Dayne Sherman (born 1970) is an American journalist and fiction writer. He has published two novels set in the Baxter Parish, Louisiana, based on the real-life Tangipahoa Parish. Sherman's work has been characterized as "

country noir Southern noir is a genre of crime fiction set in the American South. It is considered a subgenre of noir fiction and often deals with themes related to poverty, racism, and violence. Terminology Southern noir is sometimes also called "rural no ...

", a term coined by

Daniel Woodrell Daniel Woodrell (born March 4, 1953) is an American novelist and short story writer, who has written nine novels, most of them set in the Missouri Ozarks, and one collection of short stories. Woodrell coined the phrase " country noir" to describ ...

in his 1996 novel ''Give Us a Kiss''.

Early life and education

Sherman was born in Hammond,

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He attended nearby private and public schools, spending three years in ninth grade and dropping out twice. He took his

GED Ged or GED may refer to: Places * Ged, Louisiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * Ged, a village in Bichiwara Tehsil, Dungarpur District, Rajasthan, India * Delaware Coastal Airport, in Delaware, US, callsign GED People * Ged B ...

aged 18 and enrolled at

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it beca ...

in Hammond. He earned a BA in Communication from Southeastern, then a

Master of Library and Information Science The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) is the master's degree that combines two interdisciplinary academic disciplines. Library science is applied information science and a subfield of information science. This degree focuses on inf ...

degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, and an MA in English and creative writing. He studied under

Tim Gautreaux Timothy Martin Gautreaux (born 1947 in Morgan City, Louisiana) is an American novelist and short story writer. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', '' Best American Short Stories'', '' The Atlantic'', '' Harper's'', and '' GQ''. His ...

and

Andrei Codrescu Andrei Codrescu (; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film ''Road Scholar'' and the Ovid Prize for ...

Marriage and family

Sherman lives in

Ponchatoula, Louisiana Ponchatoula is the second-largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. The population was 6,559 at the 2010 census and 7,545 at the time of the 2020 population estimates program. Etymology It is speculated that the name is derived from the C ...

, north of New Orleans on the edge of the swamp. He is married and has one son born in 2005. He has a large extended family in southeast Louisiana with hundreds of cousins. He is adopted.

Career

Sherman, by this point a full professor of library science, began publishing short fiction in 2001. ''Hard to Remember Hard to Forget'', a short story chapbook, was published in 2003. His first novel, ''Welcome to the Fallen Paradise'', was published in 2004 by MacAdam/Cage. Sherman is the founder and co-host of ''BAM, The Best in American Music Show'' (originally ''Bluegrass And More'') with Davy Brooks for

KSLU KSLU may refer to: * KSLU (FM), radio station (90.9 FM) licensed to Hammond, Louisiana, United States * KSLU (Saint Louis University), student media organization at Saint Louis University, Missouri {{disambig, callsign ...

90.9 FM; this show launched on January 6, 2013. Sherman's hobbies include playing vintage guitars, songwriting, hunting, fishing, book collecting, and buying Southern art and antiques.

Honors

''Welcome to the Fallen Paradise'' was selected as the August 2005 Adult Fiction selection for Dearreader.com, a program used by 3,000 libraries. was listed in Booklist magazine's "Hard-Boiled Gazetteer to Country Noir" on May 1, 2012. It was also named a Best Crime Novel Debut of the Year by Booklist in 2005, a "Best Debut" of 2004 by ''

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'', and a Notable Book for January 2005 by the

American Booksellers Association The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to ...

Book Sense program. "Talk About the South" was listed in Pop South's "Have Y'all Heard? Voices from the Southern Blogosphere" by Karen L. Cox in February 2015. Sherman was given the "Outstanding Faculty Service Award, 2009-2010" by the Southeastern Louisiana University Student Conduct Hearing Board, Judicial Affairs. He also won the 2005-2006 Southeastern Louisiana University President's Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity.

Works

Chapbooks and Novels * ''Hard to Remember, Hard to Forget'', a limited edition chapbook (Over the Transom, 2003) * ''Welcome to the Fallen Paradise: A Novel'' (MacAdam/Cage, 2004, 2005; reprinted by Accendo Books in 2015) * ''Zion: A Novel'' (Published by Accendo Books on October 30, 2014.) Short Stories in Anthologies * "Chemistry." Reprinted in ''Word and Image: Invitations to a Culture of Composition'', 2nd ed. (Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2013), the SLU Dept. of English Custom Reader. * "Snakebit." Reprinted in ''Word and Image: Invitations to a Culture of Composition'' (Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2010), the SLU Dept. of English Custom Reader. * "Too Late to Change." Reprinted in ''Roots to Branches: An Ecology of Writing and Reading'' (Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2007), the Southeastern Louisiana University Dept. of English Custom Reader. * Chapbooks and Novels * "Hard to Remember, Hard to Forget." Reprinted in the 2004 edition of ''Stories from the Blue Moon Café III: Anthology of Southern Writers'' (San Francisco: MacAdam/Cage). Aug. 2004. Short Stories * "Fat Boy: A Memoir." ''Arkansas Review'' (Arkansas State University). 2015. * "Witness: A Louisiana Story." ''Southeast Louisiana Review'' (Southeastern Louisiana University). 2014. * "Security." ''Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley'' (Southeast Missouri State University Press). 2013. * "Chemistry." ''The Louisiana Review'' (Louisiana State University-Eunice). Spring 2011. * "One More Disaster." ''The Louisiana Review'' (Louisiana State University-Eunice). Spring 2009. * "Too Stupid to Love." ''Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies'' (Arkansas State University). Aug. 2006. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Dec. 1, 2006. * "Man Enough to Buy a Gun." ''Mississippi Review'' (University of Southern Mississippi). Partly True Stories Issue. (Summer 2006). * "Too Late to Change." ''Country Roads Magazine''. Runner-Up for the Summer Fiction Contest. (Baton Rouge, LA). June 2006. * "Returning Like a Dog." Originally published in ''The Dead Mule''. Web. Nov. 2002 issue. Reprinted in ''Microcosm'' (Copiah-Lincoln Community College). Spring 2005. Sherman was also the "featured author" for the issue. * Chapter 3, an untitled excerpt from ''Welcome to the Fallen Paradise'', a self-contained short story & novel chapter; reprinted in ''Louisiana Cultural Vistas'' (New Orleans, LA), the journal of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Spring 2005. * "Dogs of Pain." ''Jabberwock Review'' (Mississippi State University, Starkville). Winter 2005. * "Spit." ''The Powhatan Review'' (Norfolk, VA). Summer 2004. * "The Sudden Sting of Memory." ''The Distillery'' (Motlow College, Lynchburg, TN). July 2004. * "The Hole." ''Country Roads Magazine'' (Baton Rouge, LA). Print. Reprinted in the June 2003 Local Literature issue. Originally published in ''The Distillery''. Jan. 2002. Reprinted as the prologue in ''Welcome to the Fallen Paradise''. * "Boys." ''The Powhatan Review'' (Norfolk, VA). Summer 2002. * "Snakebit." ''Fourteen Hills: The San Francisco State University Review''. Winter 2001. Reprinted in ''Word and Image: Invitations to a Culture of Composition'' (Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2010), the SLU Dept. of English Custom Reader.

Social Activism

Sherman regularly writes guest editorials and commentaries on politics, K-12 education, pension reform, and higher education issues. His articles appear in the

Shreveport Times ''The Times'' is a Gannett daily newspaper based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Its distribution area includes 12 parishes in Northwest Louisiana and three counties in East Texas. Its coverage focuses on issues affecting the Shreveport-Bossier market ...

, the Houma Courier, the Thibodaux Comet, ''The Political Desk'', ''Louisiana Voice'', and ''Action News 17''. A critic of the former Governor

Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 t ...

, Sherman denounced the governor on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol on April 30, 2013. Currently a registered Democrat (He has been a Republican and an Independent) Sherman is aligned with progressive causes.

References

External links

Author's web site

Interview