University English professor Alison Pelegrin made quite the name for herself by having several works, most recently “Waterlines” published. Pelegrin’s mother gifted her with small notebooks, prompting her literary journey.
Courtesy of Alison Pelegrin

English Instructor Alison Pelegrin has been with the department for fifteen years. Besides being an educator, Pelegrin embeds local elements of culture and personal experiences to write and publish several well-acclaimed literary works. Her area of expertise in the classroom is composition, rhetoric, American literature and creative writing, including poetry. 

According to Pelegrin, her primary genre is poetry, but she occasionally publishes essays.

“The Zydeco Tablets,” “Big Muddy River of Stars” and “Hurricane Party” are all books of poetry written by Pelegrin. Pelegrin also wrote three chapbooks, smaller books of poetry, “Squeezers,” “Voodoo Lips” and “Dancing with the One-Armed Man.” “Waterlines” is her fourth poetry book.  

“Most writers will tell you that their favorite piece is the one they just finished,” said Pelegrin. “That is partially true for me as I am quite pleased with some of the poems I was able to finish over the summer. But, I also love the poem that opens ‘Waterlines,’ which is titled ‘Poem Folded into a Boat and Offered to the Bogue Falaya.’”

A part of Pelegrin’s inspiration for “Waterlines” was the natural disasters that she experienced that had a lasting effect on her.

“These poems were finished a year ago,” said Pelegrin. “But, I grew up in New Orleans and floods and hurricanes shaped me in many ways and I do write about that in ‘Waterlines’ as well as previous books.”

Pelegrin’s work has been featured in literary journals such as “Poetry Daily,” “The Writer’s Almanac,” “The Southern Review,” “Ploughshares,” “Copper Nickel” and “Barn Owl Review.”

Awards and honors such as fellowships from The Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts have all been bestowed to Pelegrin. At the university, Pelegrin received the President’s Medal for Artistic Activity. 

“The fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts is my proudest fellowship because the process is extremely competitive and I applied many times before being awarded the fellowship,” said Pelegrin. “I was also very proud to sign a book contract with LSU Press, the publisher of ‘Waterlines.’ They are an outstanding press with a stellar reputation and I dreamed of having a book with them for twenty years.”

According to Pelegrin, her writing began as a child when her mother bought her notebooks that she filled with stories. Since then, she has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Honors English and a Masters in English at the university and a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Arkansas.

The LSU Press and The Southern Review invited the public to a free and open book signing and reading of “Waterlines” by Pelegrin at the Southern Hotel in Covington on Thursday, Sept. 8.  

“Waterlines” is available for purchase through Amazon.com or through the LSU Press at www.lsupress.org. For more information, visit Pelegrin’s website at www.alisonpelegrin.com.