Two New Orleans authors will present sessions to help local writers be better at their craft from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30, Saturday, June 11, at the North Kenner Library, 630 Esplanade, Kenner.

Each session is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

9:30 a.m., Saturday, June 11, 2022
“How to Write a Sex Scene and When Not To” with Greg Herren

If you're writing a romance novel, sex scenes are almost always mandatory. But, says Greg Herrren, if you're writing in another genre, such as mystery or speculative fiction, you may not need to add sex at all. Before adding sex to a story, always figure out if the move is something that your characters would actually make, or if it’s something that you’re forcing. As a writer, you can control the obstacles that you put in your character’s path, but you can’t (or shouldn’t) control how the characters respond. That response should flow naturally without your interference.

Greg Herren is a New Orleans author and editor. He is a co-founder of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, which takes place in New Orleans every spring. He is the author of 33 novels, including the Lambda Literary Award winning Murder in the Rue Chartres. He co-edited Love, Bourbon Street: Reflections on New Orleans, which also won the Lambda Literary Award. His young adult novel Sleeping Angel won the Moonbeam Gold Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Mystery/Horror, and Lake Thirteen won the silver. He co-edited Night Shadows: Queer Horror, which was shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award. He has published more than 50 short stories in markets as varied as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine to the critically acclaimed anthology New Orleans Noir to various websites, literary magazines and anthologies.

11 a.m. Saturday, June 11, 2022
“What Every Writer Should Know About Voodoo and the Occult” with Kalila Smith

Long regarded by many as America's most haunted city, New Orleans is also home to one of the most feared and misunderstood religions, Voodoo. Learn the secrets of Voodoo which is much more than mere black magic. For example, followers of Voodoo ask the spirits for advice, protection or assistance during ceremonies and observances and writers must get it right.

Kalila Smith was born and raised in New Orleans. She spent over twenty years researching and writing about the paranormal. Her beliefs were challenged when her youngest daughter, Stephanie, died suddenly in January 2013. Finding no resources for parents of special needs children who have died, she wrote Farewell, My Forever Child, to offer to other parents advice on how to deal with the complicated grief of losing a special needs child. Smith is a certified Gestalt Therapist and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist who specializes in grief counseling for parents who have lost a child.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.