Southern Litfest: Gwen Roland & CC Lockwood

The Newnan Carnegie Library Foundation presents an afternoon with Author Gwen Roland and wildlife photographer CC Lockwood! These two will combine forces to truly illustrate, though personal experience in captivating words and photographs, the experience of living as one with nature.

In the 1970’s Gwen Roland abandoned her doctorate and decided to live off the land – and water – in South-central Louisiana’s scenic and remote Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp. With a box of crayons and the book, “How to Build Your Home in the Woods” Roland and her then-partner, Calvin Voisin, built a houseboat on a barge. They lived and thrived there for eight years, with no electricity or running water. In 2022, her book, “Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp” was chosen as Baton Rouge’s One Book One Community – a book everyone should read. It has been the focus of numerous documentaries and the inspiration for many who choose to live off the grid. The book’s evocative photographs by CC Lockwood were showcased in National Geographic magazine bringing Gwen, Calvin and CC unexpected fame, and years later revisited in National Geographic’s Best 100 renewing interest with a new generation. In her book, with quiet wisdom, Gwen recounts her voyage of discovery—about swamp life, wildlife, and herself. A keen observer of both the natural world and the ways of human beings, she transports readers to an unfamiliar and exotic place, preserving her great adventure for those who could not make the trip in person.

Acclaimed wildlife photographer CC Lockwood has lived and worked in fragile ecosystems whose preservation shapes his artistry. Through words and images, he has captured the unique sense of space in wild places as diverse as the Louisiana swampland to the rugged back country of the American west.

Recipient of the prestigious Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, Lockwood’s work has won him international acclaim as an environmental artist. He has been recognized as a Louisiana Legend, served on many conservation boards, authored award winning books, has been featured in Smithsonian and National Geographic among others, and has produced a film on the Atchafalaya. In 2011, CC’s iconic image “Flat Lake Sunset,” was chosen by USPS as Louisiana’s official bicentennial stamp.