Published June 11, 2021 at 10:15 AM CDT Listen • 27:00
Susan Larson talks with Michael Tisserand about his discovery of two metal boxes containing Kodachrome slides shot by his father which led to his soon to be released book, “My Father When Young.”
Here’s what’s on tap in the literary life this week:
Here in New Orleans:
Rebecca Fichter Hale discusses and signs “Tips from a Talent Agent: Practical Advice for Actors,” Sunday, June 13, from 2-3:30 at Octavia Books.
Michael Tisserand discusses “My Father When Young: Photographs by Jerry Tisserand,” with Gwen Thompkins, Tuesday, June 15 form 6-7 at Octavia Books.
There will be a special virtual event celebrating the launch of IN THE HEIGHTS: Finding Home featuring award-winning songwriter, actor, and director Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, and acclaimed writer Jeremy McCarter. Special guest moderator for this event will be America Ferrera, who join
A wedding procession in Orleans, France. Young women puffing cigars in Evansville, Indiana. A costumed reveler crossing the street during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. These photos, and many more, were captured by Jerry Tisserand between 1955 and 1959. His collection of images is now the subject of the book, “My Father When Young” by […]
Browsers stay masked and socially distant at Octavia Books in October.
Independent booksellers ordinarily rely on foot traffic and in-person browsing for their sales. That all changed in March of last year. Two Uptown bookstores, however, have found ways to adapt and even thrive through the pandemic.
Garden District Book Shop, in a historic building that once housed a roller rink on oak-canopied Prytania Street, and Octavia Books, set back on a diagonal on its quiet eponymous street near the river, have both continued to sell books to residents across the city.
By altering their in-store browsing, as well as shipping and delivering tomes directly to the homes of their devoted clientele, the booksellers have shown tenacity in a time of chaos and uncertainty.
Mardi Gras with My Dad and the Revelers We May Never Know
In a year unlike any other, a writer discovers a hidden trove of his father’s photographs and unearths a vintage view of New Orleans
January 28, 2021
Lady Godiva is dancing as beer sloshes in its mug. She’s in the French Quarter, on the corner of St. Ann and Royal streets. Behind her stands a bulb-nosed man in what’s left of his tuxedo. Off to the side is a child, perhaps Godiva’s daughter. She’s in white boots and a majorette uniform. This young girl, quite likely the only sober person on this street corner, regards with mild interest the photographer, who is my father, Jerry Tisserand. It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, 1959.