A week ago, when I grabbed my phone at 1230AM because I couldn't sleep, I fully expected to fall into a Tik Tok hole and be up for several more hours. I cannot tell you how I got there, but my phone (or more likely les ancetres) guided me to www.newbayoubooks.com . There I found Mr. Jason Reed and his new publishing company seeking to promote contemporary South Louisiana literature. He, too, looked for writers talking about a more modern experience in this region and culture. Having read through his site, and then noting we have to connect, I was able to fall back asleep satisfied that I was not alone in my thinking. We've since been emailing. And I've connected him with other modern Louisiana writers like Shome Dasgupta.
Mr. Reed's Revolution of Louisiana Literature is why I wrote Dark Roux in the first place. The corner of the world South Louisiana inhabits is easily overlooked. Its culture has been processed for worldwide consumption, but few spend enough time to get to know the characters who create it and inhabit it. We often end up being the ignorant but stout hearted sidekicks in many movies. We've even been the backwoods villains, speaking our "broken" English and muttering our hoodoo prayers. But if you share a cup of "tick tick" coffee, spend some time walking a sugarcane row with a farmer, or jam out to our evolving music at any number of festivals, you'll find a whole universe in our wet corner of the world. Just like many other cultures that have been overlooked for lack of "progress" we contain a history - an understanding - a worldview - that speaks to humanness nearly forgotten. That understanding is evolving, marrying the old with the new. So I'm a huge fan of this Revolution. I'm jumping on Mr. Reed's wagon. If nothing else, there will be good food and good music. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
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