Crawfish author to make presentation at South Regional Library in Lafayette

Sam Irwin, author of “Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean,” will be available at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at South Regional Library.
The hunt for red crawfish is the thing, the raison d’être, of Acadian spring. Introduced to Louisiana by the swamp dwellers of the Atchafalaya Basin, the crawfish is a regional favorite that has spurred a $210 million industry. Whole families work at the same fisheries, and annual crawfish festivals dominate the social calendar. 
More importantly, no matter the occasion, folks take their boils seriously: they’ll endure line cutters, heat and humidity, mosquitoes and high gas prices to procure crawfish for their families’ annual backyard boils or their corporate picnics. Join author Sam Irwin as he tells the story -- complete with recipes and tall tales--of Louisiana’s favorite crustacean: the crawfish.
The free presentation is part of the Bayou State Book Talk series, a collaboration of the Center for Louisiana Studies at UL Lafayette and the South Regional Library in Lafayette. 
The event is sponsored by the UL Press. Bayou State Book Talks are held the second Thursday of each month at the South Regional Library, 6101 Johnston Street in Lafayette, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.