Join Community Book Center as we host a reading on Saturday, October 29th from 2-4pm with Niyi Osundare, author of City Without People: The Katrina Poems at CBC.
Niyi Osundare and his wife Kemi spent over 26 hours in the attic of their home and watched Hurricane Katrina swamp their house and destroy everything the family owned. Only a somewhat divine intervention by a neighbor saved them from perishing in the flood.
This new volume of poems is not just about the devastation caused by the flood, the agonizing journey through the evacuation centers, and the four-month 'exile' in New Hampshire; it is also about the indomitability of the human spirit and a celebration of the ‘rainbow vernacular’ of New Orleans, our city.
Coming on the sixth anniversary of Katrina, this volume sings of the experiences we must never forget and the lessons we need to learn.
October 29th , 2011
2pm-4pm
Community Book Center
2523 Bayou Rd.
(504) 948-7323
Celebrating 28 years of service to our community!
Also on Sunday come out an support the Hope For Haitian Children's Foundation from 1-4pm (See below)
Vera Warren-Williams Community Book Center
2523 Bayou Road
New Orleans, LA 70119
(504) 948-READ (7323)
communitybookcenter@yahoo.com
Zeitgeist and Haitian Art Society Host Event to Benefit Hope for Haitian Children Foundation
The Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Art Center, located at 1618 Oretha Castle Hailey Boulevard, and the Haitian Art Society will host an event for the Hope for Haitian Children Foundation, Inc (HFHCF). on Sunday, October 30th from noon to 4:00 p.m. The event will feature an art sale with paintings and metalworks from the gallery and private collection of Marie Jose Poux. All proceeds from the sale of the art will benefit HFHCF, which feeds, educates, and clothes over one hundred children in Delmas, Haiti. Multi- media and performance artist Tina Girouard will host an informal discussion on Haitian art from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. during the sale. Three major collaborative works by Tina Girouard and Haitian artist Antoine Oleyant will be on display. The event is open to the public, and more information is available by calling and 954.263.3008 or by visiting the foundation’s website at: https://duems01.dillard.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=1ef6d8b8c126425ba2468f36cb721bad&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.hopeforhaitianchildrenfoundation.org%2f.
HFCHF Executive Director and activist Marie Jose Poux (fondly known as Mariejo) has been supporting the efforts of and promoting Haitian artists in the New Orleans area for more than three decades. Mariejo and Tina Girouard became friends as a result of their efforts to raise awareness of the deep cultural ties between Haiti and New Orleans. Ms. Girouard will touch upon those connections as the discussion unfolds on Sunday afternoon. The artist, who has collaborated with and promoted many Haitian artists, wants to further support Mariejo whose gallery sales have become one of the main sources of revenue for funding the work that she and her staff of twenty perform on behalf of Haitian orphans. Marijo will move her art gallery to Miami after Sunday’s event, so this will be the last opportunity for New Orleans residents to make a purchase with a greater purpose!
Mariejo “inherited” Fepe, Foyer Espoir Pour Les Enfants, or Hope for Haitian Children Foundation, in 2009 when the wife of the original founder/director passed away. There were fourteen children in the home at the time, but when the January 2010 earthquake devastated much of Port-au-Prince and the areas surrounding the capital, additional orphans referred to Marijo brought the number up to thirty-four. Today HFHCF serves one hundred ten children in a modest- size house that, until recently, also included space for home schooling on the first floor. The challenges have been great, but Mariejo is passionate about her mission and has made many friends in New Orleans who generously lend a hand. “Every day is a miracle!” says Mariejo “I know God can’t give me a job to do without giving me the tools.”
