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The Reading Life with Patricia Austin Becker and Randy Fertel

This week on The Reading Life:  Patricia Austin Becker, author of “Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and Her Circle at Melrose Plantation.” And Randy Fertel previews the upcoming conference, “Improvisation: New Orleans Gift to the Modern World.”

Here’s what’s on tap in the literary life this week:

  • Barbara Trevigne will discuss “The Creoles of Color” at 7 p.m., Monday, Nov. 19, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie. This event is part of the regularly scheduled meeting of the Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans. 
  • Anne McClane signs her novel, “The Trouble on Highway One,” Tuesday, November 20, at 6 p.m. at Garden District Book Shop. 
  • Author Sally Asher and artist Melissa Vandiver sign “Mermaids of New Orleans,” Saturday, November 24 from 2-4 p.m. at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
  • Alexis Braud signs her children’s book, “Bayou Ballet,” Saturday, November 24 from 3-5 at the French Library, 3811 Magazine St.
  • Don’t forget Saturday, November 24, is Small Business Saturday. Lots of local authors will be volunteering as frontline booksellers at indie stores like Octavia Books, Tubby and Coo’s, and Garden District Book Shop. Shop local, readers!
  • And get ready for Improvisation: New Orleans’ Gift to the Modern World: A Tricentennial Conference, November 30-December 3, at various locations throughout the city. The conference is an outgrowth of Randy Fertel’s book, “A Taste for Chaos: The Art of Literary Improvisation,” and will gather together writers, musicians, theaters and storytellers for workshops and master classes as well as other performances. For complete info and tickets, go to improvconferencenola.com
  • Also coming up: The National World War II Museum presents the 2018 International Conference on World War II, November 29-December 1. Among the many authors appearing are Rick Atkinson, Sir Antony Beevor, whose new book is “The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II,” James Holland, Keith Lowe, Margaret McMillan, and Donald Miller and Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill” Walking with Destiny.” For reservations and tickets, check out nationalww2museum.org.
The Reading Life in 2010, Susan Larson was the book editor for The New Orleans Times-Picayune from 1988-2009. She has served on the boards of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival and the New Orleans Public Library. She is the founder of the New Orleans chapter of the Women's National Book Association, which presents the annual Diana Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction.. In 2007, she received the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities lifetime achievement award for her contributions to the literary community. She is also the author of The Booklover's Guide to New Orleans. If you run into her in a local bookstore or library, she'll be happy to suggest something you should read. She thinks New Orleans is the best literary town in the world, and she reads about a book a day.