Peauxdunque at Words and Music

Posted on November 22, 2013 by tadbartlett

The Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society’s annual Words and Music conference will take place from December 4 through December 8, centered at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. In just two weeks, a fantastic line-up of writers and scholars will convene with top agents and editors to discuss writing, publishing, and this year’s conference theme, “Faith and the Search for Meaning as Inspiration for the Arts.”

At 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 4, six members of Peauxdunque have been invited to join in a reading of new works related to the conference theme. Terri Stoor, Emily Choate, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, J.Ed. Marston, Cassie Pruyn, and Tad Bartlett will present readings alongside award-winning poet and non-fiction author, Rodger Kamenetz, and the associate editors of the Double Dealer, Caroline Rash and Geoff Munsterman. The readings will be at the Presbytere, at the corner of St. Ann and Chartres. A cash bar and complimentary cocktail snacks will be available, and a showing of Walker Percy, a new documentary film by Win Riley, will follow.

J.Ed., Terri, Tad, Emily, and Maurice will be reading during the Faulkner Society's annual Words and Music Conference on December 4, 2013.

J.Ed., Terri, Tad, Emily, Maurice, and Cassie (not pictured) will be reading during the Faulkner Society’s annual Words and Music Conference on December 4, 2013.

Cassie Pruyn second runner-up in Faulkner-Wisdom competition; and an interview

Posted on September 26, 2013 by tadbartlett

Peauxdunquian Cassie Pruyn’s beautiful poem, “Two Places,” was named second runner-up by judge Beth Ann Fennelly in the poetry category of the 2013 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Competition! Congratulations to Cassie! Also at the conclusion of judging, Peauxdunque’s J.Ed. Marston was a finalist in the poetry category with his piece, “Steel on Wood”; and Tad Bartlett was a finalist in the short story category with his story, “Riding in Cars at Night.”

Link to the full listing of competition winners and finalists.

Also, Peauxdunque’s Emilie Staat (last year’s gold medal winner in the essay category of the Faulkner-Wisdom Competition) was recently interviewed by Hothouse Magazine. You can read that great interview here.

Marston and Pruyn are poetry finalists

Posted on July 23, 2013 by tadbartlett

Congratulations to Peauxdunquers J.Ed. Marston and Cassie Pruyn, who have been named as finalists in the poetry category of the 2013 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Writing Competition!

As we reported last week, Peauxdunquian Tad Bartlett is a finalist in the short story category of the Faulkner-Wisdom competition (with Maurice Carlos Ruffin and Keri Rachal on the short list for finalists in that category). Winners and runners-up are scheduled to be announced on Faulkner’s birthday, September 25.

Productions, books, and travels: A Peauxdunque update

Posted on June 12, 2013 by tadbartlett

We’ve been quiet on this site, but that doesn’t mean we’ve been quiet in real life.

Peauxdunquian Helen Krieger is busy with preparations for the production of Season 2 of Least Favorite Love Songs. The KickStarter campaign for the production has ten hours left. While you wait for Season 2, you can watch Season 1 here.

Peauxdunque founder Amy Serrano‘s latest poetry collection, Of Fiery Places and Sacred Spaces, is now available from Barnes & Noble. Amy has also learned that her twenty-page essay and photo project, From Punta to Chumba: Garifuna Music and Dance in New Orleans, on Garifuna women and culture, commissioned by the Louisiana Division of the Arts, will form part of a 5-10 year traveling exhibit on the diverse cultures and folkloric traditions that live within Louisiana.

Tom Carson, of course, continues to keep on top of things for The American Prospect and GQ, with his latest articles on HBO’s documentary, Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, and on the Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.

In traveling news, five Peauxdunquians attended this past weekend’s Yokshop Writers’ Conference in Oxford, Mississippi, workshopping with and learning from Beth Ann Fennelly, Josh Weil, Sean Ennis, Scott Morris, and M.O. Walsh, as well as drinking and hanging out with new friends alive and dead. Peauxdunquians in attendance were Terri Shrum Stoor, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Emily Choate, J.Ed. Marston, and Tad Bartlett.

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For another great slideshow of Peauxdunquians in action, head over to P’dunquian Emilie Staat‘s Jill of All Trades blog, where her latest “All Things Brag” post includes a collection of images from the Sunday Shorts Reading Series, featuring readers from both Peauxdunque and the Melanated Writers Collective.

On a rise over a holler

Posted on February 10, 2013 by tadbartlett

Writers Camp is where Peauxdunque repairs at the beginning of every year, to reflect on the past year and recharge for the coming one. Usually an overnight to a place appropriately called Hopedale, 2013 saw us take a whole weekend instead. Gathering from all points Peauxdunquian, eating at a place (appropriately) called Dreamland on the way up, taking roads northward pointing, dwindling steadily in lanes and traffic until it was dark, twenty degrees, on a one-lane, moss-covered track at the bottom of a holler, next to a brook, icy water over rocks, and the GPS saying, “You’ve come as close to your destination as you can travel by car. You must now exit the car and walk.” Up a rise that felt like a mountain but surely wasn’t, until all the travelers were together. Susan Kagan, who had secured the hilltop retreat from a good soul; Emily Choate over from Nashville; J.Ed. Marston over from Chattanooga-way; Janis Turk flown all the way up from San Antonio; and Denise Moore, Terri Stoor, Maurice Ruffin, and Tad Bartlett the long drive up from New Orleans. At a place not near any other places, nameless, now called, appropriately, Peauxdunque, Tennessee.

Late into the night, twice, a whole day in the middle, and a far-too-short morning on the end, plus the long hours of driving up and back, there was solid talk about writing and reading and words. There were plans discussed, theses, novels, stories, essays. We took time to be silent and to write, to wander the hillside over fresh snow and under old stars. Below is a slideshow of some photos from our time, taken by Terri, Maurice, Emily, and Tad. We invite all to share; but I particularly invite Peauxdunquians to come back and view them and remember the times in Tennessee over the next year, when you’re feeling momentarily adrift. One more year, then we’ll do it all again.

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!

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.

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

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 …