-line parade and the jazz funeral. Judy Cooper’s “Dancing in the Streets” and Jason Berry’s “City of a Million Dreams” delve deeply into these traditions — deep enough to avoid cliches and appropriation.
The long-awaited inaugural New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University opens Thursday (March 10) and runs through Saturday on Tulane’s Uptown campus. The festival was planned for 2020 and again for 2021 but was canceled twice amid Covid-19 surges.
The event features more than 60 panel sessions from a lineup of 130 renowned and rising authors, including an award-winning group of children’s authors, some of New Orleans’ top chefs and an all-star musical lineup. The book festival is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The author lineup includes national bestselling authors participating such as John Grisham, Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, Imani Perry, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Bakari Sellers, Don Lemon, Jon Meacham, Charles Blow, Sarah M. Broom and David Brooks.
Local authors include Jason Berry, John Barry, Barri Bronston, Richard Campanella, Donna Brazile, Macon Fry, Sister Helen Prejean, Michael Tisserand, James Gill and Tom Piazza.
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University announced today its much-anticipated lineup and complete schedule for its inaugural event, which will take place March 10-12, on Tulane University’s Uptown campus. The book festival is free and open to the public. Among the national bestselling authors participating are Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, John Grisham, Imani Perry, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Bakari Sellers, Don Lemon, Jon Meacham, Charles Blow, Clint Smith, Cleo Wade, Sarah M. Broom and David Brooks. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The event will feature 130 renowned and rising authors, including an engaging group of children’s authors, some of New Orleans’ top chefs and an all-star musical lineup. Click here to view the complete book festival schedule.
Matt Haines didn’t intend to write a book on king cake, its historical and modern incarnations, or the bakers who mix and roll it into shape and knead innovations into their dough each year. But when you spend a Carnival season determinedly sampling your way through scores of king cake varieties in the metro area, the development comes naturally. Haines, an Uptown resident and the author of “The Big Book of King Cake,” said it all started at a party he attended a few years ago. “I’d had king cake every Carnival season without really thinking too much about them for most of the years that I was in New Orleans,” he told Uptown Messenger. “But then, in 2017, I was invited to a king cake party.”
Every attendee of the lavish affair had to bring their own cake, and Haines was determined to bring the best.
