Book-signing set for LSUS professor 12/13/01

LSU in Shreveport English Professor Dorie LaRue will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. to sign copies of her new novel, “Resurrecting Virgil.”

The novel was an award winner even before it was released. Published by Backwaters Press, “Resurrecting Virgil” won the 2001 Omaha Prize, given annually for an unpublished novel.

Barnes & Noble is located in the Bayou Walk Shopping Center at Youree Drive and 70th Street.

“Resurrecting Virgil” is set in a modern-day North Louisiana town. It focuses on the journey of Virgil Matthews, a shy, dreamy young man, away from alienation and toward love and an understanding of his own mortality.

“Virgil has spent his 20-some years studying and admiring ancient funeral customs of the world,” LaRue said in giving a glimpse of the novel’s plot. “He gets the shock of his life, however, when he realizes his funeral-director employer has a mercenary side.”

As an apprentice, Virgil clashes with an unforgettable cast of southern characters in the dark, comedic tradition of John Kennedy Toole and Fanny Flagg.

LaRue, who teachers creative writing at LSUS, was graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. While at ULL, she studied creative writing with Earnest Gaines, the internationally known author of “A Diary of Miss Jane Pittman,” and many other novels. LaRue will teach her creative writing course in the spring 2002 semester.

For winning the Omaha Prize, judged by Mark Spencer, LaRue received $1,000.