Literary Luncheon Series in New Orleans.
Melinda Palacio -- October 7, 2006
The Hotel Monteleone in partnership with the New Orleans Public Library and the Garden District Bookstore is offering a literary luncheon series. Judging from the second event, the series promises to be both valuable and entertaining to writers and readers. The decadent four-course menu and white gloved service might seem excessive to the starving writer. However, the opportunity to hear the successes and techniques of authors, combined with the one-on-one time with an editor or literary agent, and the manuscript critique, is worth splurging a little on lunch. A mystery writer at the table said he'd pay the $30 alone just for the chance to pitch his novel to Matthew Gouma, the literary agent assigned to our table of five writers.
Apparently, not too many aspiring writers are familiar with the hotel's literary offerings. Only five, out of the fifty in attendance, chose to meet with an agent two hours before the luncheon and turn in a 15-page manuscript for critique.
An hour and a half with Matthew Gouma was like visiting your cheerful aunt who loves to tell the same stories. The session didn't get me any closer to a book contract or fabled book advance, but hearing the familiar stories that most literary agents espouse, about being eager to find a new writer with a fresh voice and about being a champion of the writer against the complicated world of publishing, reminded me that the work that I do, the daily grinding of words, sentences, chapters and poems, is the most important part of writing. Writers write and publishers publish and agents wheel and deal.
Nevertheless, it was fun hearing Gouma talk about the publishing world in New York. Gouma himself is an interesting character. His smile gleamed with the glow of someone with money or that of a Hollywood movie star, rather than a down-home boy from New Orleans. He wants to save trees and deal exclusively with digital contracts. And he's just the right person to start such a revolution. He believes in his work. And when he looks at you with that whiter than average smile and tells you he can help you sell your book, you believe him--that's what literary agents do: sell books, sell authors who will produce two books a year.
As for the keynote speaker, Jason Berry, I was prepared to sit through a tired talk on the corruption of the Catholic Church. He has written six non fiction novels, two about the corruption of the church, but his forte is Louisiana culture. His book Up from the Cradle of Jazz is a history of New Orleans music. However, I was presently surprised by Berry's charm and subject, his new novel the Last of the Red Hot Poppas.
Berry is a writer who has an ease with switching genres. He's known for his reporting on the Catholic diocese and New Orleans culture, especially in the Gambit, where he was a weekly reporter. He also has an award-winning play. Earl Long in Purgatory won a 2002 Big Easy Award for best original work in theatre. Berry is a good example of a writer who stretches his limits and keeps his voice fresh and strong by taking on new writing projects in genres other than the ones he is familiar and comfortable with. He's even worked on a documentary film about Katrina. Writing an Essay for the collection Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?helped connect him with the right people who took notice of his work and published his debut novel.
Berry allowed his novel to simmer and take shape over the course of his two-plus-decades career as a reporter. The Last of the Red Hot Poppas is part whodunit, part social satire and part spiritual comedy. Berry says he was moved by TV evangelists. The native New Orleanean is steeped in 'Looziana' culture and his new novel proves a fun read about the murder of Governor Rex LaSalle, a flamboyant character reminiscent of Edwin Edwards.
The long lunch ended with a book signing and some headed to the Hotel Monteleone's famous Carousel Bar. In an unusual stroke of luck, I won the grand prize drawing: a deluxe two-day stay at the hotel. The Hotel Monteleone will sponsor three more Literary Lunches: October 30 with Paula Deen, November 21 with Peggy Post, and December 12 with Katharine Weber. Contact the Hotel Monteleone for reservations, 504-681-4452.