Bookworms shopping for gifts at LSU Press’ Season’s Readings Holiday Book Sale may have extended their own Christmas lists.
Attendees had a chance to talk to the people behind the words and purchase signed copies for discounted prices at Friday’s event in the Faculty Club.
Erin Rolfs, marketing manager, said the publishing company has limited opportunity to interact with readers, but the event is a great way to reach the Baton Rouge community.
LSU Press is responsible for publishing scholarly works including dissertations and graduate theses as well as other books authored by University affiliates.
“We serve the creative literary community and our regional history by publishing books in those areas,” Rolfs said.
Ryan Orgera and Wayne Parent were at the event to promote their book, “The Louisiana Field Guide.” Orgera and Parent found experts from the state in each field to write chapters on topics ranging from geography and religion to sports and music.
Orgera, who received his doctorate in geography from the University, said the goal was not to write an encyclopedia but show how Louisiana expresses itself in different areas.
“It’s a lot of different voices, so you have to try and find a common thread,” Orgera said. “But it was so much fun.”
Kelli Scott Kelley, professor of painting, expressed herself in what she calls her autobiographical fairytale, “Accalia and the Swamp Monster.”
“The idea was to write a story as a starting point for a body of art,” Kelley said. “My art has always been kind of narrative, metaphorical, surreal.”
Kelley’s book-inspired art is on display at the LSU Museum of Art.
While some books highlighted Louisiana folklore, other showcased research at the University.
Manship School of Mass Communication professor Jinx Broussard began working on her book, “African American Foreign Correspondents,” in 2006. 
Broussard combed through thousands of newspaper articles, diaries, biographies and autobiographies in library basements and special collections to produce the first comprehensive treatment of the topic. The book received the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication History Division Book Award for the best journalism and mass communication history printed in 2013.
“It was time-consuming,” Broussard said, “It was tedious, but I learned so much.”
Mary Manhein, known around the country as “The Bone Lady,” did research for her book in the forensic anthropology field. With more than 27 years experience, she has abundant stories to tell. 
Her third book in “The Bone Lady” trilogy, titled “Bone Remains,” is a collection of true accounts written in short story form. Each chapter contains its own mystery — from debunking Bigfoot in Kisatchie National Forest to recovering remains from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Manhein said people always ask, but she can never chose her favorite story.
“Everyone of them is my favorite at that particular time,” she said.
While all of the authors are connected to the University, LSU is also the topic of many of their books.
“The Architecture of LSU” discusses the history of University renovations with pictures, maps and renderings.
The book was funded by a Getty Foundation grant to do research for historic preservation of the Quad, but author J. Michael Desmond, architecture history professor, said the idea began much earlier.
“In some ways, it started in 1978,” said Desmond, who was an undergraduate at the University at that time.
LSU Press Director Mary Katherine Callaway said Baton Rouge is fortunate to have a wealth of talented authors and that it was a privilege to have so many gathered together. 
“It really is a great time for everybody,” Callaway said. “We really enjoy it.”