Center Participated in New Orleans Literary Event

   In September, the Center acted as a supporting sponsor for Words and Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans, an annual event sponsored by the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society.

   On Thursday, September 21, Center Director Chares Reagan Wilson hosted a luncheon panel at Antoine’s. Among the featured panelists were Hal Crowther, author of The Cathedrals of Kudzu; Rosemary Daniell, author of Fatal Flowers; foodways historian Jessica Harris; and journalist Curtis Wilkie.

   The Soul of the South: Its Words & Music, a cocktail party given in honor of the late Willie Morris, was staged Thursday evening at the venerable Napoleon House in the French Quarter. Proceeds from the party, which featured blues piano great Henry Gray, benefited the Center. 

   The Center’s Southern Foodways Alliance hosted two events, including a luncheon panel on “The Creolization of American Cusine and Culture” with Jason Berry, Leah Chase, Lois Elie, Rudy Lombard, and Paul Prudhomme.

   The grandest of all, however, may have been the gala late night supper held on September 22 at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Chefs John Folse, Austin Leslie, Joe Randall, Ken Smith, and Leon West paid homage to New Orleans restaurateur and Southern Foodways Alliance board president Leah Chase with a feast of, among other dishes, Shrimp Creole and Duck Étoufée.