Dear Friends,
Among the things that are essential to living, the writing and reading of words stem from the mists of the past and reach into the equally nebulous future. Books serve as markers along the path of evolving civilization.
“Read!” That was the word revealed by an angel to the Prophet Muhammad as he was meditating in the Cave of Hira. It is part of the first Surah of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
“In the beginning was the Word…” is the first verse of the first chapter in the Book of John of the New Testament in the Christian Bible.
Contemporary author Jesmyn Ward believes “…there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives, through words.”
This resonates with the theme of the 2024 March On! Festival: WORD! Writers Who Move the Movement.
From October 6 through 13, we will cover fiction, nonfiction, memoir, spoken word, cookbooks, journalism and social media as the conveyors of history, inspiration, education, perspective, creativity, community and legacy. And we will do so through music, song, dance, art, immersive technologies, panels and, of course, films.
“The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past where time hovers ghostlike.” — Ralph Ellison, Writers at Work (1963)
The importance of reckoning with the past to help decipher the present and navigate the future is critical for freedom seekers everywhere. So when the great Nigerian author Chinua Achebe reminds us that “[u]ntil the lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter,” he is urging us toward a self-determination that demands we name ourselves, define ourselves and tell our own stories.
W.E.B. Du Bois wrote: “Human nature is not simple and any classification that roughly divides men into good and bad, superior and inferior, slave and free, is and must be ludicrously untrue and universally dangerous as a permanent exhaustive classification.” Those words encourage us to expand limiting dualistic classifications and appreciate the many dimensions and expressions of who we are.
To take that further, we look to our beloved futurist, the late Octavia Butler, from her 1988 novel Adulthood Rites. In it, she sets the stage for a first encounter with beings from another planet, the Oankali, and entreats us, through the character Lilith Iyapo, to have the courage to contend with difference, no matter the risk. It is an analogy that serves us today.
“Human beings fear difference,” Lilith had told him once. “Oankali crave difference. Humans persecute their different ones, yet they need them to give themselves definition and status. Oankali seek difference and collect it. They need it to keep themselves from stagnation and overspecialization. If you don’t understand this, you will. You’ll probably find both tendencies surfacing in your own behavior.” And she had put her hand on his hair. “When you feel a conflict, try to go the Oankali way. Embrace difference.”
Let us give the last words to James Baldwin, whose words continue to intrigue, guide and fire our imaginations for a just and equitable world, on this 100th anniversary of his birth, August 2, 1924.
“You write in order to change the world.” That he did, and so must we.
See you in October.
March On!
Isisara Bey
Artistic Director
March On! Festival
