I am so excited to be hosting an in conversation event between authors Rebecca Baum and Karol Ann Hoeffner! Both authors have new novels set in Louisiana! Both are established writers and I look forward to digging in with them about the craft of writing, the importance of a sense of place, and why the South (and Louisiana especially) is just such a fascinating setting.
Hoeffner’s Knee Deep is the story of sixteen-year-old Camille Darveau’s journey through apocalyptic post-Katrina New Orleans. Like all good tales born of the bayou, hers involves the dead, the living and the one trapped in the brackish waters between heaven and hell. It is the story of true love and true disaster, both equally hard to survive.
Baum’s Lifelike Creatures unfolds in rural Louisiana, where 13-year-old Tara Saint-Romain struggles to keep her addicted mother from self-destructing—even as a catastrophic sinkhole threatens the entire town.
I hope you'll be able to join us at 5pm CST live on Facebook, Youtube, and Periscope - we'll be taking questions from viewers so be ready to engage!
Named after a hurricane, Camille is the rebellious sixteen-year-old daughter of a New Orleans bar-owner who grows up in the shadow of Bourbon Street, raised on stories of hauntings, lusty encounters and voodoo magic. And even though her family loses their home in a hurricane, she counts herself among the lucky until she discovers that her eighteen-year-old neighbor whom she secretly loves go
Thirteen-year-old Tara does whatever it takes to keep her beautiful, audacious, and addicted mother, Joan, from falling through the cracks. When a sinkhole forces her rural Louisiana town to evacuate, Tara finds herself homeless and her mother’s impulsive personality unleashed. But Joan’s raw charisma and plain speak quickly establish her as the public face of the catastrophe.