NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

October 17, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOUR LOCAL AUTHORS TO DISCUSS NEW BOOKS AT EAST BANK REGIONAL LIBRARY PRESENTATION

JEFFERSON, LA – Four local authors – John R. Greene, Rebeccca Gernon, Xavier DeSoto and John Lopez — will discuss their new books at 7 p.m., Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at the East Bank Regional Library (4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie, LA 70001). 

This presentation is free of charge and open to the public. There is no registration. 

French Quarter Saints by John R. Greene

George Santos has lost his job, wife, savings, and best friend in one afternoon. He has nothing left to live for, until he stops at the smallest bar in the French Quarter for a final drink. The people he meets, and the adventures he encounters, force him to reexamine the world, reality and his place in it. French Quarter Saints is set in New Orleans as it was in 1972. The city, and the world, are in turmoil as young people question traditional roles and views.

John R. Greene was born and raised in New Orleans. He attended the University of New Orleans, and graduated with a BA in Anthropology in 1979. He worked his way through college as a dry cleaner, cemetery caretaker, and as a student worker at the Archaeological and the Cultural Research Program of UNO. He worked as a professional archaeologist for the ACRP, focusing on both the historic and prehistoric archaeology of southeastern Louisiana from 1980-88. During his time at the ACRP, he completed all course work for a BS and MS in Geology from UNO. Following that, he worked as a marine archaeologist and social scientist for the Minerals Management Service, Department of the Interior, until 1998. After leaving the Department of the Interior, he began a new career as an exploration geologist and worked for the next two decades as an independent geologist.

The Sunflower Letters – A Mid-Century Life of Discoveries by Rebecca Willman Gernon

Redcliffe "Rebel" Rothenberg takes the reader on a nostalgic trip to a small town in Kansas during the 1950s-1960s. In 1946, the day "Rebel" was born, the ceiling fell on her family at the breakfast table, an omen of surprises yet to come in her life. If there is mischief brewing, copper-colored, curly-haired Rebel is there which results in stern lectures from Grandma, a woman whose old-fashioned ways clash with Rebel's zest for life. Rebel's life is one of fun, sorrow, embarrassment, and of witnessing the power of forgiveness. She is a mid-century Anne of Green Gable or Laura Ingalls Wilder on steroids. The book is a fun historic read for young people and a nostalgic read for older readers.

Rebecca Gernon was born in Illinois but lived most of her life in small Nebraska towns. She lives in the New Orleans area with her husband. Amy Signs, A Mother, Her Deaf Daughter and Their Stories (Gallaudet University 2012) co-authored with her daughter, Amy Willman, is in more than 600 libraries worldwide. Gernon's stories have been published in the following anthologies: The Best Mom in the World, All My Good Habits I Learned from Grandma; Love is a Verb; and Expecting Miracles.

Mardi Gras Madness by Xavier DeSoto

Detective Zeke Malone witnesses the death of his wife at the hands of a lunatic bomber. Two years later, he still grieves but is rebuilding his life as a P.I. He is hired to follow a wealthy doctor's wife, who is shot dead in cold blood outside St. Louis Cathedral in broad daylight.

While investigating the killing, he discovers a connection between her death and a drug-smuggling operation. Malone is thrust into the shadow side of the French Quarter, a city within the city filled with jazz, dark alleys, art smuggling, and the stench of Bourbon Street.

Xavier DeSoto was born a stone's throw from “The Wall,” the State Penitentiary in East Texas. where his interests in murder mysteries and the psychology of criminals began. He’s worked as a psychiatric orderly, cameraman, door-to-door salesman, and factory worker. He transplanted to New Orleans in his early twenties, working his way through college to receive his first B.A. in Communications, before serving as a copywriter, TV director, and program director. Later in life, he returned to college for his second degree, and worked as an RN and ICU coordinator. He has written numerous short stories, and is currently working on his fourth novel. Xavier lives in New Orleans.  

Blind in Two Eyes by John Lopez

In 1917, a recently wed English couple immigrate to New Orleans to escape the wrath of the German military. As they struggle to build a new life, they adjust to local traditions while working in lake bathhouses and on steamships on the Mississippi River, but unaware that they are being hunted by an assassin on a crusade to avenge the death of his father. Their strained marriage and working-class living in old New Orleans are threatened as they confront war, flood, Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression during a period when Jazz, Mardi Gras, and bootleg liquor flourished in the Vieux Carré.

John Lopez, PhD, is president of Delta Science LLC and consults with several non-profit and for-profit entities. From 2001 to 2005, he worked for the Corps of Engineers in the Coastal Restoration Branch. He was a founding member of Pontchartrain Conservancy and served on its board for two terms. From 2010 to 2014, he was the Executive Director and oversaw the reconstruction of the New Basin Canal Lighthouse. From 2005 to 2021, he directed their Coast and Community Program. In 2005, he developed the Multiple Lines of Defense System, which has gained broad acceptance in coastal Louisiana. From 2009 to 2017, he served on the Framework Development team for the State’s Coastal Master Plans and later on the Regional Planning Team for the state’s 2023 plan. He is a member of AGU, GSA, CERF, and the AAPG. In 2005, he was awarded the Orville T. Magoon Service Award by NOAA. He was subsequently awarded Professional Conservation of the Year, Governor John Bell Edwards Commendation, Coastal Stewardship Award, and others.

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO