Keynote: Lolis Eric Elie

Rising Tide is pleased to have New Orleans based writer and filmmaker Lolis Eric Elie as a keyote speaker at Rising Tide 7. Lolis is ubiquitous. Whether you know his work from the HBO series Treme or his thrice weekly column ('95-'09) or in the soon to be thrice-weekly Times-Picayune, if you're from New Orleans you know his work. A recognized expert on New Orleans food and culture his writing has appeared in The Oxford American, Gourmet, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Downbeat and The San Francisco Chronicle among other publications. A former commentator for CBS News Sunday Morning, he has also appeared often on National Public Radio programs. This panel and more will be presented on two stages at the Rising Tide 7 Conference on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Keynote: Lolis Eric Elie  Bio: Lolis Eric Elie is a New Orleans based writer and filmmaker. Most recently, he joined the staff of the HBO series Treme. Working with the award-winning director Dawn Logsdon, he coproduced and wrote the PBS documentary, Faubourg Treme: the Untold Story of Black New Orleans. His essay, “America’s Greatest Hits,” is included in Best African American Essays: 2009. From 1995 to 2009, he wrote a thrice-weekly column for the New Orleans’ Times-Picayune. A recognized expert on New Orleans food and culture, he is the author of Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country and co-producer and writer of Smokestack Lightning: A Day in the Life of Barbecue, the documentary based on that book. He is editor of Cornbread Nation 2: The Best of Southern Food Writing. A contributing writer to The Oxford American, his work has appeared in Gourmet, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Downbeat and The San Francisco Chronicle among other publications. His work is included in the anthologies Best Food Writing: 2008, Streetlights: Illuminating Tales of the Urban Black Experience, and That‘s What I Like (About the South: and Other New Southern Stories for the Nineties). A former commentator for CBS News Sunday Morning, he has also appeared often on National Public Radio programs. He has an MA from the Columbia School of Journalism in New York and an MFA from the University of Virginia.