Don’t forget: As part of the Wordsmiths One Year Anniversary festivities, I’ll be cooking crawfish on the Square in Decatur tomorrow evening right in front of The ’smiths.  I am giddy.  You might be asking - why?  What do tasty tasty crustaceans have to do with books?  I’m glad you asked. As part of Saturday night’s festivities, Louisiana author Toni McGee Causey will be reading from her new book Bobbie Faye’s (kinda sorta, not excatly) Family Jewels. Let’s look at Ms. Causey’s book covers:

Do you notice the common thread between those covers?  Right.  Crawfish.  A cajun dance party is called a fais do-do, and the great minds at Wordsmiths hatched the idea of a Bobbie Faye Fais Do-Do.  Cajun food was called for, and being a native New Orleanian, I can’t bear the though of sub-standard Cajun food being served anywhere.  I had to volunteer my services.  We take our eating (and our partying) very seriously in that part of the world.  It’s an essential part of our culture and heritage.

A quick piece of Cajun history and folklore:  The Cajuns in south Louisiana originally lived in French-speaking Canada (where they were known as Acadians) before they were shown the door.  The lobsters in Acadiana were so sad to see the Acadians leaving that the hearty crustaceans began to swim after the Acadians boats.   As you can imagine, the ships sailed a lot quicker than lobsters could swim.  The lobsters couldn’t take any breaks to eat or do anything else if they were going to keep up with the Acadians.  By the time the Acadians and the lobsters were reunited in Louisiana, the lobsters had wasted away to a shadow of their former selves.  Hence the origin of the crawfish.  “Acadian” eventually was bastardized into the word “Cajun,” and there you go. Culture and heritage in one tasty package.

It’s the tail end (a pun!) of the season, and crawfish are trés expensive to ship to this part of the world. Accordingly, quantities will be limited.  Be sure to get there in a timely fashion if you want to get your fair share.  The Bobbie Faye Fais Do-Do gets underway at 7 and is free.

Of course, Wordsmiths being Wordsmiths, the Fais Do-Do is not the only event on the weekend’s agenda.  Here are the highlights again if you haven’t been paying attention:

Friday: Live music from 7-11 PM. Four bands. All awesome.

Saturday:

  • Poetry Atlanta takes the stage at 2 PM
  • At 7PM the Bobbie Faye Fais Do-Do Crawfish Boil and Author Shindig officially gets under way featuring Toni McGee Causey and three other top-shelf authors.

Sunday:

  • Richard Blais’ will be appearing to sign Top Chef: The Cookbook at 2PM.
  • Even more chefs descend on The ’smiths to sign Atlanta Cooks at 4PM.

See the Wordmsiths gang for all of the details.