THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAD A PART IN MAKING SASFEST25 A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND OF LITERARY CELEBRATIONS!
Click the image to see last year's full color program.
Looking for the Tennessee Williams Festival Program? CLICK HERE.
PRESS INFO
Welcome, members of the press! We're excited to help you cover SASFest, and we will provide you with all the information you need to write a great story! SASFest includes writer's craft sessions, literary discussion panels, author readings, French Quarter walking tours, and special events to celebrate the LGBTQ+ literary community.
If you're looking for a story, you'll find one at SASFest! Email me at press@tennesseewilliams.net with any questions you may have.
Reine Dugas, Festival Publicist
SAINTS & SINNERS SHORT FICTION CONTEST
Submission period MAY 1 - October 15, 2025
We're excited to welcome JUSTIN TORRES (pictured) as this year’s fiction judge.
CLICK HERE for submission guidelines.
This contest would not be possible without a generous grant from The John Burton Harter Foundation.
SAINTS & SINNERS POETRY CONTEST
Submission period MAY 1 - October 15, 2025
We're excited to welcome STEVEN REIGNS (pictured) as this year's poetry judge.
CLICK HERE for submission guidelines.
This contest would not be possible without a generous grant from The John Burton Harter Foundation.
2025 WINNER, RUNNERS-UP, AND FINALISTS HERE
Want to know what it's like to win one of our writing contests? Hear from our 2025 Contest Winners telling you all about their experience in their interviews with our publicist, Reine Dugas. Read the interviews HERE.
About the Festival—now in our 22nd year!
The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival was founded in 2003 as a new initiative designed as an innovative way to reach the community with information about HIV/AIDS, particularly disseminating prevention messages via the writers, thinkers and spokes-people of the LGBTQ+ community. It was also formed to bring the LGBTQ+ literary community together to celebrate the literary arts.
A program of the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival, SASFest has grown into an internationally-recognized event that brings together a who’s who of LGBTQ+ publishers, writers and readers from throughout the United States and beyond. The Festival, held over 3 days each spring at the Hotel Monteleone in the New Orleans French Quarter, features panel discussions and master classes around literary topics that provide a forum for authors, editors and publishers to talk about their work for the benefit of emerging writers and the enjoyment of fans of LGBTQ+ literature.
Thoughts on the Festival
“Saints & Sinners is hands down one of the best places to go to revive a writer’s spirit. Imagine a gathering in which you can lean into conversations with some of the best writers and editors and publishers in the country, all of them speaking frankly and passionately about the books, stories and people they love and hate and want most to record in some indelible way. Imagine a community that tells you truthfully what is happening with writing and publishing in the world you most want to reach. Imagine the flirting, the arguing, the teasing and praising and exchanging of not just vital information, but the whole spirit of queer arts and creation. Then imagine it all taking place on the sultry streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter. That’s Saints & Sinners—the best wellspring of inspiration and enthusiasm you are going to find. Go there.”
—Dorothy Allison, National Book Award finalist for Bastard Out of Carolina, and author of the critically acclaimed novel Cavedweller
2025 Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Festival Speakers
Become a Festival Member
Your SASFest membership helps to:
- Promote and support LGBTQ+ writers and other literary professionals
- Provide a platform for the LGBTQ+ literary community
- Connect readers and their favorite LGBTQ+ writers
- Nurture up-and-coming LGBTQ+ literary talent
- Support programming dedicated to educating and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community
Memberships start at just $25 with benefits including recognition, SAS tote bags, Fest registration, and other event passes. Join now to support the 22nd annual Saints & Sinners, coming March 28 - 30, 2025.
Many thanks to our 2024 SASFest members and donors:
Guardian Angel, $1,500 and above
Zalia Beville, Allways Lounge & Cabaret/ Twilight Room
Rob Byrnes
Louis Flint Ceci/Beautiful Dreamer Press
Timothy Cummings
Andrew Faye
Keith Fox and Tom Keyes
John Burton Harter Foundation/Premier Sponsor
Bruce J. Heim Foundation
The Helis Foundation
LGBTQ Fund, Greater New Orleans Foundation
New Orleans & Company
Sinner, $500
Jonathan Alexander
Marco Carocari
Sven Davisson/Rebel Satori Press
Julie R. Enszer/Sinister Wisdom
Susan Larson/Pinckley Prizes
Frank Perez
The Publishing Triangle
Saint, $300
Jameson Currier/Chelsea Station Editions
Ian Henzel/Rattling Good Yarns Press
Alexander Inglis/ReQueered Tales
Greg Herren
J.M. Redmann
Carol Rosenfeld
Devil, $75
Franklin Abbott
Roger Dean Bailey
Amanda Bales
Lewis DeSimone
T.J. Fury
Lawrence Henry Gobble
Michele Kaminski
Elisabeth Nonas
Jeffrey Round
Lauren Sauls
Penelope Starr
Cherub, $25
Tracy Cunningham
Gregory Gajus
Donna Minkowitz
Thank you to our Give Out Day donors, May 2024:
Eric Andrews-Katz
Rob Byrnes
John Copenhaver
Tracy Cunningham
Jameson Currier
Brenda Currin, in memory of Susan Rice
Clayton Delery
Lewis DeSimone
Alfred Doblin
Margot Douaihy
Reine Dugas
Lawrence Henry Gobble
Kathy J. Higgins
Michele Karlsberg
Judith Katz
Peggy Scott Laborde
James Pauley
David Pratt
Carol Rosenfeld
Gar Russell
Paul Willis
Sara Woodard
Thanks to our Sponsors
We appreciate the generosity of our sponsors who make it possible to host our writer's craft sessions, literary panel discussions, author readings, book launches, and awards ceremony. If you'd like to become a sponsor or purchase an ad in our program book, contact us at info@tennesseewilliams.net. You can also make a donation HERE.
BUY SAINTS & SINNERS SHORT FICTION & POETRY ANTHOLOGIES
Contact Us
Saints & Sinners Literary Festival
Paul J. Willis, Director
A Project of the Tennessee Williams/
New Orleans Literary Festival
938 Lafayette St., Suite 514
New Orleans, LA 70113
504.581.1144
Follow SASFest on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @sasfest
SASFest is a program of the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival.
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© Copyright 2025 Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. All Rights Reserved.