Writers and Readers Symposium
The event will be held on Saturday Feb 22, 2025 at Hemingbough Cultural Center and will feature five fantastic authors . As in past years we will gather in the morning with coffee and tea , hear from authors all day , share a delicious lunch and finish by 4pm.
The authors presenting this year include :
Benjamin J. Harbert :
Benjamin J. Harbert is a Professor of Music and Chair of Performing Arts Department at Georgetown University, specializing in the intersections of music, culture, and social institutions. His award-winning book, Instrument of the State: A Century of Music in Louisiana’s Angola Prison (2023), explores prison music’s cultural impact. Harbert is also a filmmaker, the director of Follow Me Down: Portraits of Louisiana Prison Musicians (2013), and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Audiovisual Ethnomusicology.
Rachel M. Marsh
Rachel M. Marsh earned her MFA in creative writing for children from Simmons University in Boston. She lives in New Orleans, where she and her husband eat the world’s best food and renovate their almost-hundred-year-old house. Rougarou Magic is her debut novel.
Jennifer Moorhead
Jennifer Moorhead is a debut author of the Bestseller, BROKEN BAYOU. She has written and co-produced three indie short films in her home state of Louisiana. All shorts made Top 20 in the Louisiana Film Prize and received awards at festivals around the world. Jennifer draws inspiration from the swamps and trails she calls home.
Ed Ruzicka
Ed Ruzicka has published three full-length books of poetry, most recently, “Squalls” (Kelsey Press, 2024). Ed’s poems have appeared in the Atlanta Review, the Chicago Literary Review, Rattle, Canary and have received Pushcart nominations. Ed, who is also the president of the Poetry Society of Louisiana, lives with his wife, Renee, in Baton Rouge.
and Liz Talley
Liz Talley is the USA Today best-selling author of over thirty heartwarming stories. A finalist in both Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart and Rita Awards, Liz has published with Harlequin, Hallmark, and Montlake where she reached number one in kindle romance and was named to Publisher’s Weekly mass market bestseller list. Her stories are set in the South where the tea is sweet, the summers are hot, and the porches are wide. In 2023, she also added screenwriter to her accomplishments, co-writing an adaptation of her novel The Wedding War, which landed in the Top 20 of Louisiana Film Prize.
We hope you will join us again this year. Tickets can be purchased at BonTempsTix | 2025 Writers & Readers Symposium