Evangeline and her Sisters: Poetry Reading at the West Baton Rouge Museum | Way of life

On Sunday, July 11 at 2 p.m. at the West Baton Rouge Museum, join famous Louisiana poets Darrell Bourque and Melissa Bonin for a reading of poems about Acadian women which are variations of the iconic legendary figure of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline. Bourque and Bonin will take the audience on a journey through time with words describing modern women, female family models and women who were part of the first migrations. This event accompanying the museum’s current exhibition, Evangeline: evolution of an icon is FREE and open to the public.

Darrell Bourque, 2007-2011 Louisiana Poet Laureate, is the recipient of the Louisiana Book Festival Writer Award (2014) and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Humanist of the Year Award (2019). Her works include poetic profiles of traditional Louisiana musicians Cleoma Falcon, Amédé Ardoin, Iry Lejeune and Goldman Thibodeaux, social activist Henriette DeLille and legendary historical figure Joseph “Beausoleil” Broussard. His most recent work, Migraré (UL Press, 2019), is a collection of ghazals inspired by paintings by Louisiana abstract expressionist Bill Gingles.

Trained at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and the Catholic University of the West, Angers, France, Melissa Bonin has worked as a visual artist, poet, lyricist and mansion artist for Governor Blanco. Prizes include Bunk Johnson, Trailblazer, and the Women Who Mean Business award. Her recent exhibitions / presentations include: Residency in Chianti, Italy, Book Fair, Montreal, San Miguel, Poetry Week, Hilliard Museum and New Brunswick, Canada where she was the first female visual artist / poet to represent the Louisiana for the Congrès mondial acadien. She has presented her works to Mexican, Italian, French and Canadian audiences in English, French and Italian. Publications include: A Unique Slant of Light, National Endowment for the Humanities, Expressions of Place by John Kemp, The Oxford American, Acadiana Profile, Ô Malheureuse, Feu Follet, Mockingheart Review and Roundtop Anthology.

The West Baton Rouge Museum is located at 845 N. Jefferson Avenue in Port Allen. For more information or for directions, visit www.westbatonrougemuseum.org.