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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 annual 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; continuing education; and a year-round calendar of literary events including My New Orleans, Meet the Author and other events which honor and assist writers.

The Society is a 501 (c) (3) literary and educational institution and, as such, grant donations, membership contributions, and contributions to our fundraisers, such Juleps in June, are tax deductible. The Faulkner Society's two most ambitious anuual projects are:

        —Words & Music, A Literary Feast in New Orleans.
        —The William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.

To get a picture of the scope of Words & Music, Click Here! on the schedule of last year's festival.




Jude Swenson is Fundraising Chair for Competition

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 prizes for the competition. Ms. Swenson, a former journalist and magazine editor, underwrote the prize for Best Novel in both the 2010 and 2011 Faulkner - William Wisdom Competition 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, 2011, when awards are presented at the annual gala, Faulkner for All, to be held on an auspicious date: Friday, the 11th day of the Eleventh month, November, in the year 2011. The costs related to the competition, the winners and the gala at which they are presented total approximately $30,000 annually.

If you are a writer, we look forward to seeing your work in the 2012 competition, which opened January 1, 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!

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!

2011 Competition Finalists Score!

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!

Black History Month

Worth a Thousand Words

Joséphine Sacabo, an internationally acclaimed photographic artist, has two exhibitions of her new collection opening in New Orleans on Saturday, October 1, from 4:00 to 6:00
p. m. at the Gallery of Fine Photography and 7:00 to 9:00 p. m. at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Ms. Sacabo, a native of Laredo, lives and works in New Orleans,where she has been strongly influenced by the rich diversity of the culture, and in San Miguel Allende, Mexico. She is a founding member of the Faulkner Society and her work has been featured in limited edition Faulkner Society broadsides, some of our printed programs, in our journal, The Double Dealer, and on our web site. She also has served as a member of the faculty of Words & Music on several occasions and will once again be a part of the festival in 2011, joining Rodger Kamenetz and Monika Wikman to discuss the importance of our dream lives in today's stressful, shrinking global village. Her new collection, entitled Óyeme con los Ojos (Hear Me With Your Eyes), is inspired by the life and work of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a 17th century Mexican nun who was one of the greatest poets and intellectuals of the American continent. For more on Joséphine and her dreamily luscious photographs, Click Here!
For a signed copy of Ms. Sacabo's beautiful new book of photographs, contact Faulkner House Books. Ms. Sacabo is a previous winner of the Society's ALIHOT Award.

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 Awards,  Click Here!

Joint Ventures

The Faulkner Society sponsors a year round calendar of free events, as well as ticketed events such as our fundraiser, Juleps in June, and our literary festival in November. The free events include two series, Meet the Author and My New Orleans. Many of these events are co-sponsored by the Louisiana State Museum and take place at the museum's historic venues, including the Cabildo and the Presybytere. For e-mail news of events, send us your e-mail address. And make sure to subscribe to our Blog! We regularly publish news about authors and other arts organizations on our blog.

The historic Presbytere, one of two centers of government in Colonial Louisiana, faces Jackson Square. Today, the
Presbytere is the headquarters of the Louisiana State Museum and it's important Katrina & Beyond exhibit. (Photograph
by Jay Rosenblatt, courtesey of the museum.) Our Wednesday, November 10 program of Words & Music will take place
in the Presbytere's twin sister building, located on the other side of St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, where the Louisiana
Purchase was signed. These two important buildings and the Cathdral facing Jackson's Square's lovely park, along with the Pontalba buildings on either side of the park, form one of the most architecturally important and beautiful squares in
the world.

Art & Literature: Joan Griswold

Among 2011 free events was the Welcome Party for Words & Music, 2011 at Cole-Pratt Art Gallery, 2800 Magazine St. The event was the opening of an exhibit of  new work by fine artist Joan Griswold, who created a new collection of oil paintings of important New Orleans literary venues, including Faulkner House and city's only hotel donated as a Literary Landmark, the Monteleone, our annual headquarters for Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans. Ms. Griswold's husband, famous humorist Roy Blount, Jr., a regular member of the faculty of presenters for Words & Music, will introduced Ms. Griswold and welcomed guests. The party honored the Faulkner Society's patrons, as well as Joan Griswold. For more on Ms. Griswold and her work, Click Here! The painting at right was done in the guest suite at Faulkner House while Joan and Roy were guests there. Ms. Griswold's literary venue paintings can be seen at Cole-Pratt Gallery. For more on her work, Click Here!


Among our most successful free events of 2011, was a Meet the Author event honoring Randy Fertel and co-hosted by the Louisian State Museum. The event on October 9 was a launch party for his long-awaited The Gorilla Man and The Empress of Steak, A New Orleans Family Memoir at the iconic New Orleans landmark, the Cabildo. The party attracted a capacity crowd at the Cabildo. For those of you who were not able to attend, we have signed first edition copies of this New Orleans collectors items available. To claim one of the most collectible first edition copies now (it's almost out of print), call Faulkner House Books at (504) 524-2940 or e-mail us with credit card information to purchase.
Randy is the son of Rodney Fertel, who can only be described as a true
New Orleans eccentric, who ran for Mayor (the year Moon Landrieu won) on a single plank platform: Get a Gorilla for the Zoo. He didn't win but he made the campaign far more enjoyable, frequently campaigning in a gorilla suit and/or safari get-up complete with pith helmet. He also kept his campaign pledge and bought not one but two gorillas for the Audubon Park Zoo. Randy's mother was the charming and talented business woman, Ruth Fertel, who created Ruth's Chris Steak House and made a fortune by turning it into a popular national chain. The local restaurant was the center of local political life for as long as Ruth owned it. No one associated with politics in Louisiana would have even considered missing a lunch at Ruth's the day before the election. The leading character of this highly entertaining book, however, is New Orleans—in all of her whimsical ways, trials and tribulations, undying soul, and willingness to embrace eccentrics of every stripe. Randy has been a patron of the Society's Words & Music festival since it was created in 1997 on Faulkner's 100th Birthday, annually a major sponsor of Words & Music and he has regularly appeared at the festival, including in 2011, as a member of the faculty. For more information on Randy and his memoir, Click Here! Randy is shown above with his wife Bernadette Murray Fertel at the signing reception. (Photo by Margarita Bergen.)

Our next free event is a Meet the Author reception, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, March 18, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., and will feature another long time supporter of the Faulkner Society and of Words & Music.

Guests of honor will include Moira Crone, whose new novel, The Not Yet, is due out in March. Moira, formerly the director of the MFA program at LSU, helped the Society set up its program of manuscript critiques by important literary agents and editors when the Society created Words & Music in 1997 and she has been a faculty member for the festival since. and is a two-time winner of gold medals in the Faulkner Society's William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, once for short story and once for novella.

Like Randy Fertel's memoir, a central character in The Not Yet is the City of New Orleans, as she imagines it could be in the 22nd Century. Her new novel has garnered impressive advance praise and is creating a buzz in the publishing world. For more on Moira and her new book, Click Here!

The event will be open to the general public with advance reservations. Other writers are expected to join Moira for this event ant we will be publishing full details shortly here on our web site and in an e-mailed invitation.



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 9, 2011.

The Faulkner Society's fundraiser and overture to the summer social season, Juleps in June,
took place this year on Friday, June 3 at the Audubon Place home of Honorary Chairs Tia & James Roddy, shown at right. The event began with a Patrons Party at 6:30 p. m., featuring music by singer and author Alexandra Scott;comments by guests of honor Robert Hicks, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country, and Hearst Corporation marketing executive Debra Shriver, author of Stealing Magnolias: Tales from a New Orleans Courtyard; and the auction of the 2011 original painting of Mr. Faulkner by noted New Orleans artist Alan Gerson. The Garden at 8:00 p. m. featured music by the DeSoto Street Band, led by Robert Eustis. Both events featured culinary creations by Palate New Orleans and beverages donated by Dorignac's, courtesy of Butch Steadman. Sponsors included The Hearst Corporation; Faulkner House, Inc./Rosemary James & Joseph J. DeSalvo; The Dr. Donald and J. J. Dooley Fund, administered by Samuel L. Steele, III; Theodosia Murphy Nolan and Peter & Heather Tattersall; Bertie Deming Smith; the Law Firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan, and Stiles; Anne & Ron Pincus; Spring Journal and Spring Books / Nancy& Glenn Cater; the Bienville Gallery: Douglas Dawson; Judith "Jude" Swenson; and Joyce and Steve Wood. The party chairmen this year, Jeanie Clinton, Dr. E. Quinn Peeper and Attorney Michael Harold, did a superlative job, producing huge success both from a standpoint of enjoyment and in funds raised for the Faulkner Society's projects for readers and writers, such Words & Music. For details of this year's event, the annual party scroll, Click Here! To see 2011 Juleps in June photographic memories, Click Here!

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; 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.