The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival returns to its home in the historic French Quarter for its 34th annual celebration of contemporary literature, culture, theater, and the works of Tennessee Williams. More than a typical book festival, TWNOLF showcases award-winning writers, actors, musicians, and other artists in over 150 events in the French Quarter and other New Orleans venues.
The 2020 Festival, March 25-29, includes writing workshops, literary panels, theater events, a book fair, Tennessee Williams tribute reading and scholars conference, walking tours, music events, culinary events, interviews, and the Saints + Sinners LGBTQ Literary Festival. TWNOLF will present a range of diverse speakers and performers, including Jami Attenberg, Andrei Codrescu, Maureen Corrigan, Beth Ann Fennelly, Jewelle Gomez, Saeed Jones, Jac Jemc, Sister Helen Prejean, Leigh Camacho Rourks, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Colm Tóibín, John Warner Smith, Katy Simpson Smith, Edmund White, and many more.
French Quarterly Magazine is a proud sponsor of the event!
The Festival celebrates the literary arts in many forms, with events for readers, writers, theater and music lovers, foodies, history buffs, and more. TWNOLF has a long history of connecting readers to the artists they love. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and past Festival speaker Richard Ford says that “the great allure of the Tennessee Williams Festival is—for me, a writer—to meet serious, man-and-woman-on-the-street book readers, people who go to books for the reason I came to reading long ago: to hear the extra beat to life that literature supplies, and by which it dignifies our trust that life's still worth living. Plus, you get to do it in New Orleans. Who could resist?
