Nicholls Alumni and family duo launch new book “Swamped!”

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A writing duo of family members and Nicholls State alumni launched their new book, “Swamped!,” on March 2, 2023 at Nicholls State University. The book is the first collaboration between Ken and Hillary Wells.

The book, released by Koehler Books Jan. 13, is an adventure tale of two wildly different teens flung together amid dire circumstances. Jack Landry is a Louisiana homeboy and Olivia FitzGerald is a Harvard-bound New York City teen who struggles to find a way to safety after a plane crash in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Swamp.

Ken Wells, a Bayou Black native, is a former student body president and 1972 graduate of Nicholls, who would go on to become a Pulitzer Prize finalist as a reporter and serve as editor on two Pulitzer-Prize winning projects for The Wall Street Journal. He has also written six novels and two books of narrative nonfiction. One, “The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous,” focusing on post-Katrina South Louisiana, received the Harry Chapin book award.


Hillary, a 2012 Mass Communication graduate from Nicholls and Ken’s niece, is a writer, comedian and producer. Hillary said she was drawn to working on the project with her uncle for the opportunity to help him develop a strong female character.

More information can be found at https://kenlwells.com/.