Author: Christopher Louis Romaguera

Looking Inward: “Secret Keepers,” “Midnight Self” and more

Secret Keepers  Teresa Tumminello Brader’s second book, “Secret Keepers,” is a collection of short stories. The stories are steeped in characters who are struggling in their relationships with loved ones and the world around them. We deal with characters worried…

Books: Meditations on Life and Landscapes

Turned Earth “Turned Earth” is Brad Richard’s fifth poetry collection, this one by LSU Press. This collection goes through Richard’s journey as he navigates his mother’s death, life with his husband and being a teacher. Richard’s placement in New Orleans,…

Literary Louisiana: Tales of hope, history and memory

Marguerite Sheffer | The Man in the Banana Trees Sheffer’s debut short story collection, “The Man in the Banana Trees,” starts with the kind of short story you’ve read before, about a teacher trying to reach a student but just…

Literary Louisiana: Books of Nostalgia and History

In “All the Places We Love Have Been Left In Ruins,” Ariel Francisco writes an elegy to his hometown of Miami that continues to be sunk by climate change, corruption, and of course, Margaritavilles. Francisco, who teaches at LSU, writes…

Mona Lisa Saloy

Poetry has always been important in New Orleans — blending the written word, stories and the musicality that have more or less been synonymous with the city since its creation. Poetry…

Literary Louisiana: Books of poetry and craft

1000 Words Jami Attenberg “1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round” by Jami Attenberg was born out of her annual summer practice, “1000 Words of Summer.” The practice that was birthed between her…

Journeys of All Kinds

The Fetishist by Katherine Min (Edited by Kayla Min Andrews) “The Fetishist” follows Kyoko, in her early 20s, as she tries to avenge her mother’s death, who she blames on Daniel, a middle-aged man who had previously seduced her mother;…

Literary Louisiana: Culture, Race, History and lore

Let Us Descend Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward’s newest novel gets its title from the Dante Alighieri quote “’Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” Ward, who has won the MacArthur “Genius Grant” and is a…

Past and Present

For Today Carolyn Hembree Carolyn Hembree’s poetry collection, “For Today,” tackles grief, trauma, anger, love and living in New abook follows a recent mother who grieves her father who died right before she gave birth to her child. Throughout this…