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Our Special Thanks to:

The New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation
Sponsor in Part of:
Words & Music, 2011 Events Featuring Music
Including
Faulkner for All
After Hours at the Napoleon House

The New Orleans Hispanic Heritage Foundation
Sponsor in Part of:
Pan American Connections Programs
of
Words & Music, 2011

The Latin American Studies Program
of
The University of New Orleans
Sponsor in Part
of Pan American Studies Programs
of
Words & Music, 2011

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studiesof
Loyola Univeristy
Sponsor in Part
of
Pan American Connections Programs
of
Woresd & Music, 2011

Promoting Writers, Engaging Readers

The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society is a nationally recognized non-profit arts organization sponsoring the renowned
Words & Music arts festival; the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition; the Double Dealer literary journal; outreach programs for high school and college students; literacy projects for at-risk teenagers, continuing education; and a year-round calendar of free literary events including My New Orleans, Meet the Author and other events which honor and assist writers and feature refreshments and, frequently music. News of our coming free events can be found by scrolling down this page. Our next free event will be Meet the Author, June 3, 2:30 to 4:30 p. m., Faulkner House, 624 Pirate's Alley, featuring mystery writer Ace Atkins. Scroll down for details. Our next big event is our annual fundraiser, Juleps in June, Sunday, June 10, 2012.

   24 Aubuon Place, the lovely venue for Juleps in June, 2012 and residence of Honorary chairs for the Faulkner Society's annual fundraiser.

The Faulkner Society's fundraiser and overture to the summer social season, Juleps in June, 2012 will take place on Saturday evening, June 10 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the residence of 2012 Honorary Chairs, Catherine and George Rive Cary, 24 Audubon Place. Our literary guest of honor this yearis Richard Ford, who won the Pulitzer Prize and the Pen/Faulkner Prize for his novel Independence Day. His new
novel, Canada, will be released by Harper-Collins earlier in June. Signed first edition copies of Canada will be the special patrons gift this year.
To become a member of the patron committee and reserve for this gala summer frolic, e-mail us at Faulkhouse@aol.com . Patron tickets are
$300 per couple. For more information about Richard, Click Here! For an interesting article on him which appeared recently in the London Telegraph, visit:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/8811307/Richard-Ford-novels-were-never-a-sacred-calling.html

2012 Party Chairs are:
Angie Bowlin, Kim Page, Donna Young, and Richard Vinroot, Jr.

Juleps in June, 2011 took place last year at the Audubon Place home of Honorary Chairs Tia & James Roddy,who live right next door to this year's exciting venue. For details of last year's event, the annual party scroll, Click Here! To see Juleps in June photographic memories, Click Here!

We are pleased to announce that one of the Society's most dedicated volunteeers and patrons, Judith "Jude" Swenson, is chairing a committee to raise funds to make our prizes for winners of the William Faulkner -William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition possible. Jude, who was Honorary Chair of Words & Music, 2010. is a New Orleans volunteer activist and socialite who has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for New Orleans philanthropic organizations, including the New Orleans Opera Association. Ms. Swenson, a writer herself, has been a generous sponsor of Faulkner Society projects on behalf of readers and writers for many years. In past years, she has chaired Juleps in June at her lovely old Metairie home, Chez Grace; underwritten the annual master class for students, sponsored authors for Words & Music; and sponsored prizes for the competition. Ms. Swenson, a former journalist and magazine editor, underwrote the prize for Best Novel in both 2010 and 2011 in memory of her late husband: James Swenson.

Significant cash prizes are offered for previously unpublished works in seven categories: Novel, Novella, Novel-in-Progress, Short Story, Essay, Poetry, and Short Story by a High School Student. Prizes range from $750 for a High School Short Story to $7,500 for the winning novel. Winners also receive gold medals and are the Faulkner Society's guests for Words & Music, 2012, when awards are presented at the annual gala, Faulkner for All. The costs related to the competition, the winners, and the gala at which they are presented total approximately $35,000 annually.

If you are a writer, we look forward to seeing your work in the 2012 competition, which closes May 15, 2012. If not, please pass this information along to friends and colleagues who are writers seeking to have their work published.  Dozens of past winners and finalists of the Faulkner - Wisdom Competition have been successfully published! After reviewing guidelines, if you have questions, contact us by e-mail at Faulkhouse@aol.com. We look forward to receiving lots of new work this year. For 2012 Guidelines, Click Here! For 2012 Entry Form, Click Here!

2011 Competition Finalists Score!

Pamela Binnings Ewen’s novel The Moon in the Mango Tree has won the Eudora Welty Memorial Award given by the National League of American Pen Women in their 2012 Biennial Letters Competition. The NLAPW is a professional organization for women artists, composers, and writers founded in in 1897. The national headquarters in Washington, D.C. are in the historic Pen Arts Building which was formerly the home of Todd Lincoln.  Pamela currently is a member of the Faulkner Society’s Executive Board. She is a past finalist in the William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and regularly presents at Words & Music.

For more information on Pamela and her work, Click Here!

Michael Allen Zell, 2010 Short story competition finalist and semi-finalist, will have his first novel, Errata, published this fall by Lavender Ink.  Also, his  short story "What Do You Say To A Shadow?" was recently nominated for the 2012  Best American Short Stories anthology. 

Julie K. Rose, whose novel, Oleanna, was short-listed in the 2011 William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative
Writing Competition, has announced that the novel has been published in e-book format and is available at
the i-Bookstore now. It will be available in paperback to print book retailers shortly. In announcing publication today,
Julie said: "Set during the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905, this richly detailed novel of love and loss was inspired by the lives of my great-great-aunts. The story is very close to my heart. I hope you enjoy it." To reserve your copy, call Faulkner House Books at (504) 524-2940 or e-mail us at Faulkhouse@aol.com.

Marylee MacDonald, who was first runner-up for the 2011 Gold Medal for Short Story, has won not one but two prizes since January 1. Her 2011 short story entry, The Pancho Villa Coin, won the Barry Hannah Prize from The Yalobusha Review. Fiction Writer William Gay judged the contest. Another of her short stories, Tea and Sugar, won the Rash Award from Broad River Review, judged by Silas House. For more on Ms. MacDonald, Click Here!

David S. McCabe, who placed in the 2011 Faulkner - Wisdom Competition with his novel, Without Sin, has written to
tell us that the novewwas published on April 15. The novel revolves around one of the most pressing social
Issues of our time: the horrors often facing undocumented immigrants to the United States across the border between our country and Mexico. Congratulations, David!

Winners of 2011 Competition are Announced

Winners of 2011 competition were presented at Words & Music, 2011 at the annual meeting of the Faulkner Society on
November 11, 2011. They represent the best of an extraordinary year of entries, one of the best groups of entries since the competition was created in 1992. They are:

                  

Peter Selgin or Winter Park, FL and New York, NY, author of The Water Master, Novel; Chris Waddington of New Orleans, LA, author of After Freddie Left, Novella; M. O. Walsh of Baton Rouge. La, author of Whiteflies, Novel in Progress; Terri Stoor of New Orleans, LA, author of A Belly Full of Sparrow, Short Story, left to right, above.

        
Jacob Appel of New York, NY, author of The Man Who Was Not My Grandfather, Essay; M'Bilia Meekers, of New Orleans, LA, author of The Spirit of Louis Congo, Poetry; and Ruth Marie Landry of Metairie, LA, author of Nerve Endings, Short Story by a High School Student, left to right above.

For complete information on winners and runners-up, Click Here! For lists of others who placed in all categories,
Click Here!

Hal Clark's New Play, Fishers of Men, To Debut June 14

Hal Clark, WYLD’s award-winning talk show host, announces the debut of his new play, Fishers of Men. The play's star will be veteran actor Lance E. Nichols (HBO’s Treme) as Bishop James Perriloux, pastor of a New Orleans mega-church.  The pastor sends men from his congregation into the city’s streets late at night to rescue lost souls. Two potential converts—an ex-con recently released from prison and a mid-level street drug dealer—threaten the very foundation of Bishop Perriloux’s ministry and jeopardize each man’s life. The initial production, in conjunction with Dillard University Theatre, runs for only four shows. Opening night will be on Hal’s birthday, Thursday, June 14th at 7 p.m., followed by perfromances Friday, June 15th, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 16th, 7 p.m., and Sunday, June 17th, 3 p.m., all at Dillard University’s Cook Theatre. A portion of the proceeds will go toward scholarships for drama students at Dillard and Grambling State University. Individual tickets are $20 and may be purchased at www.haroldellisclark.com orhttp://fishersofmen.eventbrite.com/ For group tickets, call 504-433-5498 or send an email to heclarkjr@aol.com.  If you live out of town, please consider purchasing tickets as gifts for New Orleans friends, family members, students or non-profit organizations. You are encouraged to make ticket purchases by April 30.  The theatre holds just 250 persons, so don’t delay!  Lance Nichols, above right, was born in New Orleans. He is an accomplished acting and dialogue coach, as well as a distinguished actor. He teaches drama in both Los Angeles and New Orleans. Hal Clark, a member of the Faulkner Society's Advisory Council and a previous finalist in the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition for his novel Marrero Action, recently was awarded First Prize in the Feature Script category of the Organization of Black Screenwriters' annual talent search. He won for a film adaptation of his novel Chummy's Spirit. Hal regularly participates as a faculty member for Words & Music.

In 2011 ALIHOT Awards were presented to Justin Torres for First Fiction; Armando Valladares for Human Rights Advocacy; Randy Fertel for Narrative Non-Fiction; Oscar Hijuelos for Literature, Fiction and Non-Fiction; and Nilo
Cruz for Drama. Shown below, left to right, these authors all participated in Words & Music, 2011.
                   

In 2010 the Society presented four ALIHOT Awards—two to Arthur Q. Davis and Quinn Peeper for Philanthropy/Civic Service, and two for literature to Rebecca Wells and Tim O'Brien. For more information on each, click on each name. The 2012 ALIHOT awards will be presented during Words & Music at Faulkner for All!

For a list of other ALIHOT Awardees, Click Here!




Life & Literature in the Global Village Was 2011 Theme

Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans, five days of enlightenment and entertainment for writers and readers, introduced New Orleanians and out of town visitors to the festival's stunning array of headliners, including several Pulitzer Prize winners and winners of many other important literary honors. Headliners discussed the shrinking world we live in and how it impacts our daily lives and the literature created for us by word artists. The Faulkner Society's annual multi-discipline arts festival, which included a major writers' conference as its central focus, opened November 9. The primary discussion venue was the well-loved literary landmark, Hotel Monteleone, located in the French Quarter. The 2011 theme for readers and lovers of good literature was Literature & Life in the Global Village.

Theme headliners, some of the best writers in America, included, first row from left, Ted Mooney, who coined the phrase "information sickness" in his first novel, Easy Travel to Other Planets and noted political, defense, and cyberworld strategist James P. Farwell, author of the new non-fiction bible for understanding one of our most unstable neighbors in the global village, The Pakistan Cauldron; Chris Ruen, author of Freeloading, and, second row from left, famously rude blogger Lee Papa, author of The Rude Pundit's Almanack, joined them in discussions about the impact of the internet on our lives and literature, while Rodger Kamenetz, bestselling author of The History of Last Night's Dreams, explored the importance of our dreams to life and creativity in today's shrinking, increasingly violent world with photographic artist Joséphine Sacabo (scroll down for more on Joséphine). Andrew Lam, Vietnamese-American author of Perfume Dreams and East East West addressed exile literature in the Global Village with Lori Carlson, who has edited and introduced a number of anthologies of work by foreign authors, who work she has translated. For background on all of these authors, Click Here!

       

              

Programming included an exciting array of authors addressing subjects designed especially for writers, such as manuscript critiques by top flight literary agents and editors with one-on-one consultations, and theme-oriented discussions for readers and writers. The programming included fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music, drama, and cinema. For information, e-mail us at: Faulkhouse@aol.com. We have posted bios of new and returning agents and editors, who critiqued in advance and consulted during the festival, as well as new and returning faculty members who participated in sessions for both readers and writers.

Pan American Connections

In 2011, the Faulkner Society created a new permanent committee of its Advisory Council, The Pan American Connections Committee. The committee has been established in recognition of the increasing importance of the Hispanic/Latino comunity in Louisiana life. Each year, the committee will assist in selecting programming reflecting the importance of the Hispanic heritage in New Orleans and, indeed, the United States. The 2011-2012 Chairman is author and documentary filmmaker Amy Serrano, shown at left. During Words & Music, 2011, Amy introduced and interviewed the Pan American Connections keynote speaker, Armando Valladres, former U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations for human rigts and author of the international bestseling memoir, Against All Hope, which details his 22 years as a prisoner of conscience in a Cuban prison. For more on Ms. Serrano and here work, Click Here!. The 2012-2013 Chairman will be selected in June.

The festival had a distinctively salsa flavor this year, with a distinctive, exciting group of Latino presenters, along with Caribbean music and cuisine.

A bright new talent on the fiction scene, Justin Torres, whose debut novel is We The Animals, accepted our invitation to join us as one of our Pan American Connections headliners. Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham, author of that exquisite novel, The Hours, has this to say about Torres:

We the Animals is a dark jewel of a book. It’s heartbreaking. It’s beautiful. It resembles no other book I’ve read. We should all be grateful for Justin Torres, a brilliant, ferocious new voice.

Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Tinkers, joins what has become in a very short time, a national chorus of praise, for this young man:

We the Animals snatches the reader by the scruff of the heart, tight as teeth, and shakes back and forth—between the human and the animal, the housed and the feral, love and violence, mercy and wrath—and leaves him in the wilderness, ravished by its beauty. It is an indelible and essential work of art.

Other Pan American headliners for Words & Music, 2011 included Nilo Cruz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Anna in the Tropics; and Lori Marie Carlson, well known author of fiction for both adults and young adults and editor of numerous anthologies introducing American readers to the work of foreing authors, and her husband,Pulitzer Prize winner Oscar Hijuelos. For more information on these exciting authors and others, Click Here!

Words & Music, 2011 was not all mambo and mojitos, however.

On the distaff side of the festival, we featured four newcomers to Words & Music, 2011 with diverse backgrounds, all producing superb work in the literary arena. Shown from far left to right below: Paula McLain, author of the bestselling new novel based on Ernest Hemingway's first wife, The Paris Wife; a former publishing industry editor who threw over a good career to begin a journey of self-discovery, which ended in the discovery of magic and enchanting little people, Signe Pike, author of Faery Tale; the highly respected French biographer Anka Muhlstein, winner of the Goncourt, whose reputation for turning out highly enjoyable word portraits of her subjects is enhanced once more by her new book, Balzac's Omelette, a delicious twist on one of the masters of literary history; and successful fiction writer Nicole Kelby, a finalist on many occasions in the Faulkner Society's writing competition and author of the wonderful new novel about the life and loves of famed French king of cuisine, Escoffier, White Truffles in Winter. For more on these talented authors and many others,Click Here!
            

A wonderful group of the authors who came in 2011 have recent books, which are at least in part an homage to New Orleans, including, from left below, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler, whose new novel, A Small Hotel, is set largely in the French Quarter of New Orleans; New York Times bestselling author Robert Hicks, whose latest novel, A Separate Country about General John Bell Hood is set in New Orleans after the Civil War; Brad Richard, a talented and well published New Orleans poet who, although a great friend to the Faulkner Society, presented at Words & Music, 2011 for the first time; and James Nolan,whose novel Higher Ground, which won the Faulkner Society's 2008 gold medal for Best Novel, was an October, 2011 release. For more on these authors and more, Click Here!

For information on Words & Music, 2011, follow the quick links below.

Words & Music Quick Links:

ABOUT WORDS & MUSIC |  FACULTY: AUTHORS  |  FACULTY: AGENTS/EDITORS

SPECIAL EVENT PRICING  |  RESERVATION FORM  |  PROGRAM SCHEDULE

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION  | AGENT/EDITOR/WORKSHOP CRITIQUE GUIDELINES

Hotel Monteleone at 200 Royal Street will once again be the primary venue for Words & Music 2011!  
Hotel Monteleone, a literary treasure, is in its second decade as the only hotel in New Orleans (and one of only a handful nationwide) designated as a National Literary Landmark. For more on this beautiful and historic literary landmark hotel, visit: www.HotelMonteleone.com.

Please revisit other pages of this web site, our blog, and our Facebook Page for all of the news about the festival between now and opening day, November 28, 2012

Faulkner Society events are made possible in part by important support from The Arts Council of New Orleans, the City of New Orleans, and the Decentralized Arts Funding Program of The Louisiana Division of the Arts; the J. J. and Dr. Donald Dooley Fund and administrator, Samuel L. Steele, III; Bertie Deming Smith and the Deming Foundation; the Hearst Corporation and Debra Shriver, Vice President; the Law Firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles;Dorignac's & Butch Steadman; the English Speaking Union; Rosemary James, Joseph DeSalvo and Faulkner House, Inc; Randy Fertel and The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation; Arthur & Mary Davis, Quint Davis, and Pam Friedler; Alexa Georges; the Louisiana State Museum; Elizabeth McKinley; Hotel Monteleone; Mr. & Mrs. Hartwig Moss, III; Theodosia M. Nolan, Tia and James Roddy, and Peter Tattersall; Parkside Foundation; Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre; Anne and Ron Pincus; Other Press, a Division of Random House; E. Quinn Peeper and Michael Harold; Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture: Nancy Cater, Editor; the State Library of Louisiana; Judith "Jude" Swenson in memory of her late husband, James Swenson.