Margit Longbrake

Margit Longbrake, managing editor of the Tennessee Williams Annual Review, has overseen the first-time publication of a number of primary Williams texts unearthed from the archives. As senior editor at the Historic New Orleans Collection, she acquires and edits books and museum publications, including Afro-Creole Poetry in French from Louisiana’s Radical Civil War–Era Newspapers, translated…

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Stacey Balkun

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…

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Gary Richards

Gary Richards is Professor of English at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he teaches courses in southern literature and culture, US literature, and gender and sexuality studies. He is the author of Lovers and Beloveds: Sexual Otherness in Southern Fiction, 1936-1961, as well as numerous essays on southern literature, including works by…

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Festival Programming

Get to know our programming: Writer’s Craft Series Our Writer’s Craft Series features award-winning writers sharing their experience and expertise. Open to the public, it is perfect for writers of any skill level, as well as literary lovers who want to hear their favorite author speak. The usual schedule is four sessions on Thursday and…

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Previous Festival Program Books

                    2024 TWFest Program Book                         2023 TWFest Program Book                         2022 TWFest Program Book Our big in-person return! It was so good to…

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Festival Tickets

Festival Tickets Jump to: VIP Pass Literary Discussions Saints and Sinners Multi-Event Passes Writer’s Craft Sessions Scholar’s Conference Special Events Music Events Theatre Events Walking Tours TENNESSEE WILLIAMS NEW ORLEANS LITERARY FESTIVAL VIP PASS Includes these events March 22 – 26, 2023: Writer’s Craft sessions Thursday and Friday All literary discussions Friday-Sunday Scholars Conference on…

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Peggy Scott Laborde

Peggy Scott Laborde has been the senior producer for the New Orleans PBS station, WYES-TV, since 1987. She has produced over 35 documentaries, including A Conversation with Tennessee Williams and, most recently, Literary New Orleans. She is the recipient of a Suncoast Emmy Award. Laborde also produces and hosts Steppin’ Out, New Orleans’ only weekly…

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J.M. Redmann

J.M. Redmann has published twelve novels featuring New Orleans PI Micky Knight. Her first book, published in 1990, is one of the early hard-boiled lesbian detectives. Her books have won three Lambda Literary awards, a Publishing Triangle Joseph Hansen award, and two Goldie awards. The Intersection of Law and Desire was an Editor’s Choice of…

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E.M. Tran

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…

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Timothy Schaffert

Timothy Schaffert is the author of seven novels, most recently The Titanic Survivors Bookclub and The Perfume Thief, which was named a Top Ten Best Book of the Summer by the LA Times and a Top 10 Historical Fiction Novel by CrimeReads. His work has been a New York Times Review Editors’ Choice, an Oprah.com…

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