Books Along the Teche is the Perfect Weekend Festival

Shadows on the Teche

Books and literary festivals are right up my alley: I love them!  I love book bazaars, book festivals, book fairs, the whole thing.  And it's a good thing I do since I have a side hustle as a writer.

So, when I came across this announcement about the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival in April, well, my heart skipped.  How perfect is this event?!  It will be in New Iberia in the spring and it doesn't get any better than that, except wait!  It does!  The festival is named for local son James Lee Burke.  I've been a fan of his Dave Robicheaux character for years.  In fact, that's one of the things that drew me to Michael Henry's books; his Willie Mitchell character reminded me a lot of Dave Robicheaux.

Nearly every event at Books Along the Teche looks enticing.  On Friday, April 6, the festival starts at 9 a.m. with a food tasting and everyone knows Louisiana food is fantastic.  In the afternoon there is lunch and then a tour of Iberia parish featuring Dave Robicheaux's "haunts and jaunts."

Louisiana author Ernest Gaines will be the featured guest this year and on Saturday afternoon he will lead a reading and then host a question and answer session.  Gaines is the author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, among many other works.  The film adaptation of Miss Jane Pittman will be featured in a free screening Friday afternoon.  Now, how cool would it be to meet Ernest Gaines!

What would also be at the top of my list is the Jazz it Up opening reception Friday night featuring a cochon de lait and a jazz band but best of all it will be held at Shadows on the Teche, the plantation home Weeks Hall who was a friend of Lyle Saxon and a fascinating character!  This plantation is on my bucket list.  Lyle took Cammie Henry there to see it a couple of times and to meet Weeks Hall.

This festival is filled with events that would keep me running and spinning all weekend!  There is an Academic Symposium, panel discussions, an author's fair, a 5k run (I would skip that one), and even Bouree Lessons!

If I were dreaming up the perfect festival, this would be it.

If you are able to go, I would highly recommend it!  I'd love to go but the package ticket price is $190 and is out of my reach at the moment since this is the year that everything in my house is broken.  (So far this year, since January 1, we've had to replace the blower in the furnace, the washing machine, a living room window, sections of plumbing in the kitchen, had to do some electrical work in the kitchen, replace the battery in one car, and the list goes on and on, right down to phone chargers.)  Given all those expenses, spending money on festival tickets and a hotel seem rather out of my league right now.

New Iberia is beautiful all of the time but especially so in the spring.  This could not be a more perfect weekend trip.

If you go, send pictures!






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