Back when New Orleanians were still stringing extension cords over streets to power neighbors’ houses, and large, lopsided green hearts were mysteriously appearing spray painted on duct-taped
refrigerators parked on curbs, Lee Barclay knew that if the people who were saying New Orleans was not worth saving could experience its culture, they would love New Orleans as deeply—maybe a
bit as insanely—as she did. The only way she knew how to create that experience was to go to the culture bearers across her city and ask them to tell their stories one by one. So Barclay went
in search of them, collecting eighty-eight stories and traditions, as well as ninety-two photographs, and compiling them in the new book NEW ORLEANS: WHAT CAN’T BE LOST.Alongside Christopher
Porché West’s alluring black-and-white photographs, New Orleans’ culture bearers pay tribute to the city they call home. From Storyville to the Super Bowl, from cover to cover are found
Pulitzer Prize-winning writers—four of them gathered on these pages; Creole chefs; float and costume designers; Black Mardi Gras Indians; parade captains; musicians; protectors of the city’s
historic landmarks; writers of its poems and articles and novels and plays; and those who pass down traditions in the performance of New Orleans culture.Contributors include: Jason Berry, John
Biguenet, Amanda Boyden, Rick Bragg, Poppy Z. Brite, Robert Olen Butler, Leah Chase, Joshua Clark, Andrei Codrescu, Lolis Eric Elie, Richard Ford, Lee Meitzen Grue, Herreast J. Harrison, Sarah
K. Inman, Fred J. Johnson, Jr., Errol Laborde, Ronald W. Lewis, Louis Maistros, Anders Osborne, Tom Piazza, Chris Rose, Kalamu ya Salaam, Henri Schindler, Ned Sublette, Barbara Trevigne,
Christine Wiltz, and more. Proceeds from the book will be donated to Sweet Home New Orleans, a local nonprofit supporting the individuals and organizations that will perpetuate New Orleans’
unique musical and cultural traditions.“I found eighty-eight stories and traditions, each a piano key in a love song to New Orleans,” says Barclay. “It took four years or so, and it led me all
over the city. It gave me eighty-two friends and mentors and family. It led me to this book. I love my city. I want to give my heart to her. My heart is not enough. We built her a piano.”
