WORDS & MUSIC:

A Literary Feast in New Orleans

November 17 - 21, 2010

New and established writers join dedicated readers in a unique multi-arts festival sponsored by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc., created in 1990 on William Faulkner’s birthday by men and women dedicated to good books and their authors, including Nobel Laureate William Faulkner, who wrote his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay, in New Orleans.

Tickets for Words & Music, 2010 go on sale June 1. We encourage you to register at our new, secure on-line ticket and package sales site, CLICK HERE.
A working schedule of sessions will be posted well in advance of that date. Our pricing schedule is somewhat complicated because of the different audiences we are serving. You may want to review the schedule for 2010 before visiting the ticketing site. Please note that Early Bird discounts are available until August 1. Click Here for pricing info.

The Society's annual Fall literary happening, allows published authors and scholars to showcase new work in theme sessions designed for readers and writers.

Conference Quick Links:

PROGRAM SCHEDULE  |  FACULTY: AUTHORS, EDITORS & AGENTS

SPECIAL EVENT PRICING  |  BOOK LIST  |  RESERVATION FORM

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION | TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATIONS INFO

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The theme of Words & Music, 2010 will be:

The Literature of War & Collateral Damage. 

The theme was selected because of the involvement of the United States in numerous armed conflicts around the world and the impact of these conflicts on every aspect of our lives, including the arts. Words & Music, 2010 will examine The Literature of War & Collateral Damage through the lenses of literature: fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry; classical studies, the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans; philosophy, psychology, religion, journalism, music, live drama, cinema, television, lifestyle, the environment, and visual arts. We are employing these humanities to get at some basic truths about war and its impact on our liv

Among our headliners are National Book Award winner Tim O’Brien, author of the moving book about soldiers in war, The Things They Carried; author of many critically acclaimed books, Stewart O'Nan, whose novel The Names of Dead, has been described by critics as one of the best Vietnam books; actor Billy Lyons and teaching artist and actress Heidi Jackson of American Place Theatre, who will present a performance based on The Things They Carried with both pre-performance and post-performance interactive discussions with the audience; bestselling British author Simon Mawer, author of The Glass Room, set in Czechoslovakia after WWI and through WWII, revolving around a stunning modern residence designed and built for a wealthy Jewish industrialist and his gentile wife and what happens to them, their friends and the house as Hitler rises to power and invades; Howard Bahr, Faulkner scholar and author of The Black Flower and two other critically acclaimed novels of the Civil War; noted classicist Stanley Lombardo, performance artist and translator of the ancient war stories of the Greeks and Romans, Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid ; humorist Roy Blount, Jr., whose new books is Hail, Hail Euphoria! The Marx Brothers in Duck Soup; Iranian-American religious studies scholar, author of the international bestsellers, No God, But God and How to Win A Cosmic War; National Book Award winner Julia Glass, author Three Junes and other novels; Barbara Kingsolver's Belwether Prize winner Heidi Durrow, who is leading a new charge in the war for social justice with her debut novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky.

  
Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky


For the first time, Words & Music is issuing a call for papers to be presented during Words & Music by academics, scholars, psychologists, physicians, music and art critics, architects, and other experts on topics related to The Literature of War & Collateral Damage. Examples of suggested topics include: examples of suggested topics include:
As Old as Humanity: Why is War the Longest Running Show in Literature?
Romance & War: Why Do We Associate War with Romance in our Storytelling?
War & Dreams: What do our Dreams of War Mean?
War As a Creative Well of Inspiration for the Visual Arts
Music to Inspire Warriors
The Environmental Impact of War as Inspiration for Literature

For additional topic suggestions, guidelines, publication details and registration information related to this new segment of our programming, which will run concurrent with advice sessions for writers, click on Call for Papers. For submission guidelines, Click Here!

Faculty includes other prize-winning fiction and non-fiction writers, poets, screenwriters, and scholars; literary agents, editors, and publishers; and performance artists in literature, drama, and music.

Providing Realistic Assistance to Writers

In addition to our humanities theme sessions, Words & Music will once again present a full program of sessions designed primarily for yet unpublished authors, writers who want to improve their work and get it publishes— such as manuscript critiques and one-on-one consultations with top-notch literary agents and editors; workshops with hands-on attention to developing writers by agents and editors, established fiction writers, non-fiction writers, and poets. For guidelines to prepare and submit work to be critiqued, Click Here.

The Faulkner Society, which has helped hundreds of authors get their work published, takes seriously its mission of finding the next generation of talented writers.

Agents who have accepted to date are:
Michael Murphy’ Max & Co; Howard Yoon Gail Ross Agency; Brandi Bowles Foundry Lit & Media; Henry Dunow Dunow, Carlson & Lerner; Amy Rennert, Rennert Agency; Barney Karpfinger Karpfinger Agency; Robert Guinsler, Sterling Lord.

Editors who have accepted to date are:
Pat Walsh MacAdam / Cage; Michael Signorelli HarperCollins; Richard Nash, Round Table; Will Murphy Random House; Helene Atwan, Beacon Press; Sarah Crichton, Farrar, Strauss, Giroux; Sarah Crichton, Sarah Crichton Books; Andra Miller, Algonquin.

Words & Music, 2010 Programming Categories:

—Theme programming, The Literature of War & Collateral Damage, including   presentation of Papers on topics related to the theme.
—Humanities sessions which do not fall into the 2010 theme category,such traditional topics:
New Orleans, Mon Amour
Spiritual Journeys
Words Inspired by Music
The Aesthetics of Literature
New Orleans à Table,
Books & Publishing
Hollywood Experience
Better Than People
—Programs for developing writers including Master classes, career counseling workshops, and one-on-one consultations with first class literary agents and editors, established poets and authors.
—Special Events, including food, wine and entertainment, such as:
Jazz After Hours at the Napoleon House, featuring live music, food, open bar;.Faulkner for All:The annual meeting of the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, featuring presentation of winners of the 2010 Faulkner – Wisdom Creative Writing Competition; a Welcome cocktail party, honoring patrons and early arriving faculty, at Faulkner House;Tall Tales Competition, led by humorist Roy Blount, Jr.

A Few Highlights: The Literature of War & Collateral Damage

(Note: while there may be adjustment in times, these events are confirmed for Words & Music, 2010)

The 2010 theme programming offers an exiting array of entertaining and enlightening subject matter for the general reading public ranging from the wars of ancient Greece and Rome to the American Civil War, War War I and World War II, the Vienam War and more recent conflagrations. Here are just a few of the exciting events we are planning for 2010.

Literature:
Three Appearances by National Book Award winner Tim O’Brien, author of the moving account of the experiences of soldiers in war, The Things They Carried.

                Wednesday, November 17, 11 a. m. Address to Students and Teachers, 11 a. m.,                 Venue to Be Announced, under consideration, Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre.  Free                 Event, Advance Reservations required.

               Thursday, November 18, 6 p. m.
                Keynote Address to General Reading Public, Venue to Be Announced,
                Under consideration, National WWII Museum. Ticketed event with cash bar.                  Sponsors will be invited to Cocktails & Dinner with O’Brien, following O’Brien’s talk.

                Saturday, November 20, Noon, Hotel Monteleone
                Address to writers and readers: The Importance of Conveying Truth
                In Fiction: A Blend of Real Facts and the Imagination Are Often the
                Best Way of Getting at the Truth

O’Brien to be Introduced by Randy Fertel, expert in the literature of war, principal in the Fertel Foundation and creator of the Ridenhour Prizes. O’Brien has been a recipient of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling. The Fertel Foundation is a sponsor of O'Brien's
appearances.


   
Three appearances by Simon Mawer, left, whose incredibly beautiful novel, The Glass Room, short-listed for the Booker Prize, is on point with the theme with its focus on the way war wreaks havoc with the lives of non-combatants, and three appearances by Howard Bahr, whose fiction about the Civil War focuses on the dehumanizing effects of the war on the society of the South. For more on Simon
Mawer and his work, Click Here. For more on Howard Bahr and his work, Click Here.

Live Drama:

  
The soldier's experience in war, will be brought to life by accomplished actor Billy Lyons in an American Place Theatre production based on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried , with insight into O'Brien's work provide by teaching artist and actress Heidi Jackson, who will facilitate pre-play and post-play discussions. For more information about the programs of American Place Theatre, visit their web site:
www.americanplacetheatre.org.
                 
               Friday, November 19, Time & Venue to be Announced. Under consideration:
               Hotel Monteleone, Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom, Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre,                National World War II Museum.
  
Classics Revisited:
Featuring famed classical scholar Stanley Lombardo,a professorof the classics at the University of Kansas and well known performance artist in the classics he has translated, including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid. The theme programming will start with a discussion of the Trojan war and its impact on the Greek and Roman cultures and their people. Classics Revisited also will include a performance reading from the Iliad and Aeneid with introductory remarks, followed by Q. & A.  Lombardo’s translations are noted for their performance qualities and for their faithfulness to the original languages, Greek and Latin. For more on Dr. Lombardo and his work, Click Here!

The Art of Translation

     

Reza Aslan, left, with John Biguenet
Reza Aslan, Iranian-American scholar, TV commentator on the Middle East, and author of two international bestsellers, No God But God and How To Win A Cosmic War, will introduce us to new literature in translation from important Middle East countries and speak on how important it is to communicate through literature if the goal of world peace is to be more than a myth. Accomlished translator John Biguenet will join Aslan in a discussion of the art of translation and why it is so very important in this age of globalization, disappearing borders and the clashing fundamentalist religious fanatics loudly rattling their battle gear in major sects of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Poetry:

Poets, including three widely published poets— Walt Whitman Prize winner Nicole Cooley and Beth Ann Fennelly, winner of the Texas Review and Kenyon Review Prizes, joined by best selling British novelist and poet Simon Mawer —will discuss Poets in War, the historic and contemporary roles of poets before, during, and in the aftermath of war. This event will include readings of illustrative passages by participating poets.

Music:
 Louisiana native Elise Blackwell, author of the new novel, An Unfinished Score, will talk about music as inspiration for literature and specifically war related music and how it inspired her to write not one but wo of her novels. For more on Elise and her new novel, Click Here!
The Faulkner Society is issuing an invitation for submission of papers on the topic The Music of War, how musicians, singers, and composers have been inspired by the experience of war to convey their emotions in music and how certain pieces of music have been used as symbols of resistance, such as Beethoven’s Symphony #5 during World War II and much of the repertoire of the innovative rock group, The Beatles, in the Vietnam era. Bands participating in Words & Music entertainment events will perform music of various war periods.


Cinema: Humor

The Society will show the classic Marx Brothers film, revolving around the idiocy of war, Duck Soup, with commentary by talented humorist Roy Blount, Jr., author of the new non-fiction book, Hail, Hail Euphoria: The Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, which will be released in September.  The event will include comments before and after the film with a Question and Answer period.  Scheduled for Friday, November 19, time and venue to be announced. For more on Roy and his work, Click Here.

William Faulkner & His Work

William Faulkner, as a young man emotionally impacted by WWI, wrote passionately about post-traumatic stress syndrome, before there was such a name for the impact of war on soldiers, in his first novel Soldiers' Pay, written while he lived on Pirate's Alley in New Orleans in 1925 and in his story,Two Soldiers.   The Academy Award winning film based on the story will be shown to spotlight the impact ofwar on ordinary people, whose lives are changed in extraordinarily dramatic ways forever. How to Read Faulkner and Love It, an annual event, this year will focus on Soldiers' Pay and will feature Faulkner scholars Howard Bahr and W. Kenneth Holditch. Faulkner still life by Josephine Sacabo.

Cinema: Short Film Drama

The beautiful and moving short feature film, Two Soldiers, based the story by William Faulkne will be presented. The film won the 2004 Academy Award for best short feature film.  The artistic design of the film is given a lot of the credit for the film’s success.  The production designer responsible, C. Robert Holloway, will Introduce the film and lead a questions and answer session following.  Scheduled for Sunday, November 21.

Cuisine: War & Food
National Book Award winner Julia Glass, author of Three Junes and other novels, is fascinated with and food often plays a key role in the story lines of her fiction, will join food historian Sara Roahen, author of the critically acclaimed Gumbo Tales, and Lolis Elie, food author and screenwriter for episodes of Treme, the new HBO series, to discuss the impact of various wars on American tastes in cuisine.

        
Julia Glass, left, and Sara Roahen

2010 Theme Events Planned But Authors Not Yet Confirmed

Psyche, Soul, Dreams & Self: A Terrible Love of War

Dr. James Hillman is invited to discuss his theories as they relate to the literature of war. A psychologist who trained at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Dr. Hillman, like Jung and his followers, describes his work Archetypal psychology. While trained in the Jungian tradition, however, his theories and work depart radically. His "archetypal psychology" focuses on the psyche, or soul itself, and the archai, the deepest patterns of psychic functioning, "the fundamental fantasies that animate all life."  In layman’s language, one of the archai is the human love of war. Hillman's archetypal psychology is a polytheistic psychology in that it recognizes myriad fantasies and myths—gods, goddesses, demigods, mortals and animals—that shape and are shaped by our psychological lives. To him, the ego is but one psychological fantasy within an assemblage of fantasies.

Why are so many of the books we love best war stories?

In his bestselling book, A Terrible Love of War, Dr. Hillman asserts that war is the natural state of man and he backs it up dramatically. His book is a meditation in four chapters, entitled: War Is Normal, War is Inhuman, War is Sublime, and Religion Is War. In the first of these chapters the author disabuses us of the comforting notion that Peace and War are opposites or distinct states, and that love can overcome that hate which leads to War, a traditional assumption of many progressive, high-minded people. War is not an opposite state to "Peace," he believes, rather "Peace" is the brief interval before the next War. "Being reveals itself as War.” War is of the earth, is perhaps even driven by those earthy powers, those ancestors whose bodies are the very dust of the earth which absorbs the blood of war. Is this mere metaphor? Think again:

            There have been five-thousand six-hundred years of written history and fourteen-thousand six hundred wars have been recorded. There have been roughly two and a half wars going on for every year of recorded history….

            Rodger Kamentz, author of The History of Last Night’s Dreams, is invited to
introduce Dr. Hillman. For more on Rodger and his work, Click Here!

Visit wordsandmusic.org frequently as we are adding new events daily.

For information about last year's program, Click Here!

NOTE: Faulkner finalists enjoy 50% discount off tuition! If you plan to attend this year's Words & Music, you MUST print a registration form and mail it to us with your fees. If you are a scholarship or competition WINNER, your basic tuition fee (including manuscript critique) is waived, but we must still have a registration form in our office ASAP so we have a clear idea of how many will be attending. This event IS expected to sell-out!

Faculty Sneak Peek

Click on FACULTY to see bios and photos of the new authors, agents and editors who will be joining us this year!

Dates & Details

To get an idea of the type of programming you can exect, take a look at 2009's schedule (we'll post the 2010 schedule of events as soon as possible). CLICK HERE. The programming for 2010 will have a comparable mix of sessions designed especially for writers and sessions for
the general reading public. We expect to post a working schedule for 2010 by May 12.

The Hotel Monteleone—a National Literary Landmark and the favorite inn for generations of writers, including William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Ford—was a co-sponsor of Words & Music, 2009 and is always among important venues for the festival, with a special conference rate.

Come to The Big Easy and Find
Your Literary Voice...
Like Faulkner and Hemingway and Other Famous Writers Have!

Words & Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans is the result of our American dream. It includes sessions for writers conducted by literary masters, who also hold forth on timely theme material of interest to the general reading public. Words & Music is a feast for the ears, the eyes, the soul with its examination of fiction, non fiction, and new phenomena within the literary and communications arena and its photographic art exhibitions, film sessions, drama, poetry readings at the cocktail hour, great music, dancing, and the renowned cuisine of New Orleans. For a guide to the Big Easy CLICK HERE!

2009 Pricing

In addition to the discussion events of Words & Music you may also choose from a variety of luncheon and evening events, all of which feature music, food and wine. We have package prices if you want to take in all of the events of Words & Music. Submit your credit card reservations by fax, phone, or mail. Check and money orders also accepted by mail. For more info on conference pricing, CLICK HERE. To print your easy reservation form: CLICK HERE

Scholarships

IMPORTANT! Manuscript Critique Guidelines

If you wish to submit work for critiques by an agent and editor, please note that the rules have changed! This year we are requiring that everything be submitted electronically, with one hard copy of all documents MAILED TO OUR OFFICE. To review the guidelines CLICK HERE.

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