Speakers and attendees return annually, forming a festival family that welcomes newcomers into its ever-growing circle. When asked what keeps him coming back, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Rick Bragg said, “The Tennessee Williams Festival is a national and even international showplace for literary New Orleans and the South. It is named for just one fine writer, but it has pulled thousands into its circle.” Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Ford sums up the festival best: “The great allure of the Tennessee Williams Festival is—for me, a writer—to meet serious, man-and-woman-on-the-street book readers, people who go to books for the reason I came to reading long ago: to hear the extra beat to life that literature supplies, and by which it dignifies our trust that life’s still worth living. Plus, you get to do it in New Orleans. Who could resist?” 

The 2020 festival runs March 25–29 and includes writing workshops, literary panels, theater events, a book fair, Tennessee Williams tribute reading and scholars conference, walking tours, music events, culinary events, interviews, and the Saints + Sinners LGBTQ Literary Festival. Ticketing information and a full schedule of events and speakers are available at www.tennesseewilliams.net.