NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The Garden District Book Shop announced two February events coming to the store.
On Feb. 2, the shop will host the authors of “Edgar Degas in New Orleans.”
The year 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of iconic French artist Edgar Degas’ 1872 visit to New Orleans and New York. Historian, professor, author and playwright Rosary Hartel O’Neill wrote the play Degas in New Orleans, centered on this trip. With her co-author, Rory O’Neill Schmitt, Rosary also penned a nonfiction book titled “Edgar Degas in New Orleans”, which recounts Degas’ time in New Orleans. Both authors will be at The Garden District Book Shop on February 2 to celebrate their work.
The grit and grandeur of New Orleans gave rise to an icon of French Impressionism. Even though he had longed to visit his departed mother’s birthplace his entire life, Edgar Degas didn’t make it to New Orleans until he was on the cusp of forty. He found the Crescent City wracked with post-Civil War devastation even as his brother plunged the family toward bankruptcy and scandal. But in the midst of turmoil, Degas still found inspiration. Indeed, Degas’ dramatic time in New Orleans led him on a new path in his work: Impressionism.
Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. Rosary and Rory will start the evening off with a discussion about their work and Edgar Degas followed by a signing. Copies of “Edgar Degas in New Orleans” will be available for purchase.
Additionally, author Jamila Minnicks will be at The Garden District Book Shop on Feb. 8 to celebrate the release of her debut novel “Moonrise Over New Jessup.” Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, “Moonrise Over New Jessup” is an enchanting and thought-provoking debut about a Black woman doing whatever it takes to protect all she loves on Alabama soil. Based on the history of the many Black towns and settlements established across the country, Minnicks’ heartfelt and riveting work is both a celebration of Black joy and a timely examination of the opposing viewpoints that attended desegregation in America.
It’s 1957, and after leaving the only home she has ever known, Alice Young steps off the bus into all-Black New Jessup, where residents have largely rejected integration as the means for Black social advancement. Instead, they seek to maintain, and fortify, the community they cherish on their “side of the woods.” In this place, Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell, whose clandestine organizing activities challenge New Jessup’s longstanding status quo and could lead to the young couple’s expulsion—or worse—from the home they both hold dear. As they marry and raise children together, Alice must find a way to balance her undying support for his underground work with her desire to protect New Jessup from the rising pressure of upheaval from inside, and outside, their side of town.
The author event will begin at 6:00 p.m. with Minnicks in conversation with her friend and fellow author Maurice Carlos Ruffin. The two will discuss her work and share insights into “Moonrise Over New Jessup.” Afterwards, they will be available to greet guests and sign copies of their books. The event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase.
