Queer Carnivalesque Poetics

La first ever poésie gay en français de la Louisiane. Pour la première fois dans l'histoire du monde, il y aura une lecture de poésie franco-louisianaise et gay... et carnavalesque. This proudly bilingual event is the début of Louisiana's first collection of queer poetry written in French: Écotones FaquetaÏques by Lyle Avery Alford. Published by our friends at Éditions Tintamarre at Centenary College, Lyle's poems carve out moments in hyper-contemporary time, fixing them on the immovable liminality of the Cajun prairie. The evening begins with presentations by Center for Louisiana Studies researchers and ends with a poetry reading and book signing with Lyle.

Dr. Rachel Doherty opens with a discussion on queerness and Carnival Time, exploring cross dressing, camp humor, and carnival strategies of inversion in French American folkways and literature. French MA student William Dailey showcases the ways our cousins in the Canadian Maritimes are queering carnivalesque jokes on…