About tadbartlett

I am special counsel at Fishman Haygood LLP, focusing on appeals in all matters, as well as litigation in environmental land-damage, coastal land-loss, and complex commercial matters. I am also a writer, and I'm the managing editor of literary journal The Peauxdunque Review.

Come see what’s happening in Peauxdunque. Really, you could spend a whole day with us.

Posted on February 9, 2013 by tadbartlett

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with everything happening in the land of Peauxdunque. It’s a wild and varied place, populated by writers who never stop. Since our last update in the far-distant past of early December, here’s the latest:

Tom Carson‘s novel, Daisy Buchanan’s Daughter, has been re-released by River House Publishing in a two-volume set: Cadwaller’s Gun and Carole Lombard’s Plane.

Emily Choate has published a fantastic Q&A with Roger Hodge, new editor of Oxford American, on Chapter 16.

Liz Gruder‘s YA fantasy, Starseed, has been released by WiDo Publishing.

Terri Stoor‘s award-winning essay, Bird Dog, has been published in Quarterly West.

The first season of Denise Moore‘s excellent web series, Neutral Grounds, is now available for viewing.

Tad Bartlett‘s essays on the Oxford American website have taken a short break from the “Food and …” series, and now include an essay on music and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, run in conjunction with the magazine’s Louisiana Music issue.

J.Ed. Marston published an op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on progressive development of communities of technology entrepreneurs in Chattanooga.

At the beginning of February, Peauxdunque took the show on the road for their annual retreat, this time to Peauxdunque, Tennessee. Another post will follow soon. Come back to visit!

Emilie Staat accepts her Faulkner-Wisdom essay prize

Posted on December 4, 2012 by tadbartlett

During this past weekend’s Words and Music Conference, Emilie Staat received the gold medal in the essay category of the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Writing Competition for her essay, “Tango Face.”

Andrew Lam, judge of the essay category of the competition, took the occasion to describe Emilie’s work:

Peauxdunque reads at Words and Music

Posted on November 29, 2012 by tadbartlett

Yesterday, November 28, six Peauxdunquians read from their fiction and nonfiction, and a seventh was the emcee, during a session of the 2012 Words and Music Conference at the U.S. Mint in New Orleans. The emcee for the event was Peauxdunque’s own Terri Stoor, who was the 2011 gold medal winner in the short story category of the Faulkner-Wisdom writing competition, awarded by the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society in conjunction with the Words and Music Conference.

Terri Shrum Stoor emcees the Writers Alliance reading at the 2012 Words and Music Conference

The first reader was this year’s gold medal winner in the essay category of the Faulkner-Wisdom competition, Peauxdunquian Emilie Staat, who read from her beautiful winning essay, “Tango Face”:

Emilie was followed by Tad Bartlett, who read an excerpt from “Addressing You,” his short story that was a finalist in the 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom competition:

J.Ed. Marston then read an excerpt from “The Truth Project,” a novel he collaboratively wrote with Tad, and that was on the short list for finalists in the novel category of the 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom competition:

Next up was Sara Paul, who read an excerpt from her historical fiction about a young scientist moving into New Orleans to conduct some experiments at the turn of the last century:

Maurice Carlos Ruffin followed, reading an excerpt from his current novel project, from a narrator looking back on the former city of New Orleans:

Rounding out the afternoon’s reading was Janis Turk, who brought the “music” into the Words and Music Conference with her reading of a minute in the day of New Orleans:

Great readings by all, and Peauxdunque looks forward to the final four days of an excellent conference!

Another Peauxdunque publication, and a reading

Posted on November 20, 2012 by tadbartlett

Peauxdunquian Emily Choate‘s story “Thunder Sometimes, Never Bells” will be published in an upcoming issue of The Florida Review! “Thunder Sometimes” was previously named to the short list for finalists in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom writing competition. A beautiful story; we’ll update when the issue is available.

A host of Peauxdunquians–Tad Bartlett, J.Ed. Marston, Sara Paul, Matt Robinson, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Emilie Staat, Terri Shrum Stoor, and Janis Turk–have been invited to read from recent work during the Words & Music Conference in New Orleans on November 28, at 3 p.m. The reading will be in the Second Floor Black Box Room at the U.S. Mint, 500 Esplanade Avenue.

Update on Peauxdunquians, long overdue

Posted on October 30, 2012 by tadbartlett

Peauxdunque marches on with its 2012 calendar of meetings and activities, with wonderful meetings in the past few months and the invigorating work and critique by both old members and those new to our ranks (and in between; yes, we’ve been around long enough now to have an “in between”). In November, the Peauxdunque Writers Alliance will be celebrating five years of existence. Feels like just yesterday we met for the first time in Exchange Alley in the French Quarter. And it feels like forever, too.

Peauxdunquians continue to run about in the world. Recently, Helen Krieger has been active with Shipwrecked! A Storytelling Experience, the NO Show podcast, as well as taking her movie Flood Streets international, recently to the Film By the Sea Festival; coming up on November 4, Helen will participate in the Salon de Danse de Macabre at Cafe Istanbul.

Peauxdunqian Maurice Carlos Ruffin‘s The Pie Man is in the most recent edition of The South Carolina Review. L. Kasimu Harris continues his string of brilliant essays and photography in his Parish Chic column on the Oxford American website. Both Maurice and Kasimu have contributed recent work, as well, to the Times-Picayune. Tad Bartlett‘s latest installment of his “Food and …” column has posted to the Oxford American website, on Food and Recovery: Reclaiming After the Storm. Tom Carson continues his fine work at the American Prospect and GQ, making smart mosaics out of various cultural and political shrapnel.

From November 28 through December 2, Peauxdunque and our friends will convene at the annual Words and Music Conference, for lots of good words and good times, and to celebrate the gold medal won by our own Emilie Staat in the essay category of the Faulkner-Wisdom Competition (as well as the finalist, short list for finalist, and semi-finalist placings of a whole slew of Peauxdunquians in the essay, short story, and novel categories).

Peauxdunquian Wins Essay Prize

Posted on September 25, 2012 by tadbartlett

Peauxdunquian Emilie Staat has been named the winner of the essay category of the 2012 William Faulkner-William Wisdom writing competition, announced on William Faulkner’s birthday, September 25! Emilie will receive the prize and the gold medal at the Faulkner for All Ball during the Words and Music Conference, taking place in New Orleans from November 28 through December 2.

Last year’s winner in the short story category, Peauxdunque’s Terri Stoor, was also a finalist in the essay category this year. Tad Bartlett and Maurice Ruffin were finalists in the short story category; and Emily Choate was on the short list for finalists and the semi-finalist lists in the short story category. J.Ed. Marston and Tad were on the short list for finalists in the novel category; and Susan Kagan was on the semi-finalist list in the novel category.

The full list of winners and runners-up in all categories:

Novel, Judged by Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management: Winner: Jerusalem As a Second Language, by Rochelle Distelheim of Highland Park, IL; First Runner-up: An Organized Panic, The Author Has Asked to Remain Anonymous; Second Runner-up: Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence, David Samuel Levinson, Durham, NC
Novella: Winner: Inspection, Daniel Castro, Madrid, Spain; Equal Runners-up: Albert’s Lark: A Concerto for Black Hole, Gary Bollick, Clemmons, NC; The Odd Sea, Petra Perkins, Highlands Ranch, CO; The Saltonfell Case, Alice Leaderman, University Park, MD
Novel-in-Progress, Judged by Deborah Grosvenor, Grosvenor Literary Agency: Winner: A Boy Called Riot, Kim McLarin, Mattapan, MA; First Runner-up: Chiaroscuro, Jennifer Steil, London, England; Equal Runner-up: Lower Case Love, Geoff Schutt, Gaithersburg, MD; Ridgeland, Paul Byall, Savannah, GA
Short Story, Judged by Short Fiction Writer and Novelist Justin Torres: Winner: The Bottom, Alison Grifa Ismaili, Baton Rouge, LA; First Runner-up: Longingly,Milly Heller, New Orleans; Second Runner-up: And The Sun Sets on Walker Street, Will Thrift, Columbia, SC
Essay, Judged by Narrative Non-Fiction Writer, Andrew Lam: Winner: Tango Face, Emilie Staat, New Orleans, LA; First Runner-up: Fossils, Elsie Michie, Baton Rouge, LA; Second Runner-up: April’s Fool, Mary Ann O’Gorman, Ocean Springs, MS
Poetry, Judged by Laura Mullen, Poet and Writer-in-Residence, Louisiana State University: Winner: Aftermaths, Peter Cooley, New Orleans, LA; First Runner-up: Sugar Maple, Judith White, Chevy Chase, MD; Second Runner-up: Words Then Space,James Bourey, Dover, DE; Third Runner-up: Last Will and Testament of L. J., Jennifer Bartell, Columbia, SC
Short Story by a High School Student: Winner: Leigh Vila, Metairie, LA, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts; First Runner-up: The Cult of Happiness, Ryanne Autin, Metairie, LA; Second Runner-up: Misery, Agony, Heartbreak, Tyler DeSpenza, New Orleans, LA; Third Runner-up: History, Sophia Derbes, Mandeville, LA

And now presenting “The NO Show”

Posted on August 22, 2012 by tadbartlett

Just received this email from Peauxdunquian Helen Krieger, about a new creative endeavor also featuring Emilie Staat and friend-of-Peauxdunque Gian Smith:

I want to invite you to the first ever live taping of this variety style podcast, the NO Show produced in partnership with the folks at itsneworleans.com. What is the NO Show? It’s live music, comedy, sketches and interviews with interesting people about town, all taped live in front of a beautiful audience, that hopefully will include you and your friends! The podcast is then posted online at tsneworleans.com.

We’re doing two pilot shows, this week and next, and then we’ll use those shows to look for a sponsor so we can keep doing the show on a regular basis. Here are some of the people who will be featured on this week’s show:

Gian Smith – a spoken word poet who’s been featured on VH1 and HBO, and who’s poem, O Beautiful Storm, was the Season 2 trailer for Treme.

Chris Trew and Tami Nelson – The comedy duo behind the New Movement Theater, they do improv, stand up, and the most entertaining sports show I’ve ever heard.

Chris Champagne – New Orleans born and public school educated, this political satirist knows no bounds when it comes to local and state politicians. His incisive wit at his one-man shows leaves audiences laughing to tears.

Our house band is Hazy Ray, and our sketches feature the writings and/or performances of Chris Kehoe, Cyrus Cooper, Emilie Staat and Mindy Hawes.

Oh, and did I mention all this is free? Tonight from 5-6pm
sharp and next Wednesday same time, at the Maison at 508 Frenchmen.

Cheers!

… And More Good Peauxdunque News

Posted on August 17, 2012 by tadbartlett

In addition to recent publication and competition credits for members of the group, Peauxdunque is thrilled to announce that Peauxdunquian Terri Shrum Stoor is now represented by Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management. We’re certain Terri will prove to be another fine feather in Jeff’s cap.

Peauxdunque publication update

Posted on August 17, 2012 by tadbartlett

Peauxdunquian Arion Berger has released the first of three New Orleans-set paranormal romance thrillers, entitled “Darkness Eternal,” now available as an e-book on Amazon.com.

Peauxdunque’s Tad Bartlett has published the second of his “Food and …” series of essays on the Oxford American website, titled “Food and Memory: A Barbecue Homecoming,” wherein he goes back to his childhood home of Selma, Alabama, to revisit three barbecue joints while exploding the walls he had built between himself and the aftermath of a series of protests he participated in his senior year of high school.

New Peauxdunquian-extraordinaire L. Kasimu Harris continues his series of written and photographic essays inspired by the style and fashion to be found on New Orleans streets in his Parish Chic column on the Oxford American website.

Faulkner-Wisdom lists released

Posted on August 3, 2012 by tadbartlett

The 2012 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Competition lists of finalists, short lists for finalists, and semi-finalists have now been released for all categories, and Peauxdunqians and friends are scattered throughout the lists again this year, with four continuing on into the final round of judging.

In the Short Story category, Peauxdunque will seek to defend the gold medal won in 2011 by Terri Shrum Stoor, with Maurice Carlos Ruffin and Tad Bartlett each having a story on the list of finalists that will be judged by fiction phenom Justin Torres. This is Maurice’s fourth consecutive year with at least one story on the list of finalists, including his placing as first runner-up in 2010. This is Tad’s third year with an entry on a finalist list, with a finalist entry in the essay category in 2010 and in the poetry category in 2011. In addition to the finalist list, Maurice, Tad, and Emily Choate each have stories on the 2012 short list for finalists; and Emily has an additional story on the semi-finalist list in the category.

In the Essay category, Terri Shrum Stoor and Emilie Staat each have entries listed as finalists, which will go on for final judging. This is Terri‘s second consecutive year on the finalist list in this category, following her second runner-up entry last year.

In the Novel category, Tad and J.Ed. Marston have a co-written manuscript on the short list for finalists; and Susan Kagan has an entry on the semi-finalist list.

Other members of associated New Orleans writing communities have also made a mark on the 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom lists. Friend of Peauxdunque Kiki Whang has a semi-finalist entry in the short story category, as does former UNO MFA-er Jamie Amos and former poetry winner Jenn Nunes. Also on the short list in the novel category is Amy Conner, an alum of James Nolan’s writing workshop. Congratulations to all! Updates as we know them …