Courtesy of LPB.
The hosts of LPB's French language news program La Veilée interviewing at École St. Landry, exploring their French Immersion program.
In 1925, Louisiana’s last French-language newspaper, l’Abeille de la Nouvelle Orleans folded after ninety-eight years in publication. This past September, after ninety-eight years with an exclusively English-language newspaper landscape, Louisiana can once again read regular news in French, as well as in Creole, via the new digital publication Le Louisianais, which works in collaboration with the French media platform Télé-Louisiane.
Helmed by longtime Country Roads contributor Jonathan Olivier as editor-in-chief, deputy editor Aurélie Saulnier, and a host of local language activists and writers that include David Cheramie, Megan Broussard, and Joseph Dunn—the publication will not only produce articles written in Louisiana French and Creole (made accessible to English-only speakers as well through a translate toggle on the website), but also will focus on news directly impacting French- and Creole-speaking communities around the state and offer educational resources for English-speaking Louisianans interested in learning these languages.
“If you look at virtually every community in Canada where French speakers are the minority outside of Quebec, such as in Nova Scotia or Ontario, there is a Francophone newspaper to serve these people,” said Olivier. “Although Louisiana remains a region with a vibrant French-speaking population, we really haven’t had local journalism in French since the early 20th century. So, Le Louisianais functions as a voice for our communities of heritage language speakers, and it provides these people a space to express themselves in French or Creole. This expression is vital to the evolution and advancement of our French and Creole-speaking communities.”
[Read about Country Roads's partnership with Télé-Louisiane, here.]
Beyond the written word, Télé-Louisiane is also bringing French news back to Louisianans’ televisions with the return of Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s weekly La Veillée news segments. The program, which premiered its first season in 2022 and instantly received international acclaim via online streaming, brings stories from Louisiana’s French and Creole-speaking communities to the screen, delivered in Louisiana French (with English subtitles). Season 1 featured stories covering Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, efforts to save rural Louisiana schools in Grand Caillou and Catahoula, French radio in Acadiana, and more.
Season 2 of La Veillée premiered on October 5, celebrating the recent opening of École Pointe-au-Chien, the country’s first Indigenous French immersion school, and has featured episodes on the diverse Creole community of Pointe Coupée Parish, alligator hunting with Swamp People’s Troy Landry, and the struggles of the local shrimping industry.
“What makes La Veillée so special isn’t just that it’s almost exclusively in Louisiana French (or Louisiana Creole),” explained host and Télé-Louisiane’s Chief Executive Officer Will McGrew, “but also the show’s uniquely Louisianist angle of storytelling. We try to tell stories that are broadly appealing, relevant, and interesting to people across Louisiana but at the same time relatively undercovered in mainstream local and national TV media.”
New episodes of La Veillée are broadcast on LPB on Thursdays at 7:45 pm, and previously-aired episodes can be watched at lpb.org/programs/la-viellee or telelouisiane.com/laveillee. You can read stories at Le Louisianais at louisianais.com. And look out for future stories in Le Louisianais published in partnership between Télé-Louisiane and Country Roads.
