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21st Annual Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival

MARCH 22 -24, 2024

Register now for SASFest 2024!

You can save on SAS24 registration by booking it now. Full registration is $200, but now through Jan 1, it's yours for $175. Here's what you get:

Welcome Party (FRI 3/22/24)
SASFest Short Fiction Book Launch (SAT 3/23/24)
Closing Reception (SUN 3/24/24), including launch of the Poetry Anthology, recognition of the Emerging Writer Award Winner, and induction of the newest SAS Hall of Fame class.
Reading Series – readings of new work by a variety of writers, from debut authors to award-winning writers (SAT & SUN 3/23 - 24, 2024)
Literary Panel Discussions – panel discussions led by writers, editors, publishers, and agents on a variety of topics important to the LGBTQ+ community (SAT & SUN, 3/23 - 24, 2024)
Writer’s Craft Sessions – workshops taught by successful authors, publishers, and other literary professionals (FRI 3/22/24)

PLUS – add a Partner Party Pass and your guest can attend the Welcome Party, Book Launch, & Closing Reception with you for an additional $35.

Remember - if you join SASFest at the Saint Level or above, your registration is a free perk. See memberships below.

BUY NOW

The gorgeous Hotel Monteleone is once again our host hotel and is offering a special room block for our SASFest attendees.

Voted one of the Best Southern Hotels by Southern Living Magazine (read it HERE), the Monteleone is a literary landmark with a storied history (pun intended!).

With its sumptuous rooms, rooftop pool, and famous Carousel Bar, the Hotel Monteleone makes SASFest an experience like no other.

Hit the booking link or call 1-504-523-3341 and be sure to mention that it’s through the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Festival room block to secure your SASFest 2024 room.

BOOK IT

To see what SASFest is all about, check out our 2023 program book.

Click on the image for the version you'd like to view. Our cover includes an original painting created just for the occasion by artist Timothy Cummings titled "Incident at the Carousel Bar."

It depicts a young Tennessee Williams with a mysterious companion at the Hotel Monteleone's iconic bar. We love it!

FULL COLOR PDF

DIGITAL FLIPBOOK

PRESS INFO

We'd love to have you cover SASFest 2024, and we can provide all the information you need to write a great story! Profile a new author, a new book, a hot topic in LGBTQ+ publishing, or uncover the secrets of literary New Orleans. We're here to help!

Contact our publicist, Reine Dugas, at press@tennesseewilliams.net for more details about covering SASFest 2024.

SAINTS & SINNERS SHORT FICTION CONTEST HAS ENDED

Our 2024 fiction winner will be selected from submissions of original, unpublished short stories between 3,000 and 7,000 words with LGBTQ+ content on the broad theme of “Saints and Sinners.” This contest would not be possible without a generous grant from The John Burton Harter Foundation. Thanks to Trebor Healey (pictured) who will serve as this year’s judge. More about Trebor Healey HERE.

Cash prizes and publication! Submission deadline grace period through October 25, 2023.

2024 winner, runners-up, and finalists to be announced by the end of January.

SUBMISSION DETAILS HERE.

2023 WINNERS & FINALISTS HERE.

SAINTS & SINNERS POETRY CONTEST HAS ENDED

Our poetry winner will be selected from submissions of original unpublished poems by LGBTQ+ writers on the general theme of TRANSFORMATION. This contest would not be possible without support from Scovern Law Firm. Thanks to Chen Chen (pictured) who will serve as this year’s judge. More about Chen Chen HERE.

Cash prizes and publication! Deadline: October 15, 2023.

2024 winner, runners-up, and finalists to be announced by the end of January.

2023 WINNERS & FINALISTS HERE.

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 21st annual Saints & Sinners, coming March 22-24, 2024

Join Now

About the Festival—now in our 21st 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.”

The Festival 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.

—Dorothy Allison, National Book Award finalist for Bastard Out of Carolina, and author of the critically acclaimed novel Cavedweller