The annual Tennesse Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival will celebrate its 30th year when it returns to the French Quarter March 20 – April 3.

The five-day event has unveiled its speaker lineup, which includes acclaimed writers like Dorothy Allison and Rick Bragg, famed broacaster Dick Davett, Oscar-winning actress Estelle Parsons, columnist/critic Rex Reed and many more.

The 2016 program includes master classes, scholarly discussion, celebrity interviewsm theater, food and music events, short fiction, petrty and one-act play competitions and, of course, the iconic Stanley & Stella shouting Contest.

The full program, as well as ticketing information for the festival and its various events can be found here.

The speaker lineup includes, but is not limited to:

Megan Abbott, Edgar-winning noir crime writer, whose latest book, The Fever, is being adapted for an MTV show;     

Dorothy Allison, award-winning author of Bastard Out of Carolina, Cavedweller, and the forthcoming She Who;

Alys Arden, New Orleans native who parlayed her self-published novel The Casquette Girls into a two-book deal;

Cynthia Bond, New York Times best-selling author of the novel Ruby, the latest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection;

Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, All Over But the Shoutin’, Ava’s Man, and his latest, My Southern Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South;

Billy Cannon, Heisman Trophy-winner and College Football Hall of Fame LSU Halfback;

Dick Cavett, Emmy-winning broadcaster, who has interviewed many cultural icons including Tennessee Williams, and author of Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets, and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks;

Alexander Chee, Whiting Writers Award-winning author of the novel Edinburgh and the just released The Queen of the Night;

Lisa D’Amour, Pulitzer finalist and multi-award winning playwright of Detroit;

Beth Henley, Pulitzer-winning playwright of Crimes of the Heart, who recently adapted Tennessee Williams’ short story, “The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin,” for the stage;

John Lahr, senior drama critic at The New Yorker, author of the highly-acclaimed biography, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, and Joy Ride: Show People and Their Shows;

Estelle Parsons, Oscar winner (Bonnie and Clyde), Broadway legend with a star turn in Williams’ The Seven Descents of Myrtle, and widely known as Mother Bev on “Roseanne”;

Rex Reed, critic, columnist, and lecturer whose writings have appeared in nearly every national magazine and newspaper in London and the U.S;

Claire Vaye Watkins, author of the critically-acclaimed Battleborn and newly-released Gold Fame Citrus, who is judging our 2016 Fiction Contest.