Mary Alice Fontenot was born just outside of Eunice, Louisiana, in Acadia Parish. As a child, she often spent time at her grandfather's farm in Bayou Tigre, taking a train to Erath, then joining him in his buggy. Childhood memories such as these served as inspiration for many of her books. Fontenot worked for thirty-five years as a journalist for various publications, including the Lafayette (Louisiana) Daily Advertiser and the Crowley (Mississippi) Post Signal . She wrote features for newspapers and hosted a radio show on KSIG-AM in Crowley, Mississippi. Fontenot also taught kindergarten classes at St. Edmund Elementary School in Eunice and eventually took classes at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in order to improve her French. Honored numerous times for her writing, Fontenot was awarded the 1998 Acadiana Arts Council Lifetime Achievement Award and the Louisiana State Library Award. In 2003, she was named a Louisiana Legend by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and a Living Legend by the Acadian Museum of Erath, a program that recognizes individuals who help shape Cajun culture. Fontenot was best known for the Clovis Crawfish series, eighteen books that are published in both English and French. The character of Clovis was initially a product of boredom, created on a slow day at the Lafayette Daily Advertiser when Fontenot's editor left her in charge. The character wasn't even a crawfish at first, but Fontenot soon made it so to make it truer to her Acadian heritage. Through the character of Clovis, children learn moral values such as kindness and caring over adversity and meanspiritedness. Fontenot's other Pelican titles include the children's books Mardi Gras in the Country and The Star Seed, a Christmas tale. Fontenot died May 12, 2003, at the age of ninety-three.
