--- description: The actor writes about rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina title: "The Wire" Star Wendell Pierce Reveals New Book Cover image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Exclusive: _The Wire_ Star Wendell Pierce Reveals New Book Cover by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 1, 2015 4:28 PM CUT by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 1, 2015 4:28 PM CUT Audiences may know Wendell Pierce from the HBO shows _The Wire_, on which he played Detective Bunk Moreland, and _Treme,_ on which he played New Orleans trombonist Antoine Batiste. The actor is no stranger to NOLA — he grew up in the Pontchartrain Park neighborhood, which was decimated when Hurricane Katrina struck 10 years ago. Though he has homes in New York and L.A., he spent time at his parents’ house both before and after the flood and helped them rebuild after it was ruined. Now Pierce has written a memoir about his experience in the wake of the storm, [_The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, A Play, and the City That Would Not Be Broken_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594633231/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"). Pierce revealed the first look at the cover for TIME:  Riverhead Books The book will detail how Pierce dedicated himself to the task of helping his family and the neighborhood put their homes back together. He tells of putting on and starring in a production of Samuel Beckett’s _Waiting for Godot_ in two of the hardest-hit regions of the city, reflecting on his belief in art’s “power to transform us and the world.” _The Wind in the Reeds_ comes out Sept. 8. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3902049/wendell-pierce-book-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3902049/wendell-pierce-book-cover/"},"headline":"Exclusive: The Wire Star Wendell Pierce Reveals New Book Cover","datePublished":"2015-06-01T16:28:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:16.692Z","description":"The actor writes about rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina","url":"https://time.com/3902049/wendell-pierce-book-cover/","keywords":["Books","hurricane katrina"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3902049/wendell-pierce-book-cover/","name":"Exclusive: The Wire Star Wendell Pierce Reveals New Book Cover"}}]}] ```