ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is an internationally published, award-winning indie writer, poet, "Best of the Net" and Pushcart Prize nominee. Her debut novel, "Betrayal on the Bayou", an historical novel set in the fictional Louisiana Tassin Valley continues to garner high praise with reviewers as,"... a fascinating novel that delves into some heartbreaking issues around race, justice, and the noir code in the fictitious Louisiana town of Tassin," "...a book to read, to re-read, to take into your heart, and to always remember," and, "... it’s a tale of love, hope, disappointment, betrayal, revenge, racism, selfishness, and redemption, punctuated by beautiful passages. Lives like these are still lived much more often than they need be. Ms. Bize-Boutte is a fine writer."
A follow-on to "Betrayal", "Back to the Bayou: The Tassin Valley Saga Continues," published in February 2024, is already being touted as a "page turner" and even foreshadowing a future continuation with "characters so intriguing I can't wait to read what will happen next." And,
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FROM JUDGE, 32ND ANNUAL WRITER’S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK AWARDS REVIEW:
“BACK TO THE BAYOU: THE TASSIN VALLEY SAGA CONTINUES
This book celebrates a number of things through its characters, like interracial relationships in a historical setting, the varying concept of family, the importance of sisterhood and the different forms it can manifest in, and how crucial it is to explore the diversified accounts of history. In some ways, even the places themselves, such as the often overlooked or even underappreciated Oakland in the late 1800s. The setting created a backdrop that allowed for a closer examination of the historical examples that ultimately shaped the characters’ lives and contributed to their most notable—for better or worse—tendencies, habits, and convictions."
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A prolific poet, Sheryl published two books of poems with her daughter, Dr. Angela M. Boutte, the first titled "No Poetry No Peace™," the namesake of the No Poetry No Peace™ a biannual poetry series she hosted for the Mechanics Institute Library of San Francisco; and the second, "Traipsing in Poetry Prose and Vignette." From 2021 to 2024, she hosted the Mechanics Institute's monthly "Writer's Lunch." In 2024 she launched her "Write Quick" short story series designed for "people who like to read something right quick." She was runner-up in the 2022 inaugural Oakland Poet Laureate competition and featured in the KALW-FM Bay Poets radio show.
She is a highly praised and sought after poet, short story writer and storyteller, literary event curator, writing teacher, speaker, panelist, and track coordinator for the annual San Francisco Writer's Conference.
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BETRAYAL ON THE BAYOU
A NOVEL
Readers are describing "Betrayal on the Bayou" as "A book for our time," "An absorbing, page-turning read," "...a tour de force," and," In an outstanding debut novel, S.J. Bize-Boutte weaves Creole history with the pain and joy of family ties, how the constructs of racial and gender 'norms' affect lives, and of how we choose our own path to redemption, 251 steps at a time."
See my Betrayal on the Bayou "Best of Women's Fiction" Podcast interview with author Lainey Cameron here:
and
my author talk
at the
Linda Campfield/Mills College BookClub
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cFCh-MF6hQq6QFXfdQyHoMlSb4HldvG6/view
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BACK TO THE BAYOU:
THE TASSIN VALLEY SAGA CONTINUES
Armed with the page turning power of her 2020 debut novel, Betrayal on the Bayou, Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte’s Back to the Bayou: The Tassin Valley Saga Continues, delves deeply into the lives of Betrayal’s compelling and unforgettable characters while introducing some new ones, as they go about their lives in and out of Louisiana’s fictional Tassin Valley. With themes of colorism, entrenched segregation, unshakeable love, triumph of the human spirit, generously sprinkled with bayou magic and mystery, Back to the Bayou will engage readers from beginning to end; leaving them happily anxious to know what may happen next.
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Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte
"Stay steady on your journey and ever enhance your world. The larger your world, the greater your options. The smaller your world, the sooner you come to the end of it."