Even as The New Republic claims in their September 10, 2010 article that “the literary response to Hurricane Katrina has been almost nonexistent,” NewSouth begs to differ. While writer Chloe Schama believes that “no major literary figure has illustrated the effects of the hurricane,” NewSouth proudly points to Tony Dunbar’s Tubby Meets Katrina, published in the wake of the storm.

Tony Dunbar, a New Orleans-based attorney and award winning author, created his seventh mystery in the Tubby Dubonnet series in order to capture the grim picture of the Crescent City in those days of chaos only five years ago. As Tubby’s tries to save his kidnapped daughter, Dunbar explores the struggles surrounding the Convention Center, the flooding jail, and the incompetence of state and local authorities. Dunbar’s depiction of the aftermath surrounding this horrific event has received high praise and many glowing reviews; Kirkus Reviews wrote that “Dunbar ushers in the era of Hurricane Katrina fiction [and] scores an even more decisive bull’s eye in his account of the disaster after the disaster.”

Additionally, Rod Davis, a Texas-based writer and editor and author of the Pen/Southwest Fiction Award-winning Corina’s Way, spent several weeks in New Orleans during the aftermath of Katrina and was able to meet with survivors and see the damage firsthand. He is writing a new novel based on of his “kind of witness-bearing” that he will forever remember. On his blog, Ochosi Chronicles, Davis writes:

It has taken me most of this time to feel that I could write about it in fiction, which I am now doing for a new novel for NewSouth Books. … We all remember what happened, and what didn’t happen, and what needs to happen. … I think everyone who cares about the South can never forget the meaning of Katrina. And not just the damage from the storm. The way the most important city in the South, if not the U.S., was left to die. And that it has not done so.

While some may believe that the proper literary respect has not been given to Hurricane Katrina and its aftershocks, NewSouth Books, along with Tony Dunbar and Rod Davis, has been working hard to present titles that convey the experience of the storm.

Alan Gerson, author/illustrator of Habeas Circus: Illegal Humor and writer of the poetry volume Things We Cannot Know, is presenting a new expedition of his works painted in collaboration with Jessie Poimboef at the LeMieux Gallery in New Orleans. The series, “The League of Notions,” opened August 7, 2010 and will be on view for the public until September 25.

Gerson Gerson’s paintings have been described as “dreamlike in that he creates a world that is convincing and appears real but is at the same time highly personal and imagined.” He has collaborated with Poimboeuf on several paintings over the last ten years. Their joint efforts show how two rather different artists can come together and create a single painting at the same time.

Gerson describes the process as time consuming and says that “it takes us hours upon days to complete one work of art.” He calls their collaboration a “jazz effort” and says, “We work together simultaneously. Sometimes one goes up and the other goes down.” Both Gerson and Poimboeuf name their finished piece; therefore, each piece of art presented in the gallery is known by two names.

Watch a sneak peek of the “League of Notions” gallery show on YouTube:

For additional information about the event, contact the LeMieux Gallery at 504-522-5988 or visit them online at www.leimieuxgalleries.com.

Gerson’s Habeas Circus: Illegal Humor uses his unique, eye-tickling artwork to look at the American justice system with tongue planted firmly in cheek. It’s available from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite online or local bookseller.