The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival is back for its 37th annual celebration of contemporary literature, theater, New Orleans culture, and the iconic writer Tennessee Williams. The festival will occur from March 19-26 across various New Orleans venues. On March 19th the week will kick off with a new twist on the beloved Stella Shouting Contest as a fundraiser for the New Orleans Family Justice Center. The event will include performances by Vinsantos, Fauxnique, Lee Osorio, and many more. The festival will offer a weeklong series of literary events with more than 70 authors, including David Armand, C. Morgan Babst, Tyler Bridges, Douglas Brinkley, and Rebecca Makkai.
The festival has expanded its programming to include The Last Bohemia Fringe Festival at the Twilight Room, with performances by Tsarina Hellfire, Stanley Roy, Lefty Lucy, and Ylva Mara Radziszewski, among others. The festival will also have a Writer’s Craft Series featuring Charles Baxter, Olivia Clare Friedman, Tom Piazza, and more, who will discuss short fiction, historical fiction, screenwriting, and self-publishing.
Additionally, the festival will have a Literary Discussion Series with over 20 panels on environmental writing, civil rights writing, and Mardi Gras traditions. The festival will also feature literary walking tours, a book fair by Octavia Books, two writing marathons, and a book club focused on the short fiction of Kate Chopin.
Tennessee Williams programming will include scenes from Williams’ plays at the Festival’s opening night, a Tribute Reading, the Tennessee Williams Scholars Conference, Augustin J Correro’s “Tennessee 101,” The NOLA Project’s “Tennessee X Three,” The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans’ production of Night of the Iguana, and Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré’s production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
In addition to literary events, there will be other events, including “A Drag Brunch Named Desire” at Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House and several music events in partnership with the New Orleans Jazz Museum highlighting the influence of Mississippi Delta Blues on the music of New Orleans.
Most festival events will occur in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, with venues such as Hotel Monteleone, the Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center, and the New Orleans Jazz Museum providing generous support. Festival tickets are on sale now, with prices for most events ranging from $10 to $45.
