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Louisiana award goes to writer of books on pandemic, floods

WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 11: Author John M. Barry, of the book "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America" speaks on "Meet the Press" at the NBC studios September 11, 2005 in Washington, DC. Barry spoke about the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast area and whether it can be prevented in the future. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana author who has written about the 1918 flu pandemic and the 1927 Mississippi River flood is receiving the state’s annual writing award.

John M. Barry has been chosen for the 21st annual Louisiana Writer Award, given by the state library’s Louisiana Center for the Book.

Barry is a professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

He has written several books, including “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” and “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.”