Andy Perrin, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Acadian Museum has announced that the museum will honor Darrell Bourque, Ph.D. by inducting him into the Order of Living Legends Thursday, August 15, 2013 (National Acadian Day), at the Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville, LA, at 4:00 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the end of Bourque's Bayou Teche Book Tour.
Darrell Bourque was born in southwest Louisiana in 1942, and is of Acadian heritage. He started publishing poems while working on his Ph. D. at Florida State in the mid-70s and is the author of six books of poems, the latest being Megan's Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie (University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2013). The book is a reflection of contemporary life in Acadiana and is a story of the legend(s) of the journey of the Acadians from the Canadian Maritimes and the various ways they made their way to Louisiana and, in mixed forms, also about contemporary Acadie in Louisiana. Bourque is professor emeritus in English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he served as the first Friends of the Humanities Honor Professor. He also served as Louisiana Poet Laureate in 2007-2008 and from 2009-2011.
Currently, Bourque is a founding member of Narrative4, an international story exchange initiative based in Chicago bringing the healing power of stories to traumatized areas throughout the world. He serves a member of the board of Festival of Words, a literary and literacy initiative for rural areas of Acadiana and is vice president of the board of the Ernest J. Gaines Center at ULL. Since his retirement from ULL in 2003 he has dedicated himself to writing and to teaching writing and poetry in the libraries and community centers throughout Louisiana. He works to support the Arnaudville French Immersion programs and activities, and his latest poetry project, launched this summer (2013), is his work to establish a Poet Laureate of French Louisiana. Dr.Bourque lives in rural St. Landry Parish with his wife, Karen, who is a glass artist.