Bayou State Book Talks: "Louisiana Crawfish"

Bayou State Book Talks Continue March 12 with Sam Irwin's "Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean." Join us Thursday, March 12 beginning at 6:30pm at the South Regional Library as we talk about crawfish with author Sam Irwin.

The hunt for red crawfish is the thing, the raison d'être , of Acadian spring. Introduced to Louisiana by the swamp dwellers of the Atchafalaya Basin, the crawfish is a regional favorite that has spurred a $210 million industry. Whole families work at the same fisheries, and annual crawfish festivals dominate the social calendar. More importantly, no matter the occasion, folks take their boils seriously: they'll endure line cutters, heat and humidity, mosquitoes and high gas prices to procure crawfish for their families' annual backyard boils or their corporate picnics. Join author Sam Irwin as he tells the story — complete with recipes and tall tales — of Louisiana's favorite crustacean: the crawfish.

Sam Irwin is a freelance photojournalist living in Baton Rouge. He is a native of Breaux Bridge, the Crawfish Capital of the World, and spent much of his childhood in Henderson, Louisiana at Amy's Fisheries, his grandfather's fish and crawfish market. Sam is the former press secretary of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry and a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He has also been a history teacher, a Cajun music dancehall operator and the owner of a record store.

This free presentation is part of the Bayou State Book Talk series, a collaboration of the Center for Louisiana Studies at UL Lafayette and the South Regional Library in Lafayette. Bayou State Book Talks are held the second Thursday of each month at the South Regional Library, 6101 Johnston Street in Lafayette, from 6:30pm-8pm.