Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival
| Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival | |
|---|---|
 Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival Logo | |
| Genre | LGBTQ+ Literature |
| Dates | 2003- present |
| Location(s) | French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana,U.S. |
| Website | www |
Saints and Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festivalis an alternativeliterary festivalspecializing in LGBTQ+ literature. It is held in various locations around theFrench Quarterneighborhood in the city ofNew Orleans, Louisiana,each March. The event is coordinated by theTennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival.
Overview[edit]
Founded by Paul J. Willis in 2003 as a way to promote information about HIV and AIDS in literature,[1]Saints and Sinners has since expanded to include works of fiction and nonfiction relating to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues.[2]The Festival provides a forum for the dissemination of ideas and promotes those writers and publishers within the community who have successfully brought the issues of LGBTQ+ individuals to the forefront. Workshops and discussion panels are hosted where authors can discuss their works for future and emerging authors as well as fans.[3]
The festival launched theJim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize,a prize to honor a noted LGBTQ+ writer's body of work, in 2007.[4]The award was subsequently taken over by theLambda Literary Awardsprogram in 2011.
Past participants in the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival includeDorothy Allison,Poppy Z. Brite,Patrick Califia,1999Pulitzer Prize-winnerMichael Cunningham,2008National Book AwardwinnerMark Doty,Amie M. Evans,Jewelle Gomez,Emanuel Xavier,Greg Herren,William J. Mann,Jeff Mann,Martin Pousson,Radclyffe,Michelle Tea,andScissor Sistersfront manJake Shears,among many others.[5]
Saints and Sinners benefits the NO/AIDS Task Force and was designed as an innovative way to reach the community with information aboutHIV/AIDS,particularly the development of prevention messages via the writers, thinkers, and spokespeople of the LGBTQ+ community. Participants provide support to the literary community, the NO/AIDS Task Force, and the economy of the City of New Orleans.
TheTennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festivalcoordinates the event and provides the staff and resources to make the Saints and Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival possible. In addition, The Haworth Press Inc. serves as a major sponsor of Saints and Sinners.
In 2020, this festival went on hiatus. In 2021 the festival was virtual. In 2022 the festival resumed fully in-person.
References[edit]
- ^Sims, Elizabeth (February 2019). "Writing Queer".Writer's Digest.99(2): 32.
- ^"Why the Festival Began".Saints and Sinners Literary Festival website. Retrieved on June 9, 2008.
- ^"Saints & Sinners Literary Festival".New Orleans online. Retrieved on June 9, 2008.
- ^"Saints and Sinners Literary Festival".bestofneworleans, May 8, 2007.
- ^"Past participants".Saints and Sinners Literary Festival website. Retrieved on June 9, 2008.
External links[edit]
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