TWFest Reading Lists
Read your way through our 2025 Festival! Choose from our lineup of incredible authors as you fill in the sentence: "I want to read a..."
Poetry Collection
Stacey Balkun - Sweetbitter
Jack Bedell - Ghost Forest: Poems
Peter Cooley - Accounting for the Dark
Benjamin Morris - The Singing River
M.A. Nicholson - Around the Gate
Andy Young - Museum of the Soon to Depart
Book by an award-winning writer
Megan Abbott - Beware the Woman
Christine Carbo - A Sharp Solitude
Michael Cunningham - Day
Gwen Florio - Best Be Prepared
Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
Adrianne Harun - A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain
Angie Kim - Happiness Falls
Laura Lippman - My Life as a Villainess
Bernice L. McFadden - Firstborn Girls
M.A. Nicholson - Around the Gate
Marcie R. Rendon - Broken Fields
Kate Segriff - Animals in Captivity
Boyce Upholt - The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
Book by a debut writer
Allison Alsup - Foreign Seed
Stacey Balkun - Sweetbitter
KB Brookins - Pretty
Eric Cook - Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine
Alex Jennings - The Ballad of Perilous Graves
Chin-Sun Lee - Upcountry
M.A. Nicholson - Around the Gate
Kirsten Reneau - Sensitive Creatures
Desiree Richter - The Presence of Absence
Kate Segriff - Animals in Captivity
Ery Shin - Spring on the Peninsula
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Book by a POC writer
Larry Bagneris Jr. - Call Me Larry
KB Brookins - Pretty
Alafair Burke - The Note
Yuri Herrera - Season of the Swamp
Chin-Sun Lee - Upcountry
Alex Jennings - The Ballad of Perilous Graves
Angie Kim - Happiness Falls
Bernice L. McFadden - Firstborn Girls
Marcie R. Rendon - Broken Fields
Kalamu ya Salaam - Walkin’ Blues
Ery Shin - Spring on the Peninsula
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Book related to Tennessee Williams
Thomas Keith & Tom Mitchell - Early Stories by Tennessee Williams
David Kaplan - Tennessee Williams in Provincetown; Tenn Years; Tenn at One Hundred
Book with an LGBTQ+ main character
Michael Cunningham - Day
Margot Douaihy - Scorched Grace; Blessed Water
Alex Jennings - The Ballad of Perilous Graves
Ery Shin - Spring on the Peninsula
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Short Story Collection
Miles Harvey - The Registry of Forgotten Objects
Kate Segriff - Animals in Captivity
Julia Ridley Smith - Sex Romp Gone Wrong
Thomas Keith & Tom Mitchell - Early Stories by Tennessee Williams
Book by a New Orleans writer
Allison Alsup - Foreign Seed
Larry Bagneris Jr. - Call Me Larry
Stacey Balkun - Sweetbitter
Eric Cook - Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine
Peter Cooley - Accounting for the Dark
Chris Granger - Painting the Town: The Importance of Color in Historic New Orleans Architecture
C.S. Harris - Who Will Remember
Yuri Herrera - Season of the Swamp
Alex Jennings - The Ballad of Perilous Graves
Chin-Sun Lee - Upcountry
Bernice L. McFadden - Firstborn Girls
Benjamin Morris - The Singing River
Justin Maxwell - The Playwright's Toolbox: Exercises from 56 Contemporary Dramatists on Designing, Building, and Refurbishing Your Plays
M.A. Nicholson - Around the Gate
Ylva Mara Radziszewski - A Practical Guide for Witches
Kirsten Reneau - Sensitive Creatures
Desiree Richter - The Presence of Absence
Kalamu ya Salaam - Walkin’ Blues
Paulina Stevens & Jezmina Von Thiele - Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Boyce Upholt - The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
Andy Young - Museum of the Soon to Depart
Michael Allen Zell - The Last Shadow
Book by an LGBTQ+ writer
Larry Bagneris Jr. - Call Me Larry
KB Brookins - Pretty
Michael Cunningham - Day
Margot Douaihy - Scorched Grace; Blessed Water
Ylva Mara Radziszewski - A Practical Guide for Witches
Kirsten Reneau - Sensitive Creatures
Paulina Stevens & Jezmina Von Thiele - Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling
Historical Novel
Allison Alsup - Foreign Seed
Yuri Herrera - Season of the Swamp
Marcie R. Rendon - Broken Fields
C.S. Harris - Who Will Remember
Kalamu ya Salaam - Walkin’ Blues
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Literary Novel
Michael Cunningham - Day
Adrianne Harun - On the Way to the End of the World
Yuri Herrera - Season of the Swamp
Chin-Sun Lee - Upcountry
Angie Kim - Happiness Falls
Ery Shin - Spring on the Peninsula
Memoir
Larry Bagneris Jr. - Call Me Larry
J.T. Blatty - Snapshots Sent Home: From Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine – A Memoir
KB Brookins - Pretty
Laura Lippman - My Life as a Villainess
Bernice L. McFadden - Firstborn Girls
Kirsten Reneau - Sensitive Creatures
Desiree Richter - The Presence of Absence
Book with a POC main character
Yuri Herrera - Season of the Swamp
Marcie R. Rendon - Broken Fields
Angie Kim - Happiness Falls
Kalamu ya Salaam - Walkin’ Blues
Ery Shin - Spring on the Peninsula
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Michael Allen Zell - The Last Shadow
Mystery/Crime/Thriller
Megan Abbott - Beware the Woman
Trudy Nan Boyce - The Policeman’s Daughter
Alafair Burke - The Note
Christine Carbo - A Sharp Solitude
Margot Douaihy - Scorched Grace; Blessed Water
Gwen Florio - Best Be Prepared
Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
Adrianne Harun - A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain
Marcie R. Rendon - Broken Fields
Angie Kim - Happiness Falls
C.S. Harris - Who Will Remember
Michael Allen Zell - The Last Shadow
Book set in the South
Margot Douaihy - Scorched Grace; Blessed Water
Yuri Herrera - Season of the Swamp
C.H. Hooks - Can’t Shake the Dust
Alex Jennings - The Ballad of Perilous Graves
M.A. Nicholson - Around the Gate
Kalamu ya Salaam - Walkin’ Blues
E.M. Tran - Daughters of the New Year
Michael Allen Zell - The Last Shadow
Nonfiction Book
Eric Cook - Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine
Chris Granger - Painting the Town: The Importance of Color in Historic New Orleans Architecture
Justin Maxwell - The Playwright's Toolbox: Exercises from 56 Contemporary Dramatists on Designing, Building, and Refurbishing Your Plays
Ylva Mara Radziszewski - A Practical Guide for Witches
Gary Richards - Lovers and Beloveds: Sexual Otherness in Southern Fiction, 1936 - 1961
Bess Rowen - Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment
Paulina Stevens & Jezmina Von Thiele - Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling
Boyce Upholt - The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
