The Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival returns to the historic French Quarter for its 36th annual celebration of contemporary literature, culture, theatre, and to honor the 75th anniversary of the iconic play, A Streetcar Named Desire. From March 23-27, attendees will be back in person to enjoy award-winning speakers alongside fresh new voices on the literary scene.
The five-day event offers a range of diverse speakers and performers, including Constance Adler, Jami Attenberg, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Rick Bragg, Tyler Bridges, Elizabeth Miki Brina, Jericho Brown, Michael Cerveris, Craig Colten, Augustin J Correro, Brenda Currin, Peter Ho Davies, Mary Gauthier, Jewelle Gomez, Peter Hagan, Miles Harvey, Ladee Hubbard, Rickie Lee Jones, Errol Laborde, Zachary Lazar, Robert Mann, Eric Nguyen, Glen Pitre, Betsy Prioleau, Kathy Randels, Nathaniel Rich, Gary Richards, Farrah Rochon, Tom Sancton, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Timothy Schaffert, Katy Simpson Smith, Oliver Thomas, Poppy Tooker, Esmé Weijun Wang, David Williams and many more.
For tickets and additional information, visit here.
“After a canceled festival in 2020 and a virtual festival last year, we are so happy to be returning to our home at the Hotel Monteleone once again for our five-day festival,” said Paul J. Willis, executive director. “Our speakers and patrons are excited about our return, and we can’t wait to celebrate the 75th anniversary of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ with everyone. Several of our special events focus on this beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning play, including our opening night, tribute reading, and breakfast book club. We are working with city officials to create the safest environment possible so everyone can enjoy the festival once again.”
The 2022 program includes writer’s craft sessions, literary discussions, theater, food and music events, a scholars conference, several walking tours, a book fair, writing marathons, and special evening events and social gatherings.
Opening Night of the Festival kicks off March 23, co-hosted by two-time Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris, and New Orleans singer-songwriter Arséne DeLay. The evening will toast A Streetcar Named Desire with musical performances, scenes from the play, Harry Mayronne’s marionnettes, drag queens, and more.
The annual Tennessee Williams Tribute Reading returns with Williams’ poetry, prose and letters, as well as some surprising reviews, critical responses, adaptations, draft material and playful insights into the enduring cultural reception of A Streetcar Named Desire. Readers include Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown, Michael Cerveris, Brenda Currin and Jewelle Gomez, among others. The festival will host “Cocktails with Tennessee: Making Magic Happen With 4 Drinks Inspired by His Characters.” Bakery Bar’s Joe Witkowski will meld his bartending and theatrical skills to create one-of-a-kind cocktails. Sue Strachan, author of The Café Brûlot, will join him at New Orleans’ classic restaurant Antoine’s. The festival is also excited to partner with SoBou and Poppy Tooker for a Drag Queen Brunch, featuring three courses, bottomless mimosas in a souvenir glass, and some of New Orleans’ fabulous drag queens.
A festival tradition for music enthusiasts, Drummer and Smoke, returns to the Palm Court Jazz Cafe with iconic New Orleans musicians Tom Hooks & Wendell Brunius, Arséne DeLay, and the Hanna Mignano Trio. The NOLA Project is back with its popular triple one-act presentation, “Tennessee X Three,” and will include Williams’ Interior Panic, a one-act precursor to A Streetcar Named Desire.
The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans, in collaboration with festival, will perform a night of Tennessee Williams spoofs that showcase the playwright’s most iconic characters and plots in a completely different style. The show includes Desire, Desire, Desire by Christopher Durang, featuring Blanche DuBois, who’s just as possessed by lust and desperation as ever. Amanda Wingvalley takes the stage in For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls (also by Durang). And for something spooky, they present Swamp Gothic by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a loving send up of Suddenly Last Summer and the Swamp Thing comics. The company will also present a world premiere staged reading of Tennessee Williams’ Moise & the World of Reason adapted for the stage by Justin Maxwell.
This year the festival is proud to include a new Storyville Walking Tour with Dianne Honoré and Quinn LaRoux’s Nola Drag Tour, in addition to Kenneth Holditch’s Literary Tour and the Saints and Sinners LGBTQ+ Tour led by Frank Perez. Also during the Festival weekend, Saints+Sinners Literary Festival (SAS), our annual LGBTQ+ literary conference returns for its 19th year of readings, literary panels, and special events. Visit sasfest.org for more details. Venues:
Most festival events take place in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter. Sites providing generous support include Hotel Monteleone, the Festival’s host hotel; The Historic New Orleans Collection; Williams Research Center; the New Orleans Jazz Museum; Beauregard-Keyes House; Muriel’s Jackson Square; and Palm Court Jazz Cafe; among others. Festival tickets for most individual events range from $10 to $45.
For more information and tickets, visit tennesseewilliams.net.
