Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 7/28/99
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   46

SLU'S LOUISIANA LITERATURE PUBLISHES "GOD STORIES"
     HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University has released, God Stories, the spring 1999
special issue of its award-winning literary magazine, Louisiana Literature.
     "'God Stories' capitalizes on Louisiana's rich religious diversity," said Louisiana Literature
editor and Southeastern English professor Jack Bedell, who co-edited the edition with fellow
poet
Darrell Bourque, a member of the University of Southwestern Louisiana English Department
faculty.
     "On the heels of our successful fall issue, Dog Stories, I thought it would be appropriate to
tackle a more series theme," Bedell said. "God Stories represents a nice cross-section of culture
and
generation in art and literature."
     Bedell said the issue's list of contributors is the most impressive in Louisiana Literature's 16-
year history. This list includes Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler; Pulitizer Prize nominee
Vivian Shipley; best-selling novelist Ernest Gaines; nationally-known poets D.C. Berry, Kate
Daniels,
William Miller, Paul Ruffin and Luis Urrea, and Lousiana Poet Laureate Pinkie Gordon Lane.
     Other regional contributors are Bourque, Albert Davis, Marcia Gaudet, Dorie LaRue, David
Middleton, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Mona Lisa Saloy and Raymond Thibodeaux.
     The issue also features photography by Neil Alexander, G. Andrew Boyd, Sydney Byrd,
Keith
Calhoun, Philip Gould, Jackson Hill, Chandra McCormick, Own Murphy, Mark J. Sindler and
Michael J. Smith.
     Bedell said Louisiana Literature plans to spotlight the writers and artists in God Stories at
special public readings and exhibitions at Clark Hall Gallery.
     God Stories ($6) is available by mail from Louisiana Literature, SLU 10792, Hammond, LA
70402. Bedell can be contacted at 504-549-5022 or lalit@selu.edu.
                             -SLU-
     This press release is available on the World Wide Web:
       www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsm99.htm