The Cajuns, also known as Louisiana Acadians, are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states.
Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.
Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, born Antoine Laumet, was a French explorer and adventurer in New France, which stretched from Eastern Canada to Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico. He rose from a modest beginning in Acadia in 1683 as an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol and furs, achieving various positions of political importance in the colony. He was the commander of Fort de Buade in St. Ignace, Michigan, in 1694. In 1701, he founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit ; he was commandant of the fort until 1710. Between 1710 and 1716, he was the governor of Louisiana, although he did not arrive in that territory until 1713.
Louisiana Creole is a French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Also known as Kouri-Vini, it is spoken today by people who may racially identify as white, black, mixed, and Native American, as well as Cajun and Creole. It should not be confused with its sister language, Louisiana French, a dialect of the French language. Many Louisiana Creoles do not speak the Louisiana Creole language and may instead use French or English as their everyday languages.
Édouard Glissant was a French writer, poet, philosopher, and literary critic from Martinique. He is an influential figure in Caribbean thought and cultural commentary and Francophone literature.
Albert James Young was an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor. He was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2005 to 2008. Young's many books included novels, collections of poetry, essays, and memoirs. His work appeared in literary journals and magazines including Paris Review, Ploughshares, Essence, The New York Times, Chicago Review, Seattle Review, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, Chelsea, Rolling Stone, Gathering of the Tribes, and in anthologies including the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, and the Oxford Anthology of African American Literature.
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a French and later British fortification established in 1701 on the north side of the Detroit River by Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac. A settlement based on the fur trade, farming and missionary work slowly developed in the area. The fort was located in what is now downtown Detroit, northeast of the intersection of Washington Boulevard and West Jefferson Avenue.
Louisiana Creoles are a Louisiana French ethnic group descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana before it became a part of the United States during the period of both French and Spanish rule. They share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French, Spanish, and Creole languages and predominant practice of Catholicism.
Ralph Zachary Richard is an American singer-songwriter and poet. His music is a combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles.
Barry Jean Ancelet is a Cajun folklorist in Louisiana French and ethnomusicologist in Cajun music. He has written several books, and under his pseudonym Jean Arceneaux, including poetry and lyrics to songs.
Carol Muske-Dukes is an American poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and professor, and the former poet laureate of California (2008–2011). Her most recent book of poetry, Sparrow, chronicling the love and loss of Muske-Dukes’ late husband, actor David Dukes, was a National Book Award finalist.
Alain Mabanckou is a novelist, journalist, poet, and academic, a French citizen born in the Republic of the Congo, he is currently a Professor of Literature at UCLA. He is best known for his novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France, including Broken Glass (2005) and the Prix Renaudot-winning Memoirs of a Porcupine (2006). He is among the best known and most successful writers in the French language, and one of the best known African writers in France. In some circles in Paris he is known as "the Samuel Beckett of Africa".
Kate Daniels is an American poet.
Rocky McKeon is a musician and a fluent speaker of Louisiana French. He is regularly sought after for his knowledge of French as it is spoken in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes. He is an ardent defender and promoter of Louisiana French, stressing the importance of its use in today's modern times so that it will not die out. With regards to his work for the preservation of French in Louisiana, he was featured in the video for the State of Louisiana's bid for the 2014 Acadian World Congress. Then he was recently acknowledged in the newest Dictionary of Louisiana French as being a "keen word detective" for his aid in the creation of the dictionary. He also provided the translation for the book heartoffact by Karin Eberhardt, into French. In addition, he has assisted in many research projects at Tulane University, and has been featured in several francophone magazines.
Jean-Claude Renard was a French poet.
Kelly Cherry was an American novelist, poet, essayist, professor, and literary critic and a former Poet Laureate of Virginia (2010–2012). She was the author of more than 30 books, including the poetry collections Songs for a Soviet Composer, Death and Transfiguration, Rising Venus and The Retreats of Thought. Her short fiction was reprinted in The Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, and New Stories from the South, and won a number of awards.
Louisiana French is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisiana French is primarily used in the state of Louisiana, specifically in its southern parishes.
Inez Catalon was an American Creole ballad singer, who was one of the most well-known performers of the genre known as Louisiana "home music". These are a cappella versions of ballads and love songs, drinking songs, game songs, lullabies and waltzes performed by women in the home, passed down from earlier generations to provide entertainment for the family before radio and television existed. Home music is not considered part of the public performance repertoire of Cajun and zydeco music because the songs were sung in the home by women, rather than in the dance halls of southwestern Louisiana which featured almost exclusively male performers.
Mona Lisa Saloy is an American poet and folklorist. She is the Poet Laureate of Louisiana since 2021.
Georgette LeBlanc is a Canadian poet and translator, most noted for serving as the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate in 2018 and 2019.
