Biography

Native New Orleanian Teresa Tumminello Brader was spurred to write by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Marquette University and her years in Milwaukee are the only time she lived away from the city of her birth. A finalist in a Country Roads Short Story Contest, her other short stories, essays, poetry, and reviews can be found at various online literary sites, as well as in print anthologies.

Schedule

1:00 pm to 1:45 pm
State Library, Fourth Floor
Autofiction: Life Meets Fiction
with Christee Gabour Atwood, Teresa Tuminello Brader, Jeffrey Dale Lofton, and moderator Gary Richards

2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

Letting in Air and Light

From a double shotgun house in New Orleans comes a true story larger than life. Teresa Tumminello Brader, niece of the convicted art forger William Toye, retells her family’s experience as she discovers her uncle’s misdeeds after decades of secrecy. Personal reflections and newspaper records alternate with a fictionalized reimagining of Toye’s complicated life. On both sides of the story, what emerges is an attempt to honor Louisiana artist Clementine Hunter’s legacy without flinching from the painful realities that come from reckoning with family bonds. Empathetic and honest, Letting in Air and Light will inspire you to look more closely at your own history and wonder what else you might have missed.