Recognizing the Southern Literacy Tourism Initiative

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, today I rise to challenge my colleagues to help promote the local economy of their districts in a new way: through the power of a story set in a real place. Our greatest resource in this nation has always been our people and their ability to unleash their talents in innovative ways that promote progress and prosperity. I recently witnessed one such innovation when I was invited to present a tourism fiction award in my district through the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with tourism fiction, the concept is simple: write stories set in real places, stories that capture the imaginations and hearts of readers, and then invite those same readers to visit the places.

As my colleagues may know from their own districts, tourism is an economic driver that attracts welcomed spending on local attractions, hotels, restaurants, and other places that help drive local economies and provide jobs. If writers are already producing books and short stories, then why not ask them to set those stories in real places that their readers would love to visit?

That is exactly what an innovative writing contest did in my home district. The Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative or SELTI, teamed up with the Selma Chamber of Commerce to challenge writers to compose a short story aimed at encouraging readers to visit the area. The 2016 winner of the contest, Charisa Hagel, wrote a powerful story that brought a local historical attraction to life through her fictional characters. At the end of the story, readers were invited to visit the real place, Kenan's Mill in Selma, Alabama, and literally step into the setting of Charisa's story. While there, they can also visit the National Voting Rights Museum and many other unique local attractions.

I will soon be honored to present Ms. Charisa Hagel, a student at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, with the 2016 SELTI Tourism Fiction Award at Kenan's Mill in Selma. The attraction Ms. Hagel wrote about in the Selma contest is not well known outside the local area, but now anyone with internet access can read about it through her story. How many attractions in your districts deserve to be written about and promoted in the same way?

As a legislative body, we often differ on our views for creating economic opportunity in the country. However, I feel that we can all agree that we want writers in our districts that can help tell the history of those areas through engaging stories with characters who win the hearts of readers, while also bringing in new tourism dollars.-

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