549. Alison Pelegrin, Poet Laureate

549. This week we're happy to have Louisiana's current poet laureate Alison Pelegrin visiting us. 'Alison was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received an MFA from the University of Arkansas. Pelegrin is the author of Waterlines (Louisiana State University Press, 2016); Hurricane Party (University of Akron Press, 2012); Big Muddy River of Stars (University of Akron Press, 2007), which received the 2006 Akron Poetry Prize; and The Zydeco Tablets (Word Press, 2002). About Pelegrin’s poetry, Martha Serpas writes, “Alison Pelegrin is one of the sharpest wits to come out of the Bayou State in a long time. She can conjure Louisiana’s present-tense, unapologetic, tragicomic drama with authenticity.” She teaches at Southeastern Louisiana University and lives in Covington, Louisiana. In 2023, she was appointed the poet laureate of Louisiana through 2025' (Poets.org).

1. This week in Louisiana history. November 18, 1719. The ship Les Deux Freres brings first mass-arrival of Germans to Louisiana.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Royal Street Branch Library Opens
   November 25, 1907. The Royal Branch at 2110 Royal Street (Royal at Frenchmen), funded by a grant from Andrew Carnegie, was the first NOPL branch to open, on November 25, 1907. Two other branches, Algiers and Napoleon, also built with Carnegie funds, opened shortly afterward and continue to serve the public today. The Royal Branch was a one-story and basement structure of the Doric style of architecture. It was fire-proof, the exterior and interior walls being of pressed brick and the floors of concrete. It occupied a lot 65 by 98 feet, and sat upon a low terrace. The interior space was divided into reading, attendants', janitor's, storage and toilet rooms. The reading-room was 40 by 50 feet with a ceiling height of sixteen feet which had no interior columns or other obstructions — giving the impression of an even larger room.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Louisiana Colonial Trails Scenic Byway
   Distance: 484 miles
   Duration: Two to three days for a self-guided tour
   Website
   Colonial Trails, 484-miles long, offers visitors cultural connections among the French, Creole, Anglo, African American and Native American at sites along the Colonial Trails Byway. Sites include several military fortifications such as Forts Randolph and Buhlow, Camp Beauregard and Fort Polk; fields of cotton and Frogmore Cotton Plantation and Gin, Kent House, the oldest standing structure in Central Louisiana, Melrose Plantation, home to primitive artist Clementine Hunter, Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Education Center, the Delta Music Museum and the Louisiana Political History Museum among so many others that tell the overarching story of Louisiana history.
   
4. Postcards from Louisiana. Thanksgiving Poetry by Aislinn Kerchaert

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