Louisiana Anthology Podcast

622. Part 2 of our conversation with Elisa Speranza about her novel, The Italian Prisoner. "1943. New Orleans. Rose Marino lives with her Sicilian immigrant parents and helps in the family grocery store. Her older brother and sister both joined the Army, and Rose prays for their safety as World War II rages overseas.When the parish priest organizes a goodwill mission to visit Italian prisoners of war at a nearby military base, Rose and her vivacious best friend, Marie, join the group. There, Rose falls for Sal, a handsome and intelligent POW. Italy has switched sides in the war, so the POWs are allowed out to socialize, giving Rose and Sal a chance to grow closer.


     "Elisa M. Speranza is the granddaughter of Irish and Italian immigrants, raised Catholic, and educated by nuns. She's been a writer and book nerd all her life. Her first paid job was in the children's room of her town's public library, and she was a journalist early in her career before spending thirty-plus years in the water and critical infrastructure business. The Italian Prisoner is her first novel. A native Bostonian and die-hard member of Red Sox Nation, Ms. Speranza moved to New Orleans in 2002. She is committed to celebrating and honoring the city's fragile and fascinating culture, environment, and history. She lives with Jon Kardon in New Orleans and Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Learn more at www.elisamariesperanza.com."

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. April 19, 1682. La Salle took formal possession of the Louisiana Territory for France
   
3. This week in New Orleans history. On April 19, 1966, the Algiers Regional Branch library opened.  It was was the first of three regional branches built during the 1960s and 1970s.
   
4. This week in Louisiana.
   La Fête du Monde
   Lockport Food Festival
   Apr 25-27, 2025
   4484 Highway 1
   Raceland, LA 70301
   (985) 532-6640
   Website
   This three day festival is known as the swamp pop extravaganza of Louisiana's Cajun Bayou. Located at the pavilion and green space behind Louisiana's Cajun Bayou Visitor Center, it features live music, dancing, delicious Cajun food, games and carnival rides for all ages!
   
5. Postcards from Louisiana. Roz's band plays at Bamboula.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.


Listen on audible.


Listen on Spotify.
Listen on TuneIn.


Listen on iHeartRadio.
The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.
Like us on Facebook. 

621. Part 1 of our interview with Elisa M. Speranza, author of The Italian Prisoner. "1943. New Orleans. Rose Marino lives with her Sicilian immigrant parents and helps in the family grocery store. Her older brother and sister both joined the Army, and Rose prays for their safety as World War II rages overseas.When the parish priest organizes a goodwill mission to visit Italian prisoners of war at a nearby military base, Rose and her vivacious best friend, Marie, join the group. There, Rose falls for Sal, a handsome and intelligent POW. Italy has switched sides in the war, so the POWs are allowed out to socialize, giving Rose and Sal a chance to grow closer.

     "Elisa M. Speranza is the granddaughter of Irish and Italian immigrants, raised Catholic, and educated by nuns. She's been a writer and book nerd all her life. Her first paid job was in the children's room of her town's public library, and she was a journalist early in her career before spending thirty-plus years in the water and critical infrastructure business. The Italian Prisoner is her first novel. A native Bostonian and die-hard member of Red Sox Nation, Ms. Speranza moved to New Orleans in 2002. She is committed to celebrating and honoring the city's fragile and fascinating culture, environment, and history. She lives with Jon Kardon in New Orleans and Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Learn more at www.elisamariesperanza.com." (Google Books)

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. April 12, 1861. Louisiana Gen. PGT Beauregard ordered first shots on Ft. Sumter to begin Civil War.
   
3. This week in New Orleans history. Major League Baseball pitcher Edward Francis Lafitte was born at 319 Bourbon Street on April 7, 1886.
   
4. This week in Louisiana.
   Pi Mai Lao (Lao New Year)
   April 13-16 2025
   7913 Champa Ave.
   Broussard LA 70518
   (337) 378-9469
   [email protected]
   Website
   Lanexang Village celebrates the Lao New Year every Easter weekend with a three-day festival that includes live music, a beauty pageant, parades, sand castle building, kids activities, and several vendors selling clothes, jewelry, music and food from Southeast Asia. $50 VIP all-access passes are available and includes reserved parking, food, a free guided tour, access to VIP parade lounge and to the Tea-time performance banquet.
   
5. Postcards from Louisiana. Phillip Manuel sings with Michael Pellera Trio play at Snug Harbor on Frenchmen St. in New Orleans.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.


Listen on audible.


Listen on Spotify.
Listen on TuneIn.


Listen on iHeartRadio.
The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.
Like us on Facebook. 

620. Part 2 of our conversation with Rien Fertel. “I’m a Louisiana-born and based writer and teacher. My most recent book, out September 2022, is Brown Pelican, a human history of the very best bird. I’ve penned three earlier books. The Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera, #133 in Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, about a road trip based on a recent classic album about a road trip. The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Cook the Whole Hog,a personal/historical reflection on race, labor, and foodways in the Deep South, came out in 2016 from Simon & Schuster's Touchstone imprint. My first book, Imagining the Creole City, an intellectual and literary study of a circle of writers in nineteenth-century New Orleans, arrived in 2014.”

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. April 5, 1893. First electric railway car runs in Baton Rouge.
   
3. This week in New Orleans history. April 6, 1914. Duck chosen over frog. In 1914, the Daily Picayune and the Times-Democrat newspapers merged and published both banners across the tops of pages. Ashton Phelps took the reigns as president of what would become The Times-Picayune. The Times-Democrat's duck mascot  appeared on the front page on April 6, 1914, taking the place of the Picayune's frog mascot, which first appeared twenty years earlier, on January 13, 1894.
   
4. This week in Louisiana.
   April 11-13, 2025
   Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival
   Ponchatoula Memorial Park
   301 North 6th St.
   Ponchatoula, LA
   [email protected]
   800.917.7045
   Website
   Strawberry Capital of the World
   Since 1972, the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival has attracted visitors from near and far to celebrate our local strawberry farmers, non-profits, and our special community, flourishing into the largest free harvest festival in the state of Louisiana. Join us for three days filled with time-honored traditions, amazing food and drinks, live music, rides, and loads of family fun!
   
5. Postcards from Louisiana. Louisiana Book Festival Band.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.


Listen on audible.


Listen on Spotify.
Listen on TuneIn.


Listen on iHeartRadio.
The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.
Like us on Facebook. 

619. Part 1 of our interview with Rien Fertel. “I’m a Louisiana-born and based writer and teacher. My most recent book, out September 2022, is Brown Pelican, a human history of the very best bird. I’ve penned three earlier books. The Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera, #133 in Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, about a road trip based on a recent classic album about a road trip. The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Cook the Whole Hog, a personal/historical reflection on race, labor, and foodways in the Deep South, came out in 2016 from Simon & Schuster's Touchstone imprint. My first book, Imagining the Creole City, an intellectual and literary study of a circle of writers in nineteenth-century New Orleans, arrived in 2014.”

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. March 29, 1962. N.O. Parochial schools ordered to desegregate by Archbishop.
   
3. This week in New Orleans history. Theodore "Parson" Clapp was born
   March 29, 1792. He pastored the First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans 1821-1856.
   
4. This week in Louisiana.
   9^th Annual
   Books Along The Teche Literary Festival
   April 4-6, 2025
   317 E. Main St.
   New Iberia LA 70560
   (337) 369-6446
   [email protected]
   Website
   Events
   Various venues will celebrate literature and its impact on the area's culture with storytelling, workshops, readers theatre, music, bourée lessons and tournament, bus and boat tours, a 5K run and food, food, food. Anyone who is familiar with James Lee Burke and his fictional character, detective Dave Robicheaux, knows of New Iberia and our fascinating blend of heritage, hospitality and history.
   
   • Storytelling Traditions in Acadiana, Parts 1 & 2 — Exploring Fictional Genres & personal stories
   • Divine Dirt: Inspirations, Spiritual Teachings & Gardening Tips!
   • Destination Publication: Turning Travels into Books and Articles
   • I’ve Got an Idea for a Picture Book! Now What?
   • Dave’s Haunts and Jaunts Mystery Bus Tour
5. Postcards from Louisiana. Roz's band plays at Bamboula

Listen on Apple Podcasts.


Listen on audible.


Listen on Spotify.
Listen on TuneIn.


Listen on iHeartRadio.
The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.
Like us on Facebook. 

 Part 2 of our interview with Shannon Eaves. "Her book, Sexual Violence and American Slavery: The Making of a Rape Culture in the Antebellum South, was published by UNC Press in 2024. This study examines how the rape and sexual exploitation of enslaved women created a rape culture that was woven into the very fabric of antebellum society, influencing daily life for both the enslaved and enslavers....

Shannon earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and currently serves as an Associate Professor of African American History here at the College of Charleston. She is a specialist in 19th century U.S. History, African American History, and Slavery and Gender in the Antebellum South" (Faculty page).  "It is impossible to separate histories of sexual violence and the enslavement of Black women in the antebellum South. Rape permeated the lives of all who existed in that system: Black and white, male and female, adult and child, enslaved and free. Shannon C. Eaves unflinchingly investigates how both enslaved people and their enslavers experienced the systematic rape and sexual exploitation of bondswomen and came to understand what this culture of sexualized violence meant for themselves and others. Eaves mines a wealth of primary sources including autobiographies, diaries, court records, and more to show that rape and other forms of sexual exploitation entangled slaves and slave owners in battles over power to protect oneself and one’s community, power to avenge hurt and humiliation, and power to punish and eliminate future threats" (UNC Press).

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. March 22, 1976. Reese Witherspoon is from New Orleans and is best known for her role in Legally Blonde and Walk the Line.
   
3. This week in New Orleans history. Maximilian Ferdinand Bonzano, physician, minter, administrator. Born, Ebingen, Germany, March 22, 1821, arrived in New Orleans, 1835, working first in a printing office as a roller boy and then as printer, which provided opportunity to master the English language. Morally opposed to slavery. Also opposed secession and refused to serve the Confederacy. He was elected from his district as a delegate to the state's 1864 constitutional convention, where he chaired the committee on emancipation and personally wrote the ordinance which freed Louisiana's slaves. He lived in the mansion which had served as the headquarters of Gen. Andrew Jackson.
   
4. This week in Louisiana.
   Cane River Creole National Park
   The Texas and Pacific Railway Depot
   Oakland and Magnolia Plantations
   9:00 am - 3:00 pm daily
   Natchez, LA
   Website
   The Cane River region is home to a unique culture; the Creoles. Generations of the same families of workers, enslaved and tenant, and owners lived on these lands for over 200 years. The park tells their stories and preserves the cultural landscape of Oakland and Magnolia Plantations, two of the most intact Creole cotton plantations in the United States.
       The hours of operation for Oakland Plantation and Magnolia Plantation are 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The plantation grounds, trails, outbuildings, and visitor restrooms are open daily. Guided tours are available Wednesday through Sunday at both sites. The park store, located in the historic Oakland Plantation Store is also open Wednesday through Sunday. The Oakland Plantation Main House is only open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for self-guided tours. The park does not offer visitors services, such as guided tours and shopping at the park store on Mondays and Tuesdays.
       The Texas and Pacific Railway Depot in Natchitoches serves as the park visitor center. The depot is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
      The park is open daily year-round with the exception of ALL federal holidays.
   
5. Postcards from Louisiana. Medicare String Band in Natchitoches. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts.


Listen on audible.


Listen on Spotify.
Listen on TuneIn.


Listen on iHeartRadio.
The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.
Like us on Facebook.