French-language literature, dead and buried in Louisiana for more than 110 years, is being reborn in the land of Zachary Richard thanks to the efforts of Tintamarre, the only French-language publisher in the United States.
Tintamarre even saw a 40% increase in the volume of its French book sales last year.
“It is a forgotten literature that we are rediscovering, a literature of the future,” believes Dana Kress, the man at the helm of the Tintamarre editions, whom Le Journal met at the Montreal Book Fair.
In addition to Zachary Richards’ new novel “Les gusts du carême,” three other novels were published in French in Louisiana last year, an interesting number considering that a period of 110 years had previously passed without a French-language novel being published in this southern region A federal state that was predominantly French-speaking until the Civil War.
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“There has been an incredible revival over the last twenty years, and it continues with an intensity that sometimes takes our breath away. It is a literature that French-Canadians know little about but will love,” said Mr. Kress.
“Louisiana,” the editor continues, “has a literary heritage, but because of the Civil War and all sorts of political problems in the United States, we had lost it here too.”
In 2006, Tintamarre published École Gombo, the first poetry collection in French in Louisiana. It publishes modern authors such as Kirby Jambon and Nathan Rabelais as well as authors of yesterday. The authors publish in French, Louisiana Creole, and Louisiana French.
Tintamarre also strives to get French out of Louisiana’s classrooms by offering literary contests, increasing interaction with students, and introducing them to new modern novels like Zachary Richard’s.