Featured Interview With Jeff LeJeune
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in South Louisiana and attended Hanson Memorial High School in Franklin, LA, which was the inspiration behind my latest book. While studying at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, a near-fatal bacterial disease rocked my spiritual world and continues to haunt me in indirect ways to this day. A part of me has never really escaped the place that illness took me to, and it is from there that I think I draw most of my writing. Almost dying I think sharpened my memory too, and it is one reason I have so many emotionally rich experiences to draw from.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My sister taught me my ABCs at a very early age, and by Kindergarten my teacher was letting me read to classmates and I was writing my own stories. Back then, my writing dealt with angels and demons, good and evil, and on occasion, dinosaurs.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Like my own writing, my reading interests are vast and diverse. Books that have inspired my own work are ‘Open’ by Andre Agassi, ‘The Fountainhead’ by Ayn Rand, ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne, ‘The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien, and ‘The Screwtape Letters’ by C. S. Lewis, just to name a few. Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories were also an influence on my first two novels.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
In Book I of ’51: Opening Acts,’ a nostalgic, coming-of-age story, Andre Joseph Blue is a young boy who leaves the emotional prison of his old school and finds his stripes at a new one, where his brother Duncan has already paved the way. Influenced by his love for family and friends and blessed with a special relationship with Duncan, Andre must learn to adapt to life’s inevitable changes. Eventually, Andre is faced with the choice to forgive those who have wronged him or become hardened and arrogant with the success he has found at his new school. What’s more, he must determine where he could have been mistaken about his old school all along after coming face to face with a nightmarish scenario he never even considered.
I finished the original manuscript in 2009, then began converting it into a blog narrative titled ‘Play on Andre’ two years later. This series is the final refleshing of the story, a humorous and meaningful journey that at its soul is a look at one boy’s desire simply to love and be loved.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles
Are you related to the LeJeune’s French Bread? I am from Jeanerette and graduated from Hanson
Yes, a little down the line.