An exciting event is coming to New Iberia in early April and everyone should take part in the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival. What is so exciting and important about a literary festival? Isn’t that an elitist event promoting a few esoteric authors? Why should I attend? We have festivals in the area all the time, why is this one special? This one is special because New Iberia is special. This one is special because New Iberia’s art, culture and literature are special. New Iberia still has a “sense of place” which is a composite of art and culture that should be celebrated and explored.

There are remembrances in New Iberia that are too precious to lose and must be preserved for the future. True preservation depends on a deeper understanding of who we are and what is our “place.” “Before I can say I am, I was.” (Wallace Stegner) Literature and culture align with each other and a “place’s” beliefs and values shape the literature while the literature, in turn, coveys and shapes the values, beliefs and identity of a “place.” Local literature is a product of local culture and history. By bringing diverse elements of a society together for a common purpose, local literature reinforces and helps produce an identity of “place.” As celebrations, festivals reflect our common “place” experiences. Our literature reflects ourselves—who we are and who we wish to become. Literary festivals tie all these different aspects of our identify together.

Literature is not just a celebration of what has been or is but is also a challenge for the future, asking us how do we want to be. Literature can create a type of intimate public perception of who we want to be. Literature by tying the aspects of culture into one identity prepares us for the future.

New Iberia is a place of many diverse cultures—Spanish, French, Creole, African American, Cajun, Native American and more. The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival celebrates this diversity. By giving us a different way of looking at ourselves, literature challenges our dominant cultural paradigm and gives us a different manner of viewing ourselves. But literature also allows us to experience new and engaging cultures and perspectives on life.

All of these vital literary functions will be on full display at April’s Books Along the Teche Literary Festival. The Festival offers an almost limitless opportunity for personal growth and enrichment.

All aspects of our culture—history, economy, religion, poetry and prose, music, drama, food, art—will be displayed and explored at this Festival. Who could ask for anything more? If you look at the Festival’s schedule of events you will see the rich tapestry of activities. I am going: Are you? If not, why not? Come—experience, explore, learn and celebrate. Above all celebrate. “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald

Dr. John W. Ray, a New Iberia native, is a professor emeritus of political science and public policy at Montana Technological University, Butte, Montana. He was born in New Iberia, graduated from Catholic High School in 1966 and still regularly visits home to see friends and family.