Three winners of the Louisiana Author Project – all from the New Orleans area - will discuss their books at 6 p.m., Monday, March 22, via video conferencing.

Author Virtual Event - Three winners of the Louisiana Author Project – all from the New Orleans area - will discuss their books at 6 p.m., Monday, March 22, via video conference online. Visit www.jplibrary.net/adults for more details, including how join the discussion.

The authors are Jennifer Comeaux, Yvette Canoura and Richard Robbins.Those who are interested in participating should go to the library’s website, then to the tab at the top of the page titled Children/Teens/Adults, then to Adults, then to East Bank Regional. The final step is to go to the event listing under March 22. By clicking on this tab, patrons go directly to the event.

Jennifer Comeaux, author of a young adult, coming of age novel titled Gold Rush, is the winner of the third annual Indie Author Project’s 2020 Regional Contest – Young Adult. She represented the state of Louisiana and she registered her entry through the Jefferson Parish Library, which she patronizes.

Gold Rush features Liza Petrov, whose entire life has been about skating and winning her sport's top prize, Olympic gold. She's stayed sheltered inside her bubble, not daring to stray from her destined path. Until she meets Braden Patrick. He makes her heart flutter with possibility, and for the first time she gets a taste of a normal teenage life. She longs to have both the boy and the gold, but stepping outside her bubble comes with a price.

Jennifer Comeaux is a tax accountant by day, writer by night. She's a diehard figure skating fan and writes stories of romance set in the world of competitive skating. One of her favorite pastimes is traveling to competitions, where she says she experiences all the glitz and drama that inspire her writing.

Yvette Canoura, a writer who lives in Metairie, was chosen as the winner of the 2019 Louisiana Author Project for her romantic suspense book, Mediterranean Sunset, in the adult fiction category.

Canoura will discuss the writing process, writing advice that she uses, self-publishing an award-winning novel – including editing, cover design, and formatting, and marketing.

Canoura is an Associated Press award winning journalist who began her career at age 16 as a newspaper writer in Puerto Rico. She studied broadcasting at Loyola University in New Orleans and hosted her talk show, Voces Hispanas, on both WSMB and WTIX radio stations.

Richard Robbins is the author of Love, Loss and Lagniappe. It is the winner of the third annual Indie Author Project’s 2020 Regional Contest - Adult. He represented the state of Louisiana and he registered his entry through the New Orleans Public Library.

The novel focuses on Dr. Drew Coleman, a successful young eye doctor living in Uptown New Orleans. Having met and married his beautiful medical school classmate, Kate, the two settle happily into the routine of raising their two young daughters. Drew’s charmed life is soon shattered by devastating news, causing him to go on a ten-year transcontinental journey of self-discovery, during which he explores the nature of God and Man, the divine inspiration for many of New York’s landmarks and artistic treasures, and the relationship between the found and the lost souls passing on the street.

Indie Author Project

Local authors who have created works of adult and young adult fiction may submit them to the Louisiana Author Project Competition. The competition honors the top independently-published eBooks in the area.

For indie-published authors, the contest is an opportunity to elevate their careers and expand their readership. Along with the accolade of the award and its perks, being recognized by librarians creates credibility and visibility in the growing marketplace of digital content and indie-published books. Winning authors will reach new readers via the library, and can also leverage being an award-winning indie author for additional marketing opportunities.

Authors can submit their work at indieauthorproject.librariesshare.com/Louisiana. The submission deadline will be announced at some point this spring.