Photograph: Mona Lisa Saloy, Poet Laureate of Louisiana (Courtesy of Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center.)
Poet Laureate of Louisiana Workshop & Presentation
WHAT: Teen Poetry Writing Workshop and Public Reading present by Louisiana Poet Laureate Mona Lisa Saloy
WHEN: June 15, 2022
TIME: 10 a.m.; with Public Reading at 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Opelousas Library & Opelousas Museum
CONTACT: Patrice Melnick 337-948-2589; museum@cityofopelousas.com
Meet Mona Lisa Saloy, Poet Laureate of Louisiana. Ms. Saloy will lead a teen writing workshop and give a poetry presentation in Opelousas on June 15.
TEEN WRITING WORKSHOP
June 15, 2022 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Opelousas Library, 212 E Grolee St, Opelousas, LA 70570
Ms. Saloy will guide students 13 to 18 years old in a writing workshop that will stimulate their imaginations and lead them to write freely as they create original poems. Students will be invited to present their poems at the reading that evening. There is limited space available. Preregistration required by calling (337) 948-3693.
READING AND CONVERSATION WITH MONA LISA SALOY
June 15, 2022 – 5p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Opelousas Museum, 315 N. Main St. – Opelousas, LA
Enjoy lyrical works of Mona Lisa Saloy as well as fresh poems by Opelousas youth, participants of Ms. Saloy’s morning workshop. The evening will include soaring poetry and conversations about Louisiana history, culture and creative expression.
ABOUT MONA LISA SALOY
Mona Lisa Saloy, Ph.D., new Louisiana Poet Laureate is an award-winning author & folklorist, educator, and scholar of Creole culture in articles, documentaries, and poems about Black New Orleans before and after Katrina. Currently, Conrad N. Hilton Endowed Professor and of English at Dillard University, Dr. Saloy documents Creole culture in sidewalk songs, jump-rope rhymes, and clap-hand games to discuss the importance of play. She writes on the significance of the Black Beat poets–especially Bob Kaufman, on the African American Toasting Tradition, Black talk, and on keeping Creole to today. Her first book, Red Beans & Ricely Yours, won the T.S. Eliot Prize and the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award. Her collection of poems, Second Line Home, captures New Orleans speech, family dynamics, celebrates New Orleans, the unique culture the world loves. Saloy’s screenplay for the documentary Easter Rock premiered in Paris, the Ethnograph Film Festival & at the national Black museum. Her documentary, Bleu Orleans, is on Black Creole Culture. Mona Lisa Saloy writes for those who don’t or can’t tell Black Creole cultural stories. www.monalisasaloy.com Tweet to @redbeansista & @MonaLisaSaloy
This program is funded under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For information: Patrice Melnick 337-948-2589; museum@cityofopelousas.com
