Ô malheureuse

Somehow our culture has retained an instinctual reverence for the feminine, which is, at the same time, strong as a live oak and fragile as a wild iris. Louisiana French language and culture has survived because of the strong women who are our first teachers and who have patched together their culture and passed it on like heirloom courtes-pointes. Where would we be without the clans of mothers, nannies, aunts, sisters, cousins and friends supporting us ? Without our grandmothers praying the rosary for us daily . The role of women as life-givers, storytellers, song writers, memory-keepers, weavers, healers and poets is integral to my work with Prairie des Femmes and is a legacy I hope will continue to inspire more women to write.

The Ô Malheureuse project was born organically over years and out of a void that I perceived in the availability of women's Louisiana French literature. I understood that if our unique language is to survive, there must be more creation in Louisiana dialects with a special emphasis placed on women's representation in those writings.

Ô Mlaheureuse is a collection of French writing by Louisiana women.