Louisiana Authors Index
A Retrospective Bibliography of Louisiana Authors and Their Works
The Louisiana Authors Index is an attempt to create a retrospective bibliography of deceased Louisiana authors and their works, including basic biographical information. Please note that it does include many living Louisiana authors, but that living authors are no longer being added to the database because the Louisiana Center for the Book maintains an in-depth listing of living Louisiana authors at the Louisiana Writers Directory.
The Index is a work in progress. To suggest additions of deceased authors or to report errors, please contact Elaine Smyth, Head of Special Collections, LSU Libraries.
Scope of the Index
To be included in the Louisiana Authors Index a person must have been a native or temporary resident of Louisiana. There are no restrictions as to length of residency, but a visit to Louisiana is not regarded as establishing residency. The following information is included in this database:
- Complete name
- Birth and death dates
- Pseudonyms
- Works by that author. Books listed in this bibliography are not necessarily owned by LSU.
Sources of Information
Sources that have already been checked include:
- Biographical Dictionary of Southern Authors, compiled by Lucian Lamar Knight. (Reprint. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978).
- The French Literature of Louisiana, by Ruby Van Allen Caulfeild. (New York: Columbia U., 1929).
- The Literature of the Louisiana Territory, by Alexander De Menil. (St. Louis, 1904).
- The Louisiana Book: Selections from the Literature of the State, by Thomas M'Caleb. (New Orleans: R.F. Straughan, 1894).
- Louisiana Writers Native and Resident, Including Others Whose Books Belong to a Bibliography of That State..., by Thomas Payne Thompson. (New Orleans, 1904).
- Southern Writing 1585-1920, by Richard Beale Davis. (New York: Odyssey Press, 1970).
- Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary. (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1979).
- Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays: A Biographical Directory and Dramatic Index, by Bernard L. Peterson. (New York: Greenwood Press, 1988).
- Northwest Louisiana Authors, by Mignon Morse. (Shreveport: Shreve Memorial Library, 1989).
- Southern Writing in the Sixties, by John William Corrington. (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1966-67).
- Women Writers of the contemporary South, edited by Peggy Whitman Prenshaw. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1984).
- Southern Fiction Prior to 1860: An Attempt at a First-Hand Bibliography, by James Gibson Johnson. (Charlottesville: Michie, 1909).
- A Southern Bibliography, compiled by Janet Agnew. Vol. 1 Fiction 1929-1938. Vol. 2 Historical Fiction 1929-1938. Vol 3 Poetry 1929-1938. (Baton Rouge: LSU, 1939-42).
- Poets of Louisiana. (Natchitoches, 1966) -- Partial.
- Louisiana Women Writers: New Essays and a Comprehensive Bibliography, edited by Dorothy H. Brown and Barbara C. Ewell. (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1992).
- Louisiana Literary Award Bibliography 1989,1990 (included prior to the establishment of the Louisiana Center for the Book's database)
- Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers (included prior to the establishment of the Louisiana Center for the Book's database)
- Glen Pitre's Louisiana Catalog 1989,1990 (included prior to the establishment of the Louisiana Center for the Book's database)
- A Retrospective Bibliography of Louisiana Authors and Their Works
Using the Database
The Louisiana Authors Index has been recreated as an online, searchable database. You may search by any of the following fields: Section, Last name, First name, Works or Bio. Book titles will be listed in the "Works" field, and you may find references to cities, vocations, institutions, etc., in the "Bio" field. Use the "Section" field to list all authors whose names begin with the same first letter (e.g., input "a" in the Section field, then sort results by last name). Alternately, you may conduct a keyword search, which will reference the selected words from all fields. You may instruct the database to sort your results in a number of ways, alphabetical (ascending) by the requested field being one common example. To begin the search, press "View Records" after entering your search terms.
If you have any questions as to the use of this database, please contact the LSU Libraries Special Collections web administrator, Gina Costello.
