Bonjour à tous,
November is a busy month for French in Louisiana. A French-language children's book festival is coming to three cities, new books in Louisiana French are ready for the holidays, and we're heading to Pointe-au-Chien to meet families. And mark your calendars: Le Grand Pique-Nique returns on March 6, 2027.
Voici les nouvelles. First up, the Book Fest starts this week!
Lire en français !
My French Book Fest
November 4–14 · New Orleans, Lafayette, Port Allen
Louisiana's only youth literature festival held entirely in French brings authors, illustrators, and storytellers from across the Francophone world to Louisiana kids. It's a wonderful chance for immersion students to meet the people who make the books they read, and to see that French is a language for fun, not just for school. Here are three family events worth putting on the calendar:
Family Day in New Orleans
Saturday, November 7 · 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Alliance Française de La Nouvelle-Orléans, 1519 Jackson Ave.
A free open house for the whole family: author book signings, hands-on workshops, a theater contest, food, and a free French book fair. Live music from Mardi de Musique at 12:15 p.m. and the Cajun duo T'Monde at 2 p.m. Free and open to everyone. RSVP here →
Story Time in the Library, Lafayette
Friday, November 13 · 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Alliance Française de Lafayette, 735 Jefferson St.
Author Francine Vidal reads from La grenouille à grande bouche in the Alliance's new upstairs library, with activities for kids. All children are welcome with their parents, and no RSVP is needed. Event details →
TiBert le Voyageur at the West Baton Rouge Museum
Saturday, November 14 · 11 a.m. (festival at the museum runs November 12–14)
West Baton Rouge Museum, 845 N. Jefferson Ave., Port Allen
Franco-Manitoban Métis storyteller Rob Malo performs as TiBert le Voyageur, a family show about the early Canadian voyageurs and the Native peoples they met. Free and open to the public. The closest Book Fest stop for Baton Rouge families! Event details →
Presented by the Consulate General of France in Louisiana and Villa Albertine, in partnership with the Alliance Française de La Nouvelle-Orléans.
Réservez la date !
Le Grand Pique-Nique 2027
Saturday, March 6, 2027 · Erath City Park
Le Grand Pique-Nique is back! Join French immersion families from across Louisiana at Erath City Park in Vermilion Parish. This year's host is LeBlanc Elementary, celebrating its first full K–5 immersion cycle.
Expect what makes LGPN special: a student talent show, art competitions, DELF awards, music, food, and our closing sing-along. Schools come from Shreveport to New Orleans, so it's a chance for your kids to meet immersion students from all over the state. More details soon. For now, put it on your calendar!
On se voit à Pointe-au-Chien !
Parent social at École Pointe-au-Chien
Saturday, November 14 · 10 a.m.–noon
LPFI is heading down the bayou! Kelly Such Stewart and I will be at École Pointe-au-Chien, Louisiana's first Indigenous French immersion school, and we can't wait to meet its families.
Everyone is welcome: EPAC parents, families from other immersion programs, and anyone curious about French immersion or LPFI. Come say bonjour, ask questions, and tell us what your school needs.
Where: 1558 LA-665, Montegut, LA 70377
Merci to Clotilde Poujade, EPAC's CODOFIL French teacher, for helping make this happen.
Des livres en français louisianais
New books from Éditions Tintamarre
Looking for holiday gifts that support your young reader's French? Éditions Tintamarre has three new illustrated tales in Louisiana French, written for young and old alike:
Anatoo Tatou by Charles Larroque, illustrated by André Larroque. A friendly south Louisiana armadillo sets out to discover his world. $25
L'emballeuse à Pascal by Barry Jean Ancelet, illustrated by Denise Gallagher. A Cajun French folktale about a hapless farmer who rides his runaway hay baler to the moon. $25
Le Pont du Bayou Nez-Piqué by Richard Guidry, illustrated by Bruce Allen. Brave André LeBlanc faces a mysterious bridge that makes travelers disappear. $50 online, including a $20 gift to the Richard Guidry Cajun and Creole Language Fund. Ships mid-November.
Books in Louisiana French are hard to find. These are a great way to bring the language home for Christmas.
Bénévoles francophones
High school French speakers want to help
The French Club at Baton Rouge Magnet High School is looking for volunteer opportunities where its students can put their French to work, anywhere within about an hour and a half of Baton Rouge (Lafayette, New Orleans, and much of Acadiana).
Could your school, event, or organization use enthusiastic French-speaking teenagers? Think reading to younger immersion students, helping at a festival, or lending a hand at a family event. Email me at president@lpfi.net and I'll pass it along to the club's president.
Merci for everything you do for French in Louisiana. If your school has news to share, email me at president@lpfi.net. I'd love to hear it.
À bientôt,
Matthew Diez
Président, Louisiana Parents for French Immersion
president@lpfi.net
www.lpfi.net
P.S. Know a family who should get these updates? They can sign up at lpfi.net/contact.