Familiar and Unexpected Works Slated for 26th Annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, March 21-25, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2012

» Download the Press Release (DOC)

» Download the Press Release (PDF)

» Download the Festival Logo (ZIP, 1.1 mb)

NEW ORLEANS – A stellar program is in place for the 2012 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, which marks its 26th anniversary, March 21-25. The five-day fête honors the legendary Tennessee Williams, his works, and literary life in the adopted city he called his “spiritual home” and features two days of master classes; a roster of lively discussions among distinguished panelists; celebrity interviews; theater, food and music events; a scholars’ conference; a poetry slam, writing marathon and breakfast book club; French Quarter literary walking tours; a book fair; short fiction, poetry and one-act play competitions; and special evening events and parties.

“Williams’ work and life continue to intrigue audiences around the globe,” said Executive Director Paul Willis. “Mix in the myriad programs we’ve planned on a variety of other topics and you have an event that will stimulate and entertain on many levels.”

Illustrious participants on tap to share their diverse talents are, among many others:

Piper Laurie, stage and screen luminary who played Laura Wingfield in the 1965 Broadway revival of Williams’ iconic play, The Glass Menagerie; was an Academy Award nominee for her roles in The Hustler, Carrie and Children of a Lesser God; and who now adds author to her list of accomplishments with her new memoir Learning to Live Out Loud;

Amanda Plummer, who portrayed Laura Wingfield on Broadway in 1983, won a Tony Award for her role in Agnes of God, and is also known for her film work (Pulp Fiction and The Fisher King) and Emmy-winning turns on television;

John Guare, 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his play A Free Man of Color and author of Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves and many other celebrated works;

Nigel Hamilton, award-winning biographer known for his work JFK: Reckless Youth, which was made into an ABC mini-series;

Victor Navasky, former editor and current publisher emeritus of The Nation, whose 1980 book Naming Names is considered a definitive take on the Hollywood blacklist;

Laura Lippman, masterful and prolific mystery writer, whom The Washington Post dubbed “one of the best novelists around, period”;

Amy Dickinson, syndicated advice columnist and author of The New York Times bestselling memoir The Mighty Queens of Freeville, who delighted audiences at the 2011 Festival;

Amy Hempel (Collected Stories) and Julie Kane, Louisiana’s 2012 poet laureate, who will judge the Festival’s annual short fiction and poetry contests, respectively;

Ace Atkins, mystery writer and former crime reporter, who was recently deemed the new author for the continued installments of the late Robert B. Parker’s famed Spenser series;

Nick Spitzer, folklorist and producer/host of American Routes, a syndicated radio program specializing in music and cultures of the Gulf South; and

Jesmyn Ward, whose Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book Award for fiction.

The Festival kicks off Wednesday night, March 21, with a unique multimedia, theatrical adaptation of Tom Sancton’s award winning childhood memoir, SONG FOR MY FATHERS: A New Orleans Story in Black and White, featuring Sancton on clarinet and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Hailed as a “newly minted classic” by The Times-Picayune, this heartwarming story about a boy growing up in the ‘60s and learning to play jazz from the veteran musicians at Preservation Hall comes to life in the form of Sancton’s narrations, audio-visual projections, dramatizations and musical interludes provided by the onstage band.

Literary highlights comprise more than two dozen literary panel discussions on topics ranging from the political oppression of the 1950s and the ensuing Hollywood blacklist to New Orleans Free People of Color; from crafting memoirs to penning presidential biographies; from writing the American city in fact and fiction to writing for the radio. Win Riley’s documentary on celebrated Southern writer Walker Percy will also captivate.

Two events for the literary late night crowd include a poetry slam, hosted by spoken word maestro Chuck Perkins, and a multimedia tribute to Lafcadio Hearn, the famed 19th Century author of eloquent impressions of life in New Orleans, presented by the People Say Project.

The Festival’s eight Master Classes feature sessions with authors, agents and editors who share literary tips, techniques, and current industry trends with aspiring writers and interested bibliophiles. The 2012 line-up includes interactive discussions on e-publishing; social media; what to expect from an agent; along with sessions on writing memoirs, children’s books, and biography.

Williams-related programs include Southern Rep Theatre’s full production of A Streetcar Named Desire. On a lighter note, The Glass Mendacity, a comic send-up of the colorful characters in Williams’ most iconic plays – Streetcar, The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – perfectly blends decadence and hilarity in a cocktail best served both shaken and stirred. “Hiding in Plain Sight,” a special evening event focusing on Williams’ lesser known works, features luminaries of the page and stage who will offer tributes and share excerpts from some of the playwright’s unsung treasures.

Audiences will be spellbound by a conversation with Piper Laurie and Amanda Plummer, who will reminisce about bringing to life one of Tennessee Williams’ most iconic and beloved characters, Laura Wingfield; Williams and his work are also the topic of a variety of panels, the Festival’s annual Scholars Conference, and the popular Breakfast Book Club, which will focus on Tales of Desire, his collection of short stories. Film lovers won’t want to miss a screening of The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, a 2009 film directed by Jodie Markell and based on a rediscovered 1957 original screenplay written by Williams, as well as a video presentation by Williams biographer John DiLeo showing clips of actors that inspired Tennessee and films that shamelessly copied his work.

Other theater offerings include a staged reading of Broomstick, award-winning author/playwright John Biguenet’s new work, featuring Cristine McMurdo-Wallis as a witch who confesses all, as well as selected scenes from Robert Harling’s cherished work, Steel Magnolias. In addition, the University of New Orleans will mount a production of Justin Kuritzkes’ An Autobiography about My Brother, the Festival’s 2011 One-Act Play Competition winner; the 2012 prize-winner, Jumpers by Jessica Alexander, will receive a staged reading.

Food, Glorious Food events will certainly stimulate appetites: Noted food/wine connoisseur, author and columnist John Mariani offers the latest restaurant scoop to accompany wine, wit and hors d’oeuvres; acclaimed chef John Besh shares stories and recipe tastings from his new book, My Family Table; and “Food Memories,” features tastes and tales about New Orleans’ legendary culinary scene recounted by a smorgasbord of noted foodies.

Music events add another octave to the Festival program. Sunday’s “Drummer and Smoke” three-part series at the Palm Court Jazz Café includes “Between the Lionels,” a discussion and musical performance with jazz musicians “Uncle” Lionel Batiste of the Treme Brass Band and Lionel Ferbos, who, at 100, is the oldest still-active jazz musician in New Orleans. In another session, author John Swenson will discuss how the return of musicians to New Orleans post-Katrina helped drive the city’s recovery. He will be joined by Davis Rogan, one of the featured musicians in Swenson’s book, New Atlantis, as well as the inspiration for one of the main characters in the HBO’s series Treme. The third event, “Swinging the Hippest of the Standards,” joins some of the city’s most lauded jazz musicians and vocalists in a lively presentation of modern jazz classics.

All things must come to an end, but the Festival’s riotous closing ceremony — the Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest, a playful homage to the bellowing mates in A Streetcar Named Desire — will certainly leave a lasting impression.

Most of the events take place in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter. Venues include Hotel Monteleone, the Festival’s host hotel, which has garnered a rich literary history throughout its 125 years; The Historic New Orleans Collection; Williams Research Center; Southern Rep Theatre; Old U.S. Mint; Muriel’s Jackson Square Restaurant; Palm Court Jazz Café; Windsor Court Hotel; Café Istanbul at the New Orleans Healing Center; The Pelican Club Restaurant; and Besh Steak, Harrah’s Casino.

A Festival Panel Pass is $75 ($60 for students); a One-Day Pass is $30; theater/special events range from $5-$100; master classes are $25; the Scholars Conference is $20; walking tours are $25. Group rates on request. Group rates are 20% off for groups of five or more.

For more information, call 504-581-1144 or 800-990-3378 (FEST). For ticket purchase, regular updates and information on how to become a “Friend of Tennessee,” visit www.tennesseewilliams.net.

Major funding for the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival [TW/NOLF] is made possible through a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Festival is also supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.

In addition, the program is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans. The TW/NOLF is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts through an Access to Artistic Excellence literature grant. The University of New Orleans administers the Festival’s one-act play competition and provides a graduate assistant for the program.

Generous support has also been provided by The Historic New Orleans Collection; Cenac Towing Co., LLC; The Bollinger Family Foundation; The Zemurray Foundation; The Joe W. & Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation; The Louisiana Museum Foundation; Reily Foods Company/French Market Coffee; Patrick F. Taylor Foundation; The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation; The Azby Fund; LSU Press; Southern Repertory Theatre; Hotel Monteleone; Muriel’s Jackson Square Restaurant; Brennan’s Restaurant; New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park; The Pelican Club Restaurant; Palm Court Jazz Café; Windsor Court Hotel; Hendrick’s Gin; Upper Pontalba Building on Jackson Square; IBERIABANK; New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation; Regions Bank; and Tulane University.

Images available on request.

Media Contact: Ellen Johnson

504.283.3227 / ejjester@aol.com

www.tennesseewilliams.net

###