Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Seeks New Talent, Runs 3/24/2010- 3/28/2010

Part of the mission of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival is to nurture literary and theatrical talent. We've offered free writing workshops for local high school students that were taught by top-notch professional writers like David Simon from HBO's The Wire and California Poet Laureate Al Young. The Festival showcased the wealth of local acting talent and awarded a $500 prize to the winning duo in 2008 and 2009 with "Tennessee's Got Talent," which has been judged by such celebrity dramatists as Tony-winning playwrights Terrence McNally and John Guare.
The One-Act Play Contest:

Since 1988 the Festival has been scouting out new playwriting talent with its One-Act Play Contest. Past winners include David Lindsay-Abaire who went on to win the Pulitzer for Drama in 2007!

Creative writing and theater graduate students from the University of New Orleans get a chance to flex their creative muscles, helping to judge the contest and turning the winning script into a full production.

The grand prize includes:

$1,500 (raised from $1,000 in previous years)
Staged reading at the 24th annual Festival (March 24-28, 2010)
Full production at the 25th anniversary Festival (March 30-April 3, 2011)
VIP All-Access Pass for 2010 and 2011 Festivals ($1,000 value)
Publication in Bayou literary magazine
Deadline: November 1, 2009

The Fiction Writing Contest:

Last year, the Festival began honoring great unpublished short stories, holding its first annual Fiction Writing Contest; the final round was judged by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford. Winner Robin Martin of Brooklyn, New York had two stories place in the top ten and took home the first place prize for her richly textured story, "1969."

Just announced: this year's Fiction Writing Contest judge is novelist and short story writer Jill McCorkle whose work has been chosen four times by the New York Times Book Review for its Notable Books of the Year list. McCorkle is the author of the novels The Cheer Leader, July 7th, Tending to Virginia, Ferris Beach, and Carolina Moon, and the short story collections Crash Diet and Final Vinyl Days.

The grand prize includes:

$1,500 cash
Publication in the New Orleans Review
Domestic airfare and French Quarter hotel accommodations to attend the 2010 Festival
in New Orleans
A public reading at the 2010 Festival
A VIP All Access Pass ($500 value).
Deadline: November 16, 2009

To enter: If you would like to enter either of our contests, you can do so either by mail or online. Visit www.tennesseewilliams.net/contest for guidelines.

Photo: John Guare

 

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