This year’s pick for One Book, One New Orleans, A Campaign for Literacy and Community, is Tom Piazza’s novel City of Refuge, which chronicles two families’ Katrina stories. New Orleanian readers older than sixteen are encouraged to read it, and several forums have been scheduled for discussing various aspects of the novel.

This evening from 5:30 - 7 p.m. at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum , I will participate in a spin-off panel discussion titled Food & Beverage as Identity in New Orleans. The restaurateur Ralph Brennan and Jim Monaghan of the bar Molly's at the Market are my fellow panelists. Please drop by if you live in town and have the time.