Two acclaimed LSU alumni authors — Mona Lisa Saloy, recently the poet laureate of Louisiana, and New York Times bestselling novelist and Baton Rouge native M.O. Walsh — will take part in LSU Creative Writing’s Delta Mouth Reading Series on Thursday.
Both authors will read and discuss their latest work.
Delta Mouth will start at 6 p.m. in the Grand Salon of the French House on campus. The event is free and open to the public.
“This is a special treat for LSU. We’ve got two widely celebrated alumni, a poet and a novelist, both of whom find inspiration in their home state,” said professor Zack Godshall, of LSU’s English Department. “Mona Lisa Saloy served as Louisiana’s poet laureate from 2021-23, and her latest book of poetry, 'Black Creole Chronicles,' was praised by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown as ‘a poetry of the spirit, of the ancestors.’
"M.O. Walsh writes novels and stories that interweave tenderness, humor and tragedy in familiar southeast Louisiana locales. His most recent novel, "The Big Door Prize," was adapted into a hit series for Apple TV+.”
The event is the school year’s first installment of the Delta Mouth Reading Series, an extension of the student-run Delta Mouth Literary Festival, which will happen in April.
Presented by LSU’s Department of English and the Creative Writing program, the reading series' associate sponsor is the LSU Alumni Association. Co-sponsors are the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College and the African and African American Studies program.