Yale French North American Studies, together with the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, is pleased to welcome Darrell Bourque to Yale for a poetry reading and discussion. Bourque is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a former Louisiana Poet Laureate, and the recipient of the Louisiana Book Festival’s 2014 Writer of the Year Award. His writing explores the cultural, racial, and religious dynamics of Louisiana, often with an emphasis on creoles of color and métissage. Bourque’s ten poetry publications include Megan’s Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie and a chapbook inspired by Afro-creole musician Amédé Ardoin (circa 1889-1942). His latest work, From the Other Side, is a series of sonnets on Henriette DeLille (1813-1862), a free woman of color and Francophone creole from New Orleans. Declared venerable by the Roman Catholic Church in 2010, DeLille founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, a religious order for other free women of color in New Orleans.