My French Book Fest made its way to Baton Rouge for the first time, creating long lasting ties with local booksellers and international authors in the French language.
The event ran from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16, and it brought together authors, illustrators and educators from all over the Francophone world to promote the language. Started by the Consulate General of France in Louisiana and Villa Albertine, in partnership with the Alliance Française de la Nouvelle-Orléans, the festival celebrates the French language by offering interactive workshops and book signings.
Alliance Française de la Nouvelle-Orléans’ events and marketing coordinator Karla Ewing learned French through an immersion program at a Council for the Development in Louisiana (CODOFIL) school. She said this event originally started after noticing that even though there were almost 6,000 students enrolled in French immersion programs through CODOFIL, the amount of books published in French was lacking. This brought along the initiative to bring French books to Louisiana.
“Children’s books are really important, because they have this magical way of connecting people, but also talking about subjects that might be difficult to express to a child such as inclusion and diversity,” Ewing said. “Children’s books can kind of breach those limits in a way that is still fun and colorful.”
The first dimension of the festival is field trips to cultural centers. For the first two years, the only trip was to the Alliance Française. Now, the addition of the West Baton Rouge Museum and the Center for Louisiana Studies in Lafayette has expanded its reach. Through these programs, students are able to participate in workshops and learn from French speaking guests.
With two publishing houses that publish in French, the main goal of this dimension is supporting the economy of French literature in Louisiana. Partnering with these publishers, authors and booksellers make these items more accessible for children, who could be inspired to write literature in French one day.
The third and final dimension is bringing the French language into schools. Ewing said they send international artists to schools around Louisiana to make the festival more accessible for everyone. Not everyone has the time or means to make it to a cultural center, so the organization has money set aside for transportation costs, making it completely free for students.
“At Alliance Française we say that being monolingual is like seeing the world in black and white and when you can speak different languages,” Ewing said. “It transforms your world into a diverse, colorful experience that you can connect with other people in different ways.”
Founded in 1984, Alliance Française de la Nouvelle-Orléans is a nonprofit that has been one of the leading providers of French culture and language education in New Orleans. They host language classes for all levels and certified exams and are the only testing center in the Gulf South for some French exams that are neccessary for visa applications and university requirements.
Culture is a major component of Alliance Française. The organization has gallery space, a French language library with around 3,000 documents and an event space. Other than My French Book Fest, they host Francophone Month in March, where time is spent celebrating the French world. The organization brings people together through French culture, with their current location in the Garden District doubling as a community center that offers yoga classes and book clubs.
“You can come do your work, enjoy a coffee, but really enjoy a sense of community that is built through the connection of the French language,” Ewing said.
André St. Romain is an educator at the West Baton Rouge Museum, in charge of running educational and music programs. Originally from Pointe Coupee Parish, he grew up hearing Louisiana Creole from his dad’s side of the family and learned French through groups and friends. He was responsible for coordinating and organizing tours for school students and French teachers during My French Book Fest.
There are two immersion schools in Baton Rouge: Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet (FLAIM) and Westdale Middle School. Because of these schools, St. Romain said it would make sense to have easier access to books in French. He wants students to see that French is something that exists outside of their classrooms and that they can use outside of school.
“There are people all over South Louisiana, all over America and all over the world who speak French, and so it is useful,” St. Romain said. “It’s not just something that you can forget about after you leave your school.”
Alliance Française has over a hundred chapters in the United States. For more information on speaking French in Louisiana and My French Book Fest, check out their website here.