The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival

Welcome to Grand Prairie, Louisiana-land of confounding accents, hard-drinking senior citizens, and charming sinners-brought to hilarious life in a bracing, heartfelt debut novel simmering with Cajun spice . . . Father Steve Sibille has come home to the bayou to take charge of St. Pete's church. Among his challenges are teenybopper altar girls, insomnia-curing confessions, and alarmingly alluring congregant Vicky Carrier. Then there's Miss Rita, an irrepressible centenarian with a taste for whiskey, cracklins, and sticking her nose in other people's business. When an outsider threatens to poach Father Steve's flock, Miss Rita suggests he fight back by staging an event that will keep St. Pete's parishioners loyal forever. As The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival draws near, help comes from the strangest places. And while the road to the festival may be paved with good intentions-not to mention bake sales, an elephant, and the most bizarre cook-out ever-where it will lead is anyone's guess . . .

Ken Wheaton was born in Opelousas, Louisiana, and raised deep in the heart of Cajun Country. He is the author of "Duck Duck Gator," "Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears," "The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival" and "Bacon and Egg Man." Wheaton has been a Pushcart nominee for fiction and in 2016 was awarded the Jesse H. Neal Awards for commentary and the 2016 Crain Communications Editorial Excellence Award for Commentary. He was also included in the recently-released "Voices from Louisiana: Profiles of Contemporary Writers." Previously the Editor of Advertising Age, Wheaton now pays his bills as a content strategist and editorial consultant. After living in Brooklyn for almost 20 years, he and his wife Cara (also from Louisiana) packed up and moved to the mountains of Colorado.