TWF25 New Orleans Writers
Check out some of the local New Orleans writers that you can see at this year's Festival. Find their books and see how they answered our question: How does living in New Orleans influence/inspire your work or writing process?
Allison Alsup is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in the O. Henry Prize Stories and Best Food Writing. Foreign Seed is her first novel and was named Historical Novel Society editor’s pick. As co-founder and Creative Director of the local nonprofit, New Orleans Writers Workshop, Allison regularly teaches fiction workshops and works one on one with writers to develop their manuscripts.
C. Morgan Babst is a native of New Orleans. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in such publications as The Washington Post, Saveur, The Oxford American, Guernica, Garden and Gun, the Harvard Review, and the anthology Horse Girls. Two of her essays are listed as Notable in Best American Essays. Her debut novel, The Floating World, was named one of the best books of 2017 by Kirkus Reviews, Amazon, Southern Living, and the Dallas Morning News and was a New York Times Editors’ Pick.
Larry Bagneris, a native New Orleanian, began his civil rights activism as a student at St. Augustine High School. He graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana and moved to Houston, Texas, where he was a two-term president of the city’s Gay Political Caucus, chairperson of Gay Pride week, and, in 1979, founder of Houston’s Gay Pride parade. Bagneris returned to New Orleans in the 1990s and became a lobbyist for the NO/AIDS Task Force. He served four mayoral administrations as executive director of New Orleans’s Human Relations Commission before retiring in 2018. He is the author of the memoir Call Me Larry: A Creole Man's Triumph over Racism and Homophobia, forthcoming March 2025 from The Historic New Orleans Collection.
Stacey Balkun is the author of Sweetbitter and co-editor of Fiolet & Wing. Winner of a 2022 PEN America grant, her creative work has appeared in Best New Poets, Mississippi Review, Pleiades, and several other anthologies and journals. Her critical work has been anthologized and awarded support from the Modern Language Association and the South Atlantic MLA. Stacey holds a PhD from the University of Mississippi, Oxford and an MFA from Fresno State. She teaches online at The Poetry Barn. She lives and writes in New Orleans.
Eric Cook is the Executive Chef and Owner of award-winning New Orleans restaurants Gris-Gris and Saint John. Cook has appeared on Top Chef New Orleans, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, Off the Menu, and After Hours with Daniel Boulud, and has been showcased in Food & Wine, Forbes, Garden & Gun, Bon Appetit and more. His first cookbook, Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine, winds through Southern, Cajun, and Creole genres with dishes that are accessible enough for an everyday meal, yet impressive enough for company or the holiday table. He is the founder and President of the First to Fight Foundation, founded by combat veterans to support military veterans and their families.
Peter Cooley has published twelve books, the most recent Accounting For The Dark (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2024). For 43 years he served as Director of Creative Writing at Tulane University and is now Professor Emeritus. He was Poet Laureate of Louisiana from 2015-17.
C.S. Harris is the USA Today bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including the Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery series. As C.S. Graham she co-authored a contemporary thriller series with former intelligence officer Steven Harris; she has also published historicals under her own name, Candice Proctor. A respected scholar with a PhD in 18th and 19th century history, she is the author of a groundbreaking nonfiction historical study of women in the French Revolution. Her 20th Sebastian St. Cyr novel, Who Will Remember, will be available April 15.
Carolyn Hembree's third poetry collection, For Today, was published by LSU Press. She has been awarded the Trio Award, the Rochelle Ratner Memorial Award, an ATLAS grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents, and grants and fellowships from PEN, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, and the Southern Arts Federation. She is a professor in the MFA program at the University of New Orleans and serves as the poetry editor of Bayou Magazine.
Yuri Herrera (Actopan, México, 1970). His first three novels have been translated into several languages: Kingdom Cons, Signs Preceding the End of the World, and Transmigration of Bodies. In 2016 he shared with translator Lisa Dillman the Best translated Book Award for the translation of Signs Preceding the End of the World. That same year he received the Anna Seghers Prize at the Academy of Arts of Berlin, for the body of his work. His latest books are A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire, Ten Planets, and Season of the Swamp. He is a professor creative writing and literature at Tulane University, in New Orleans.
Alex Jennings is a teacher, author, and performer living in New Orleans. His writing has appeared in strangehorizons.com, PodCastle, The Peauxdunque Review, Obsidian Lit, the Locus Award-winning Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler, and in numerous anthologies. His debut collection, Here I Come and Other Stories was released in 2012. He is a graduate of Clarion West (2003) and the University of New Orleans. He was born in Wiesbaden (Germany) and raised in Gaborone (Botswana), Paramaribo (Surinam), and Tunis (Tunisia) as well as the United States. His most recent book is his debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves.
Chin-Sun Lee is the author of the debut novel Upcountry (Unnamed Press 2023), and a contributor to the New York Times bestselling anthology Women in Clothes (Blue Rider Press/Penguin 2014). Her work has also appeared in Electric Literature, Literary Hub, The Georgia Review, and Joyland, among other publications. She writes, edits, and teaches in New Orleans.
"While I have yet to set a story in New Orleans (I confess that, as a 9-year “newbie” resident, I don’t quite feel I have that authority), this city has inspired my work in so many other ways. The literary community here is small but deep. It’s also welcoming in a way that New York, where I lived for many years prior, never could be, given its huge population of writers and frankly, more competitive ethos. I really vibe with the leisurely pace here…it allows me to think and dream." - Chin-Sun
Justin Maxwell teaches playwriting in the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans. His playwriting book The Playwright’s Toolbox was published by Applause Books in May 2024. Currently, he’s adapting Tennessee Williams’ novel Moise and the World of Reason into a full-length play. His play An Outopia for Pigeons is out from Original Works Publishing, and Your Lithopedion is out from Next Stage Press. His prose has appeared in multiple journals including Contemporary Theatre Review, American Theatre Magazine, and others.
"Living in New Orleans shapes my work because I'm immersed in the most welcoming and supportive collection of theatre makers I've ever experienced. They are always ready to adventure into whatever strange land I'm attempting to create. I'm perpetually buoyed up by the community of artists I've met here." - Justin
Bernice L. McFadden is an Assistant Professor of English at Tulane University and the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including Sugar, The Warmest December, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, Glorious, Gathering of Waters, The Book of Harlan, and Praise Song for the Butterflies. She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Her latest book is First Born Girls, a memoir.
Benjamin Morris is the author of Coronary, Hattiesburg, Mississippi: A History of the Hub City, and Ecotone. He holds an MSc in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh, and among other honors has received a Pushcart nomination, the Academy of American Poets Prize from Duke University, and the Chancellor’s Medal for Poetry from the University of Cambridge, where he earned his Ph.D. The recipient of academic and creative fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission and Tulane University, his writing appears regularly in the United States and Europe. The Singing River is his first full collection.
"New Orleans is a city that is full of mysteries, always revealing itself in unexpected and surprising ways, and often when you least expect it. Poetry is an art that teaches us not just to be alert to this mystery but to embrace it as well -- living here sharpens both my senses and my sensibility. As a poet I can't imagine living anywhere else!" - Benjamin
M.A. Nicholson is a New Orleans poet, editor, and educator. An M.F.A. graduate from the University of New Orleans—where she served as Associate Poetry Editor for Bayou Magazine—M.A. was the recipient of the 2021 Andrea-Saunders Gereighty Academy of American Poets Award and was Kenyon Review’s 2024 Peter Taylor Fellow. M.A. has worked featured in Best New Poets 2022 and Winter in America (Again anthologies as well as Peauxdunque Review, Diode Poetry Journal, New Orleans Review, Trampoline Poetry, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection Around the Gate was selected for the Hilary Tham Capital Collection prize.
Ylva Mara Radziszewski (she/they) is a traditional witch and artist of Romani and Eastern European heritage; residing in Bulbancha (New Orleans) the traditional land of the Chitimacha Nation. Their ritual and art practice are interwoven; for them magic is art and art is healing. Founder of the School of Traditional Magic, author of A Practical Guide for Witches, co-creator of The Living Altar, with writing featured in Witchcraft, an anthology of modern magical tradition by TASCHEN, and Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling by Jezmina Von Thiele & Paulina Stevens. Instagram: @bimboyaga
Desiree Richter is a writer, musician, and educator. She writes about bereavement, post-fundamentalism, and parenting (often the intersection of these three things). It is her belief that loss is the tie that binds us all and that, especially in these times, writing about loss in honest ways can help us to heal. She is also a research instructor and dissertation consultant who has helped many doctoral students shape, conduct, and defend their research. Desi lives in New Orleans with several of her amazing offspring and way too many cats. Desi’s first book, The Presence of Absence, was released October 2024.
Paulina Stevens (she/her) was raised within her Muchwaya Romani family’s fortune telling and wellness traditions. Inspired by the holistic health movement, she earned a wellness coaching certificate in 2018 and later began collaborating with nutritionists and herbalists to serve clients. She opened Romani Holistic Healing in Newport Beach, CA, a spiritual shop that also offers readings, house cleansings, and coaching with clients. She is the co-host of the Romanistan Podcast and featured on the LA Times podcast, Foretold, which tells the story of Paulina’s decision to leave her arranged marriage and community, fight for custody of her children, and start a new life, walking between the Roma and non-Roma worlds. She’s currently studying biotechnology at Miracoasta College and is co-author with Jezmina Von Thiele of Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling.
Jezmina Von Thiele (they/she) is a writer, editor, educator, podcaster, and fortune teller. They write poetry, fiction, and nonfiction published in Prairie Schooner, The Kenyon Review Online, Narrative Magazine, & elsewhere. Jezmina is of mixed heritage and reads tarot, palms, and tea leaves in her Romani family’s tradition, both online and in-person. Jezmina specializes in teaching creativity, art, writing, and literature workshops, along with divination and other spiritual topics. Jezmina also tells fortunes and performs with The Poetry Brothel—Boston. They are co-host of Romanistan, a podcast celebrating Romani culture, alongside co-host Paulina Stevens. Jezmina and Paulina authored their debut book, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling.
E. M. Tran writes fiction and creative nonfiction. Her novel, Daughters of the New Year, debuted in October 2022 from Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins. Her stories, essays, and reviews can be found in such places as the Georgia Review, Literary Hub, Joyland Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Harvard Review Online, and more. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Mississippi and a PhD in English & Creative Writing from Ohio University. Born and raised in New Orleans, she returned and currently lives there with her family. She was born in the year of the Earth Snake. Currently, she is at work on her sophomore novel and also publishes a weekly newsletter about the show Gilmore Girls.
Boyce Upholt is a journalist and essayist whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, National Geographic, the Oxford American, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other publications. He is the winner of a James Beard Award for investigative journalism, and he lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the author of The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi.
"When you walk out your front door in New Orleans, you're almost always confronted with the joy of creativity: costumes and parades and music. It's a place where you never forget that life is about life, not work or money, and that keeps my creative well always topped off." - Bryce
Adrian Van Young is the author of the short story collection, The Man Who Noticed Everything (Black Lawrence Press), the novel, Shadows in Summerland (Open Road Media), and the short story collection, Midnight Self (Black Lawrence Press in October 2023). His fiction, non-fiction, and criticism have been published or are forthcoming in Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, Black Warrior Review, Conjunctions, Guernica, BOMB, Granta, McSweeney's, and The New Yorker online, among others. He teaches high school Creative Writing and English, and lives in New Orleans with his family.
Andy Young’s second full-length collection, Museum of the Soon to Depart, was released in October with Carnegie Mellon University Press. She is also the author of All Night It Is Morning (Diálogos Press, 2014) and four chapbooks. She grew up in southern West Virginia and has lived most of her adult life in New Orleans, where she teaches at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Her work has recently appeared in Identity Theory, Drunken Boat, and Michigan Quarterly Review. A graduate of Warren Wilson’s Program for Writers, her work has been translated into several languages, featured in classical and electronic music, in flamenco and modern dance performances, and in jewelry, tattoos, and public buses. andyyoung.org, @andyyoungpoet
Kalamu ya Salaam is a writer, editor, photographer, and retired educator. He was born Vallery Ferdinand III in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes and the civil rights movement, Salaam became interested in writing and organizing for social change. He was a founder of BLACKARTSOUTH and changed his name to Kalamu ya Salaam, which is Kishwahili for “pen of peace.” Salaam was also a founder of NOMMO Literary Society and Runagate press. Among many things, he has been Executive Director of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a DJ on WWOZ, administrator of the Lower 9th Ward Neighborhood Health Center, and the editor of The Black Collegian magazine.
Michael Allen Zell is a New Orleans-based novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and playwright. His most recent crime fiction novel was The Last Shadow. Its follow-up, Black Ice, launches in April. His previous Bobby Delery series received the following accolades: The L.A. Review of Books praised with, “Zell demonstrates a gallows humor and a fine ear for entertainment…like the best crime fiction, the story invests deeply in setting, and it succeeds by virtue of its author’s palpable love for New Orleans and the people who live there.” Susan Larson in The Times-Picayune said, “What really keeps us turning pages is Zell’s authorial voice, his insights into human nature, and the dark sense of humor that comes out of observing city life.”
