Saturday Morning Writer's Clinic

Thomas Parrie, instructor in the Department of English and World languages at Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, will speak at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, March, 21, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie. This event is free of charge and open to the public. 

Parrie will give a brief craft talk on techniques that make voice and character feel real and distinct, then move into one or two guided writing prompts. Participants will draft short passages or micro-pieces that explore these techniques. During the talk, Parrie  will also refer to living authors, including genre writers, who use voice and character particularly well to ground the discussion in living craft examples. 

Thomas Parrie (MA, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA, and MFA, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA) is an Instructor in the department of English and World Languages. He is affiliated with the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb in western Louisiana and is the author of the poetry collection Toledo Rez & Other Myths (2019) and Choctaw Apache Voices, Volume 1 (2023), with the second volume forthcoming in the Spring of 2026. He is a recipient of the School for Advanced Research Indigenous Writer in Residence Fellow for 2018. Parrie has also presented his work at numerous conferences, such as AWP, PCA, SCMLA, and CONtraflow, has published in fiction and poetry, and is a 2014 Pushcart Prize Nominee. At Southeastern, he teaches Freshman and Honors Composition, American Literature, and Creative Writing.

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.