The 2020-2021 Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival Writing Contests Are Open

The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival's annual Writing Contests return early this year. The Creative Writing Contests are open April 1 and remain open until the various category deadlines in October.

Submissions are accepted in Poetry, One-Act Play, Fiction, and Very Short Fiction.
Tennessee Williams once said, "Why did I write? Because I found life unsatisfactory." While there is no prompt or theme for submissions, the TWFestival is asking writers this year why do you write? Now is an important time for writers, poets, and playwrights to reflect on why they were first drawn to the page and to bring that energy to their submissions. It is important to the TWFestival family to continue to foster the love and practice of creative writing in the literary community.

Prizes vary for each category but writers will compete for the chance to win up to $1,500, publication, and a VIP Festival Pass to the 2021 Festival to be held March 24-28, 2021. The judge for the One-Act Play Contest is Peter Hagan, president of the Dramatists Play Service. The remaining judges will be announced in the coming weeks.

Guidelines, prize details, and deadlines for each writing contest category are listed on our site at http://tennesseewilliams.net/contests/.

The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival celebrates the genius of Tennessee Williams and the contemporary artists who are as honest and unflinching in their examination of the human condition as our patron playwright. Founded in 1986 by a group of cultural enthusiasts, the Festival has grown from a small gathering of 500 to a five-day literary and multi-cultural event, which sees 13,000+ seats filled each year. In late March, we toast Williams' birthday with literary panels, a writer's craft series, master classes, theater events, literary walking tours, plus culinary, cocktail and music events. For more information, visit www.tennesseewilliams.net or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @TWFestNOLA

The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Major backing comes from the New Orleans Theatre Association, which supports performing arts throughout the Greater New Orleans area, along with support from The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. This program is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.