University of Louisiana Press (pub: September 25, 2018)

New in paperback. Signed.

Author Jan Risher took the long way to get from Mississippi to Louisiana with stops in between in Slovakia, Mexico, China, Burkina Faso, and more than forty other countries. Since moving to Lafayette, Louisiana, she has been a Sunday columnist for The Daily Advertiser and has written a column every single week since March 2002.

Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and Other Long Stories Short is the collection of these columns. Written over fifteen years and arranged in chronological order, the collection creates a narrative of one woman’s aim to build her family, build up her community and weave the stories and lessons learned from the past into the present.

From her family’s move to Louisiana, adoption of a daughter from China, covering Hurricane Katrina, travels near and far, author Jan Risher attempts -- sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding -- to do her small part to make the world a better place. Jan continues to write a weekly newspaper column.