Louisiana city to erect monument of novelist at park

COVINGTON, La. – A Louisiana city will place a statue of novelist Walker Percy in a park.

The Covington City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to put the bronze statue of Percy at Bogue Falaya Park.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports the 9-foot (2.7 metre) sculpture entitled “Walker Percy Gateway” pays homage to the prize-winning writer who lived in Covington from 1948 until his death in 1990. It depicts him leaning in a doorway, a metaphoric gateway into the author’s world.

The statue is the work of Covington sculptor Bill Binnings. Mayor Mike Cooper says it will be erected this fall near the front of the pavilion.

Walker was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1916. His novels include “The Moviegoer,” ”The Last Gentleman,” and “The Second Coming.”

Another Binnings’ statue of Percy was placed at a public library.

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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com