The Ernest J. Gaines Center at UL Lafayette

09/10/2026

We are excited to host Dr. Cassandra Shepard and discuss her book "Settler Colonialism is the Disaster: A Critique of New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina and During the COVID-19 Pandemic" Please join us at 6:30 pm on the third floor of the Edith Garland Dupré Library!

09/02/2026

We mourn the passing of beloved author and environmentalist Wendell Berry on August 31, 2026. He was 92. Wendell Berry and Ernest Gaines were devoted friends from the time they were both Wallace Stegner creative writing fellows at Stanford University. Of the 1958 fellows, they were the only two from the American south, one white and one black, in the early days of the Civil Rights movement. They had both grown up in an environment that valued the rural landscape, and they soon found they had things in common. They maintained a close friendship for over sixty years, until Gaines’s death in 2019. In 2009, Gaines said in an interview, “Wendell and I do share a love of the land, of course. He and I are good friends.”

This photo of Gaines and Berry was taken in December 2007 on the front porch of the Gaines’ house on False River when Berry and his wife Tanya were visiting Ernest and Dianne.

05/26/2026

A nearly 40-mile stretch of Louisiana Highway 1 in Pointe Coupee Parish has been designated the Ernest J. Gaines Memorial Highway in honor of the internationally acclaimed author and University of Louisiana at Lafayette writer-in-residence emeritus.

It represents the latest in a long list of accolades for Gaines, who died in 2019 at age 86, and his fiction, which has been published in many languages, made into movies, claimed prestigious literary awards and earned the writer a commemorative stamp that was issued by U.S. Postal Service.

The location for the memorial highway was selected randomly. It sits near where Gaines was born in 1933, on Riverlake Plantation in Oscar, La. – the region he immortalized in works such as “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “A Lesson Before Dying.”

Read more online at https://bit.ly/4wOhfb4.

An almost 40-mile section of Louisiana Highway 1 in Pointe Coupee Parish has been designated the Ernest J. Gaines Memorial Highway.

05/15/2026

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02/25/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DFc5Wx4EW/?mibextid=wwXIfr

💙 Louisiana State Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter proposes a bill to name a portion of Louisiana Highway 1 in Pointe Coupee Parish as the "Ernest J. Gaines Memorial Highway".

The bill honors the late author of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman".

01/16/2026

Today is Dr. Gaines’s birthday. Join us on Sunday to celebrate his legacy at the rededication of the Jane Pittman Oak in Lakeland Louisiana.

11/06/2025

If you are a postdoctoral scholar, independent researcher, or creative writer, consider applying to our Scholars-in-Residence Program. It offers long and short-term fellowships designed to support and encourage research and writing on the history, politics, literature, and culture of the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora. Fellows receive a stipend, research support, and more. The deadline to apply is December 1, 2025.
https://www.nypl.org/about/fellowships-institutes/schomburg-center-scholars-in-residency/application?utm_campaign=schomburgsocialmedia&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Photo: Lisa Herndon

10/13/2025

Join us as we discuss Charles Chessnutt and Ernest J. Gaines with the amazing author, Wiley Cash!

03/13/2025

Join us for a special screening of “Ancestral Artistry”, presented by the Louisiana Architecture Foundation and the Burden Series!

📍 Bijou Theater, Lafayette
📅 Friday, March 28
⏰ Doors open at 5:15 PM

Purchase tickets here: https://bit.ly/41oLTKt

A huge thank you to Designing Women of Acadiana, CSI of Acadiana, and AIA South Louisiana for making this event possible! 🎥💫

Don’t miss this celebration of the rich architectural legacy shaped by Africans and Creoles of Color in Louisiana. Mark your calendars & stay tuned for more details!