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| Literary - Thinking of Ava Haymon / Jeanne Leiby Upcoming Reading |
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| 10/09/2008 |
by: Erica McCreedy |
A few weekends ago, the Leo Luke Marcello Reading Series continued its efforts in bringing both regional and national poets and writers to the Lake Area. Ava Haymon, a Baton Rouge resident, read from her books Kitchen Heat (2006) and The Strict Economy of Fire (2004), at the Burton Conference Center on McNeese’s campus. Haymon’s reading was, in a few words, stirring as well as entertaining.
Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Sun. Her personality clearly came through as she introduced each poem with witty stories and hilarious commentary. I, as well as other local writers, spent the weekend with her, and she was one of the most down-to-earth writers I have met. Her poetry is wrapped in both the hard reality of the world and in humor. She weaves contemporary thought and emotion into household folk tales. The reader finds his or herself in the world of Ava Haymon and does not want to let go.
This coming weekend, fiction writer Jeanne Leiby (pictured above) will be offering a reading of her work on Friday, October 10th at 8 p.m. at the Burton Conference Center as well.
Jim Daniels speaks of her fiction:
“I love the sharp edges of Jeanne Leiby's tightly packed stories, and how she brings out the dignity of these hard lives without romanticizing or sentimentalizing her characters. Nothing is free or easy in these stories, but there is no self-pity. There is only survival in a working-class world of seen and unseen boundaries. Bargains are struck, compromises are made, secrets are kept, all in the name of survival. All over America, communities 'Down River' struggle to carry on. They are driven past, ignored by everyone who doesn¹t live there. But we can all learn a lot about getting by from the gritty characters populating the community of this rich, unforgettable collection."
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