A University of New Orleans Press publication, “I Feel to Believe” by journalist Jarvis DeBerry is the New Orleans citywide read selection for 2022. The group One Book One New Orleans selects one book every year for its citywide reading and literacy campaign.
The group develops a curriculum around the selected title and through its partner organizations, distributes free copies of the book and the curriculum to community groups in New Orleans.
The goal is to have the community share the experience of reading the same book at the same time while providing literacy resources to adults and youngsters, according to the group.
The book spans 20 years, from 1999 to 2019, of DeBerry's columns for The Times-Picayune. With topics ranging from the second line tradition to Hurricane Katrina to the justice system to gentrification, the book captures New Orleans “in all its beauty and all its brutality.”
The UNO Press seeks work that contributes to the rich cultural tradition of New Orleans and the surrounding region, as well as work that contributes to the intellectual and aesthetic life of academic and general audiences everywhere.
Published in 2020, the book collects DeBerry’s best columns, documenting two decades of constancy and upheaval, loss, racial injustice and class strife, according to the UNO Press.
