Appearances, readings, and publications, oh my.

Posted on June 20, 2019 by tadbartlett

Go see Maurice Carlos Ruffin reading with James Nolan at the Alvar branch of the New Orleans Public Library (913 Alvar Street) tonight from 6 to 8! Maurice will be reading from his novel, We Cast A Shadow, and James will be reading from his new book of poetry, Nasty Water.

Then on August 28, Maurice will be in conversation with Sarah Broom at Garden District Book Shop at 6 p.m., about Sarah’s critically acclaimed book, The Yellow House.

In the latest Peauxdunque publication news, look for Maurice‘s essay, “The Great American Press Release,” about his visit to the Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, in the fall issue of Oxford American. And Tad Bartlett‘s story, “Flock Apart,” will be published in New York City-based Litbreak in November; so look forward to more Peauxdunque goodness this fall!

Awards, books, and articles (and a seminar, too!)

Posted on August 1, 2013 by tadbartlett

Lots of great Peauxdunque news lately, all of it of the exclamation-point variety:

Maurice Carlos Ruffin‘s “Catch What You Can” was named as an Honorable Mention in the May 2013 Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers!
Arion Berger’s novel It’s Made to be Broken has been accepted for publication by Ellora’s Cave Books! It will be available as an e-book soon, with the print book to follow soon after.
Tad Bartlett‘s latest “Food and …” essay, on food and family and loss, has posted to the Oxford American website!
Janis Turk has teamed up with several of her travel writing colleagues to launch a travel writing seminar series, Try Travel Writing, with the next seminar scheduled for October 18-21 on Mackinac Island, Michigan! Like them on Facebook, too!

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!

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).

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.

Another Peauxdunque publication, and a performance, too!

Posted on June 19, 2012 by tadbartlett

Peauxdunqian Tad Bartlett has started a new “Food and …” column on the Oxford American website. The first installment is up, “Food and Writing: Talking Mushrooms with Terroir-ists,” and new installments will be posted once every month or so.

Peauxdunquian Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s reading at the New Orleans Museum of Art during the first night of the summer-long MelaNated Summer Reading Series is now available online. You can view the whole thing here, or skip to the 44-minute mark to pick up with Maurice’s reading:

Peauxdunqians in the world …

Posted on June 8, 2012 by tadbartlett

Another few weeks have passed since the last Peauxdunque update, and that means another few weeks’ worth of good news:

Peauxdunquian Liz Gruder has recently learned that her YA novel, Starseed, has been accepted for publication by WiDo Publishing. We’ll update as we learn more about the anticipated release date, but this is fantastic news about a fantastic project.
Arion Berger, who along with Tom Carson was recently published in Black Clock Issue No. 15, has also just had her work included in Gargoyle Issue No. 58!
Tom continues his work at GQ and The American Prospect, recently including this insightful look at the ratcheting down of print publication of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Emily Choate continues her incredible traveling ways, recently selected to attend the 2012 Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
L. Kasimu Harris continues his Parish Chic column for the now-incredibly-redesigned Oxford American website, including this beautiful and startlingly honest odyssey in seersucker. Kasimu also recently published this piece in the Times-Picayune.

More Peauxdunquian news is in the pipeline. Stay tuned for further updates!

Publications and more! By Peauxdunqians and Friends of Peauxdunque

Posted on March 30, 2012 by tadbartlett

Another month, another set of publications and other writing recognition for the fine folks of Peauxdunque and their good friends …

Terri Stoor and Maurice Ruffin have had work selected for the upcoming New Orleans By New Orleans book project, which should come out at the end of this month. Joselyn Takacs, currently in Baltimore working on her MFA at Johns Hopkins, has the Story of the Week at Narrative, “Flares of Little Warning.” Also, Arion Berger and Tom Carson both have stories in the latest issue of Black Clock. Tad Bartlett has been admitted to the MFA program in fiction at UNO’s Creative Writing Workshop, where he will begin this fall.

Friend of Peauxdunque L. Kasimu Harris has launched a new column, Parish Chic, at The Oxford American’s online site, using fashion as a lens to illuminate the human condition.

End-of-year plaudits roll in for Friends of Peauxdunque

Posted on January 12, 2012 by tadbartlett

Here in Peauxdunque, we are not just a bunch of navel-gazing narcissists (though we do not deny the charge), but we also want to celebrate the great fortune of our friends (hereafter “Friends of Peauxdunque” or “FOPs”)! The end of 2011 brought much in the way of good news for our various friends, auxiliaries, benefactors, etc. (NOT hereafter “FABFEs”).

Tom Carson‘s novel, Daisy Buchanan’s Daughter, was named to the Washington Post‘s “Notable Fiction of 2011” list; and was also included in a Vanity Fair article discussing trends in genre-bending.

Mat Johnson‘s Pym also appeared on the WP “Notable Fiction of 2011” list, as well as Salon.com’s Best Fiction of 2011 list. It was also featured in Vanity Fair’s list of “The Best Books of 2011 You Haven’t Read” (which listing might be a mixed blessing, come to think of it). Actually, it might be easier to try to compile a list of the “Best of 2011” lists that Pym isn’t on. A small sampling of additional lists includes The Houston Chronicle, The A.V. Club, and Library Thing. Recall that Mat, winner of the 2011 Dos Passos Literature Prize, came and read at Peauxdunque’s Yeah You Write literary concert at Tipitina’s this past fall.

Tom Franklin, in whose workshop several Peauxdunqians landed during last summer’s Oxford American Summit for Ambitious Writers, has garnered a passel of awards for his novel, Crooked Letter Crooked Letter, including toward the end of 2011 the Crime Writers Association’s Golden Dagger.

Great work, folks. Peauxdunque’s glad to know you, and hopes 2012 brings even more of the same!

Peauxdunque at Petit Jean …

Posted on August 26, 2011 by tadbartlett

Before the summer gets away, a brief word about and some pictures from the fantastic experiences of several Peauxdunque members at the first annual Oxford American Summit for Ambitious Writers. Put on by the fabulous folks at the Oxford American, the Summit selected a group of around 75 writers from across the country for a week of intensive workshopping and insightful lectures. Among the inaugural class were a few Peauxdunquians – Maurice Ruffin, Terri Stoor, J.Ed. Marston, Tad Bartlett, and Emily Choate.

The experience was all words, all the time, even during times of whiskey and wine. It was, to put it bluntly, Earth-shifting. And beautiful. And inspiring. Here are some great photos by the OA‘s Nicholas Pippins and Carol Ann Fitzgerald. Here are some more by Carol Ann.

Here are some by us:

: Maurice, Tad, and Terri, at the final Summit dinner

: Tad and J.Ed. on the edge of the mountain

: Tom Franklin’s workshop group: Mary, Tom Franklin, J.Ed., Starr Crow, David Meischen, Susan Vallee, Terri, Emily Choate, Tad, and Anene Tressler-Hauschultz