Zachary Richard
"Singer-songwriter, poet, cultural activist, environmentalist, Zachary Richard is best known as recording artist and performer. With 20 albums on his roster, including several « gold » and « platinum » albums, his musical career is international. In 1996, Zachary Richard founded Action Cadienne, a non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of the Acadian culture and French language of Louisiana. In March 1997, he was decorated Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres of the Republic of France. That same year, he was initiated into the Ordre des Francophones d’Amérique by the government of Québec. During his career he has received four honorary doctorates from the University of Moncton (New Brunswick), the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, l’Université Ste. Anne (Nova Scotia) and the University of Ottawa (Canada). Fiercely attached to the French language and Acadian culture of his native Louisiana, Zachary Richard is the author of four children’s books as well as four volumes of poetry (Faire Récoltereceived the Prix Champlain and Feu the Prix Roland Gasparic in Bucharest), and the History of the Acadians of Louisiana (UL Press). He is Louisiana’s first French Language Poet Laureate."