All Booked Up

Though New Orleans is often best known for jazz and food, there is also a great literary tradition here. Most famously, Tennessee Williams set Streetcar Named Desire in New Orleans and finished writing it while he stayed here at the Maison de Ville. (One of our cats is named in his honor.)

The Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival is held each year in the French Quarter to celebrate traditional literature and identify and support new talent. The 2008 Festival is March 26 – 30 and will feature social events, book fairs, readings, literary walking tours, discussions, and a Stella and Stanley contest at Jackson Square.

William Faulkner also lived and wrote in New Orleans at 624 Pirate’s Alley. He was writing for a magazine and working on his first novel and lived on a dollar a day (in 1925). His apartment is now a literary landmark and the headquarters of the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, founded in 1990.

The Society hosts Words and Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans tentatively scheduled in 2008 for November 6 – 9. Events include a creative writing competition, discussions, social events including “Literature and Lunch,” and notable speakers.

The Saints and Sinners alternative literary festival, scheduled for May 8 – 11, 2008, celebrates and connects the LGBT community. The Sixth Annual Saints and Sinners Festival will take place around the French Quarter and include a variety of speakers and social events including the world premiere of the winning play from the Second Annual Playwriting Competition.

The Tom Dent Literary Festival returned in 2007 after a 2 year hiatus. Established in 1999 to focus on the literary works of African American authors, the festival has grown to incorporate storytelling, poetry and contemporary literature. The Festival is hosted by the New Orleans Public Library and honors Tom Dent, a native son of New Orleans and noted poet, essayist, oral historian, dramatist, and cultural activist.

If you’re planning a trip to New Orleans, other authors to add to your reading list or bring along include:

Lillian Hellman – she spent a large part of her early life in New Orleans and set Toys in the Attic in a New Orleans boarding house;

Kate Chopin – she set two novels in New Orleans including her most famous – The Awakening. Fascinated by Creole culture, Chopin often wrote about racism, slavery and women’s issues;

Anne Rice – famously set her vampire tales in New Orleans and its cemeteries and landmarks.

And of course, we can’t forget that James Audubon completed Birds of Americawhile staying in one of the cottages at Maison de Ville now named for him. Mr. Audubon lived in Cottage 1 while using Cottage 7 as his studio.

Plan your stay to experience life in New Orleans and begin the next great American novel.