Deborah Burst will discuss her new book titled Spirits of the Bayou: Sanctuaries, Cemeteries and Hauntings, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

Burst’s presentation is part of the regularly scheduled meeting of the Southern Louisiana chapter of the Romance Writers of America.

Burst calls the book her “most compelling piece of work with more than 256 pages and more than 125 photos. Two years in the making, dozens of photo shoots and interviews, pages and pages of sources in the Bibliography, and best of all a travel section with links at the end of each chapter to guide you on a Louisiana's Sacred Places trail in search of the spirits of the bayou.”

Burst transports readers through New Orleans, north across Lake Pontchartrain to St. Tammany Parish and to the back roads and bayous of Houma, Raceland, Franklin and Morgan City. She shares stories about sanctuaries, cemeteries, hauntings and legends from Louisiana’s ancient houses of worship and cemeteries, and delves into the bayou’s haunted legends.

The book’s 26 chapters focus on subjects including Rayne Memorial Methodist Church, Covington Presbyterian and the Church of Assumption, the Metairie, Madisonville and Southdown Cemeteries, New Orleans Synagogues and Jewish Cemeteries and the Lafitte Bayous.

Deborah Burst is a New Orleans native who enjoys writing outdoors at her home in Mandeville. An award winning writer and photographer, she left a corporate career with IBM and returned to Tulane University graduating cum laude in 2003 with a BFA in Media Arts. In her 12-year career as a freelance writer she has published more than 1,000 articles and twice as many photographs on a local, regional and national level. She has written four books in four years and the last three were self-published. Her next book will be the third book in the continuing Louisiana’s Sacred Places series.

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at (504) 889-8143 or wcsmith@jplibrary.net.

The Southern Louisiana Chapter of the Romance Writers of America meets monthly at the East Bank Regional Library in Metairie. Monthly meetings feature guest speakers who discuss all aspects of writing, editing and publishing. Topics frequently explore subjects other than romance writing though they focus on subjects that make writers better at their craft.