Ellen Hart	Benoit Denizet-Lewis
G. Winston James	Ali Vali
Scott Heim	The French Quarter in Spring

Yes, it's time to start making your plans to join us in the French Quarter for Saints and Sinners 2009! This year, we've bowed to pressure and moved the Festival back a week--so instead of Mother's Day weekend, this year it's the weekend of May 14-17. We're putting together a pretty amazing line-up of panels and speakers this year, and you definitely don't want to miss out! Speakers this year will include Michael Thomas Ford, Michael Lowenthal, Elana Dykewomon, Jess Wells, Greg Herren, Radclyffe, and a whole lot more!

This year's master classes are pretty amazing--here's the line-up: Michael Gross from the Authors Guild: Book Contract Workshop; Ali Liebegott: Me, Me, Me, and More About Me: A Personal Narrative Workshop; Jess Wells: Writing Credible, Creative Historical Fiction; Michael Thomas Ford: Reality Check--Can You Really be a Full-time Writer?; Benoit Denizet-Lewis: Telling (True) Stories: Researching and Writing Compelling Nonfiction; Radclyffe: The Truth about Blood and Guts: Writing Realistic Medical Scenes; Greg Herren: Let's Talk ABout Sex: How to Use Eroticism Effectively in Prose; and Ellen Hart: Learning to Love the Wastepaper Basket: The Art of Revision. The master classes are always interesting and in formative. They also tend to fill up fast, so definitely get your tickets sooner rather than later!

As you know, Saints and Sinners was originally founded not only to provide a place for LBTQ writers, editors, and publishers to get together, network, and share experiences in this crazy publishing business, but also to raise money for the NO/AIDS Task Force as it continues its ongoing struggle to fight this epidemic, prevent new infections, treat and assist those already infected, and spread awareness in the New Orleans community.

 

The winning play in the third annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Playwriting Contest is: Hand over Fist by Michelle Embree of New Orleans, Louisiana. Congratulations, Michelle!

Hand Over Fist: Money was easy for con artists Clou and Taylor, until the storm swept away their phony modeling agency. Now survival means getting a game on, quick. Naturally, wealthy Uptowners become the target of their newly devised Feng-Shui racket. The con is on, but who’s conning who?

Please join us for the premier production of Hand Over Fist on Friday, May 15 at 9:00 p.m. at the Marigny Theatre, 1030 Marigny Street, New Orleans. If you can't come Friday, there's a second performance Saturday May 16th, at 9:00 p.m., followed by a Q&A by author Michelle Embree and then entertainment by Boylesque. For tickets and information about the performance schedule, visit: www.marignytheatre.org

 

Our terrific lineup this year includes:

Andrews & Austin David-Matthew Barnes Samiya Bashir Anthony Bidulka Andrew Beierle Nathan Burgoine Rob Byrnes Dale Chase Shawn Clements Becky Cochrane Wayne Courtois C. Cleo Creech Jameson Currier Linda Daniel Theresa Davis Sven Davisson Benoit Denizet-Lewis Lewis DeSimone Vincent Diamond Danielle Downs Peter Dube Jim Duggins Elana Dykewomon Amie M. Evans Michael Thomas Ford Jewelle Gomez

Michael Gross Mark G. Harris Ellen Hart Trebor Healey Scott Heim Clifford Henderson Christopher Hennessy Greg Herren William Holden Martin Hyatt Fay Jacobs G. Winston James Barb Johnson Michele Karlsberg Thomas Keith Collin Kelly Amy King Jennifer Knight Anne Laughlin Timothy J. Lambert Ali Leibegott Barbara Lhota Michael Lowenthal Jenny Lowery Jeff Mann

Marianne K. Martin Michael Montlack Brane Mozetic Laura Mullen Clara Nipper David Puterbaugh Radclyffe J.M. Redmann Charles Rice-Gonzalez Brad Richard Jeffrey Ricker Larkin Rose Carol Rosenfeld Jeffrey Round Justine Saracen Steve Scott Kelly Smith Geneva St. James Jonathan Sudholt Robert Taylor Ali Vali Megan Volpert Jess Wells Jerry Wheeler Gary Zebrun

 

A few of the terrific panels lined up for this year's festival include:   | Read more »

Bold Strokes Books is pleased to provide an opportunity at this year’s Festival for Saints and Sinners participants to pitch projects to BSB’s acquiring publishers and editors. Pitch Meetings will be conducted in a read/critique format from 5 PM to 7 PM on Friday, May 15 in the St. Mary’s Salon at the Bourbon Orleans. Ten minutes is allowed for each meeting, in which the author will pitch his/her idea, reading a blurb and the first page of the story. The acquiring publisher and/or editor will then provide immediate impressions and any suggestions and indicate whether he or she would like to receive a copy of the manuscript for consideration.    | Read more »

Jess Wells

Jess Wells is the acclaimed author of thirteen volumes, the latest of which is the novel The Mandrake Broom, as well as an editor and workshop provider. She will share her wisdom and experience in panels and gatherings at Saints and Sinners in May but agreed to give a sneak peak to Amie M. Evans.

Amie: Your new book, The Mandrake Broom, is historical fiction which is also the topic of your master class for S&S 2009. First, tell me a little bit about your new book.    | Read more »

www.olivierhouse.com

Remember, the Olivier House offers a special rate for Saints and Sinners of $89 per night (a STEAL!) and can be reached at either 504-525-8456; their website is www.olivierhouse.com.

The Bourbon Orleans, where most of the panels and readings will be held, can be reached at 504-523-2222 or at www.bourbonorleans.com

 

Two years ago, the James Duggins Mid-Career Author Award was created, funded, and presented at Saints and Sinners for the first time. The first two recipients were Dorothy Allison and Jim Grimsley; last year, Michelle Tea and Ronald Donaghe were the recipients of the $5000 prize. This year, we are pleased to announce that the 2009 recipients of the award will be Michael Lowenthal and Elana Dykewomon.

   | Read more »

Saturday night at the Bourbon Pub, The Crescent City Kings and friends are pleased to present an evening of reading, burlesque, and gender performance. This literary-themed drag show will showcase some of the gender bending talent of New Orleans and Saints and Sinners, as well as provide a space for female authors to perform some of their work.The Crescent City Kings were founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and have been performing on the stages of New Orleans and abroad ever since. CCK performers believe in inclusion and team work, hence most pieces by CCK members are group pieces that are more like skits than traditional drag acts. These skits range on a number of topics, from stoic social commentary to farce.