Portrait of Elsa Hahne. Photography by E Paul.

You can rely on me for a few things. For example, I know how to drive snow scooters and dog sleds thanks to my family in Sundom in northern Sweden; I taught kickboxing at New York University's Coles Sports Center; I can sew and cast plaster; I bake good bread, and cakes; I have a blue handbag that Monica Lewinsky made herself and gave to me as a present when I interviewed her; I've won more dance-offs than I've lost; I've taught CPR through the American Red Cross; I have a diploma in wine from the Conseil Interprofessionel des Vins de Bordeaux (CIVB) in Bordeaux, France, where I lived 1996-1999; I speak French, Swedish, and English; I'm a Certified Infant Massage Instructor; and thanks to my partner Golden, I'm now a skateboarder.

The official stats:

Education

New York University, New York: Joint MA Journalism and French Studies, January 2002

Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux, France: Diplome Supérieur d'Etudes Francaises, December 1996

Université de Montesquieu, Bordeaux, France: MA courses in Political Science, Law and History, May 1996

Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden: BA Journalism, May 1998

Experience

Art director, graphic designer, cover photographer, writer, and food editor for OffBeat magazine, the premier New Orleans' monthly on local music, food, and culture. May 2008—present

Photographer and partner (with photographer Golden G. Richard, III) of High ISO Music, a non-profit online publication devoted to the support of live music and live music photography. February 2012—present

Project director, writer, photographer, and designer for the monthly musician cooking column in OffBeat magazine called The Gravy: In the Kitchen with..., and the book The Gravy: In the Kitchen with New Orleans Musicians (High ISO Music, 2013) about 44 local musicians (Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Marcia Ball, Monk Boudreaux, Mystikal, etc.) who cook. The book was co-funded by the Threadhead Cultural Foundation and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival & Foundation, Inc. August 2008—August 2013

Project director, writer, and photographer for the book You Are Where You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Neighborhoods of New Orleans (University Press of Mississippi, 2008) about people and food in the Greater New Orleans area. The book was co-funded by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival & Foundation. January 2004—September 2008

Project director, writer, and photographer for the traveling exhibit You Are Where You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Crescent City about people and food in the Greater New Orleans area. The project was funded by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. January 2004—August 2005

Freelance foreign correspondent, writer, and photographer, from Beijing, China; Bordeaux, France; New York, NY; and New Orleans, LA, for European media: newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. Clients include Dagens Nyheter, Upsala Nya Tidning, Skaraborgs Lans Tidningar, Roda Korsets Tidning, Vestmanlands Lans Tidningar, Aftonbladet, Expressen, GoteborgsPosten, Orebrokuriren, Hennes, Sveriges Radio P3, Sveriges Radio P1. January 1995—present

Researcher, camera and sound assistant for Street USA, a 30-minute TV documentary on teens in Houma, LA, for Swedish National Public Broadcasting (UR, Utbildningsradion.) May 2005

One-woman TV crew, including SONY PD-150 camera, lights, audio, and editing (Media 100 and Final Cut Pro,) for A Krewe Production on New Orleans' Channel 78. October 2003—January 2005

Staff writer and photographer at Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden, for the following editorials: Lordag Sondag, Sondag, Inrikes, Bostad, Stockholm, Konsument, Kultur, Pa Stan. June—August 2005, June—July 2004, June—August 2002, June—August 2001, July—August 2000, June—August 1997, June—August 1996, August 1995—January 1996

Staff writer, photographer, and managing feature editor at Upsala Nya Tidning, Uppsala, Sweden. July—August 2003, June—August 1999, June—August 1998

Awards and Recognitions

Nominated for the first-ever New Orleans Public Library Award. November 2013

New Orleans Press Club Awards received (first-place awards): Best Still Photography Portrait for the November 2012 issue of OffBeat magazine featuring Ingrid Lucia in the Lafayette Cemetary at night; Best Infographics for "Full Coverage: 25 Years of OffBeat Magazine" in the December 2012 issue of OffBeat magazine; Best Cover for the September 2011 issue of OffBeat magazine featuring Meschiya Lake in a watermelon hat; Best Infographics for "Tha Carter IV by the Numbers;" Best Cover for the September 2010 issue of OffBeat magazine featuring rocking chef Susan Spicer; Best Feature Photo for a portrait of Tab Benoit in the October 2009 issue of OffBeat magazine. (Numerous second and third-place awards were received for portraits of Pete Fountain, Allen Toussaint, Original Pinettes Brass Band, the Noisician Coalition, Theresa Andersson, Jeremy Davenport, and others.)

Received a Community Partnership Grant of $4,000 for the book The Gravy: In the Kitchen with New Orleans Musicians from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. April 2012—December 2012

Received a grant of  $2,500 for the book The Gravy: In the Kitchen with New Orleans Musicians from the Threadhead Cultural Foundation. November 2011—December 2012

2010 Hal Ledet Award for Print Photography

Received a Louisiana Publishing Initiative Grant of $4,000 for the book You Are Where You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Neighborhoods of New Orleans from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. April 2007—April 2008

Received a Community Partnership Grant of $4,409 for the book You Are Where You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Neighborhoods of New Orleans from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. June 2007—August 2008

Selected as one of 24 outstanding journalists of 2006, featured in the anthology Good News 2005 (Atlas, 2006) based on post-Katrina coverage, photography, and feature writing.

Received a Public Humanities Grant of $5,695 for the touring exhibit You Are WHERE You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Crescent City from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. December 2004—December 2005

Received a Folklife Grant of $6,000 for the touring exhibit You Are WHERE You Eat: Stories and Recipes from the Crescent City from the Louisiana Division of the Arts. July 2004—July 2005

Granted the MacCracken Fellowship, including full tuition remission and a cash award of US $14,000, from the Department of History and the Institute of French Studies at New York University toward a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in History/French Studies. September 2001—January 2002

Granted the Michel Fribourg Fellowship, including full tuition remission and a cash award of US $15,000, from the Institute of French Studies and the Department of Journalism at New York University toward a graduate degree (MA) in French Studies/Journalism. September 2000—May 2001

Granted a cash stipend of US $17,500 from the Sweden-America Foundation towards graduate studies in Journalism and French Studies at New York University. September 1999—January 2002

Granted a stipend of SEK 5,000 from the Olof Palme Foundation towards a BA thesis on Swedish women converting to Islam. November 1997

Granted a cash stipend of SEK 5,000 from Fredrika Bremer Forbundet towards a diploma in French (Diplome Supérieur d'Etudes Francaises de Troisieme Degrée) at the University of Bordeaux III, Michel de Montaigne. March 1996

"... My full name is Elsa Anna Magdalena Hahne. It's common in Sweden to have more than one middle name. I pronounce Hahne like most people pronounce Hahn; the 'e' is silent. I always thought the 'e' had been added at some point, possibly by mistake, since 'hahn' is the word for rooster in German. My grandfather Ivar did change the spelling, but not in the way I thought; he added the 'h' in the middle to make our name (Hane) sound more German. My grandfather was born in 1886 and became an adult before the Great War ..."

"... Getting that diploma in wine was the most fun I've ever had in a classroom. And the field trips weren't bad ..."

"... During my three years in New York, I lived in my cousin's Upper East Side studio, then in a hallway in the East Village, then in a shared room in Greenwich Village, and finally, in my very own 32-square-foot room in Brooklyn ..."

"... The most fun interview I did for The Gravy was driving back and forth from Mystikal's house outside Baton Rouge and his local Wal-Mart. He forgot a few things, so we had to make more than one run. In the car, he played some recent tracks and rapped over them, telling me all about what we were doing (going to Wal-Mart to buy grits) ..."

"... I went to China when I was 19, to report on the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women. I saw an American woman send security personnel on a wild goose chase due to a pretend slide projector problem while she jammed the door with a chair and proceeded to give herself a complete pelvic exam in front of a large audience; I visited Chinese orphanages; I befriended hotel personnel (who lived on the bottom floor where you couldn't stand unless you were on a bed); I walked around Beijing at night, alone, got invited to dinner by a family, and ended up drawing cartoons to tell the story of why I was there..."