The Maltese Falcon Big Read Kicks Off Sunday, Oct 18!

The Maltese Falcon BIG READ will kick off Sunday at 4:30 p.m.,  at The Cabildo Jackson Square.
The very funny and talented Roy Blount, Jr., humorist and the author of 22 books of non-fiction, will be special guest of honor Sunday when the Faulkner Society kicks off its BIG READ project focusing on
Dashiell Hammett’s classic noir novel with the enduring character Sam Spade at its center, The Maltese Falcon. Roy will give his special intellectual twist to the importance of reading for career success and lifelong personal satisfaction.  His latest book, Alphabet Juice, is in fact a primer for readers who want to have fun with books.

The event, made possible by a BIG READ grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and its partners, Arts Midwest and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is co-sponsored by our BIG READ partners: The Jefferson Parish Public Library, The Louisiana State Museum, and The Louisiana State Library. The event will feature light food and beverages and is free to the public with advance reservations. Roy will be available to sign his books at the event.  To reserve a book in advance, call Faulkner House Books, (504) 524-2940.

Copies of The Maltese Falcon also will be available for sale at the event, along with free Readers Guides.  We are starting the event, AFTER, the Saints Game, so come on out and celebrate a classic novel of suspense that is as fresh today as during the Depression when it was written.  Roy will also, once again, appear at Words & Music as leader of our annual Tall Tales Competition, always loads of fun. This year, Tall Tales will be part of After Hours at the Napoleon House, 9:30 p. m., November 20.

Dennis Lehane, Author of Mystic River and Other International Bestsellers
To Be Among The Literary Stars of Words & Music, A Literary Feast in New Orleans
November 19 – 22
The Faulkner Society is very pleased to announce that Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and six other international bestsellers, has accepted our invitation to appear at Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans, November 19-22.  Lehane will appear with Oscar Penzler, well known mystery editor and owner of the famous Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, and noted author and publisher Richard Layman, the biographer of Dashiell Hammett and author of six books on Hammett, at a gala evening event Friday, November 20, featuring cocktails and buffet dinner at the Hotel Monteleone.

Penzler will interview Lehane during the cocktail hour and then introduce Layman for “Discovering
Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade” after dinner.  This event is expected to sell out early so reserve now. A flyer on this event, along with a reservation sheet are attached in pdf format.  Tickets, including cocktails and dinner, are $100 per person, general reading public; and $75 each for writers registered for Words & Music, 2009.

Richard Layman to Give Talk on Dashiell Hammett and New Orleans born Playwright Lillian Hellman Sunday, November 22
Rick Layman, the leading authority on the life and works of Dashiell Hammett, will also discuss the friendship of Hammett and New Orleans native Lillian Hellman and promises some new material on this long-running relationship between Hammett and Hellman, who helped each other enormously with their work. This event is scheduled for Sunday, November 22 at 11 a. m.

Words & Music, 2009: Where The Mysteries Are!
Because of our Maltese Falcon BIG READ project, the Faulkner Society is focusing on mysteries and those who create them during Words & Music, 2009. Featured mystery writers will include Michael Malone, author of four critically acclaimed mysteries, three of which are now ranked as southern mystery classics; Edgar award winning novelist Julie Smith, creator of the memorable character Skip Langdon, ex-debutante turned New Orleans detective; bestselling mystery authors Erica Spindler and Nevada Barr; the highly acclaimed writer of police procedural novels, including her latest Odds, and rising stars on the mystery scene: Bill Loehfelm, winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, whose new novel, Bloodroot, will be released concurrent with the
festival, and Claire Applewhite, a finalist last year in the Society’s Faulkner – Wisdom Creative
Writing Competition, whose novel, The Wrong Side of Memphis, was published earlier this year.
Plan now to here what they have to say during Words & Music, November 19-22.

Don’t Miss the Magic!

For more information on the line-up for 2009, visit our web site: www.wordsandmusic.org, or
e-mail us: faulkhouse@aol.com.

We look forward to seeing you Sunday and at all of our BIG READ and Words & Music events.

 

Words & Music: Coming This November!

It’s an amazing undertaking to put together a readers and writers conference that brings together the best contemporary authors, agents and editors while honoring classic literature. But Faulkner Society’s Rosemary James and agent Michael Murphy have done just that!

If you haven’t yet made your plans to attend (November 19-22) – get hustling; this is one event in the Big Easy you won’t want to miss! To learn more, visit wordsandmusic.org. To see a schedule of events, CLICK HERE. And to see a sneak preview of this year’s phenomenal faculty, CLICK HERE!

If you’re a writer, you’ve got until October 15th to submit manuscript pages for critique by an editor and an agent – hurry! A feature of this year’s festival will be exploring the noir side of literature, with a look at Big Read selection, The Maltese Falcon.

 

Praise for Words & Music: Will You Be There?

This year’s Words & Music festival takes place November 19-22 and show producers promise an exciting and rewarding experience for all who attend! Take a look at what folks are saying about New Orlean’s incredible Words & Music: A Literary Arts Festival:

FROM ATTENDEES
“I wanted to let you know how wonderful it was to attend the Words and Music literary festival was last year. My novel was a finalist in the category of novel-in-progress. Because of the competition, I got an offer from MacAdam/Cage for publication at the end of this year. As I was a finalist and was invited to participate in Words & Music, I met and was signed by my agent, Deborah Grosvenor, and my editor, Pat Walsh, as a result of the writers’ conference last year.  I really owe it all to the Faulkner-Wisdom competition and to Words & Music.” — Caroline Kellems, runner-up BEST NOVEL-IN-PROGRESS, 2008, author of The Coffee Diary, MacAdam/Cage November 2009

“This conference is the stuff of dreams. Upon getting out the cab at the Hotel Monteleone, I felt I had entered into a dream landscape. For the next three days, I was e ither eating the best food of my life, listening to one of the most interesting people of my life, drinking the best drink of my life, or getting the best writing advice of my life. By the time the cab hauled my hung-over body to the airport, I had a prize, a host of material for another book, and a terrific agent who soon sold my first one. I love Words & Music. I love Rosemary James and my agent. I love the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society and New Orleans!” — Peter Neofotis,  Winner BEST NOVELLA, 2007, author of Concord, Virginia St. Martin’s, June 2009

“Never mind that Words & Music is held in the grand Hotel Monteleone in one of the most inspiring cities on earth, this conference will fill your fertile mind to the brimming.  Each day the hotel ballrooms bustle with informative, lively panels about various aspects of writing.  Novelists, short story writers, essayists, poets, screenwriters – everyone will come away motivated, enriched.  Networking lunches and cocktail hours in historic restaurants around New Orleans give unpublished writers the chance to hobnob with industry greats and celebrity authors.  Literary chitchats tend to bubble up everywhere – the hotel elevator, glittering lobby, rooftop pool, the famous Carousel Bar.  You’ll be steeped in ideas like a crawfish in etouffee.  The one-on-one agent/editor critiques are a special treat. The gala dinner and dancing on the final night were memorable.  I haven’t had so much fun, learned so much and made so many professional connections and writerly friends since the last time I attended.” – Roz Unruh, runner-up BEST NOVEL, 2008

“Words & Music is by far the most informative and most enjoyable writers’ conference available today. The balance it strikes between the aesthetics of authoring and the practicalities of getting published is perfect pitch. It’s an annual event that, in the end, epitomizes everything to be cherished about the city that hosts it: Words & Music is educational, rollicking good fun, friendly, and rich in history…. A ‘bon temps’ no aspiring writer can afford to miss.” – Kirk Curnutt, winner BEST ESSAY, 2008

“What a wonderful and peculiar weekend in New Orleans. Such a pleasure to meet everyone and realize there are sharp and erudite people on both sides of the publishing divide. I suppose that should be amended to a triangulation of sorts when you include the scriveners in the mix! The panels were extremely helpful to a newcomer like me and I came away from the conference full of ideas and insights on the world of publishing and writing.” – James Claffey, MFA student LSU

FROM AGENTS & EDITORS
“What is remarkable about Words & Music is the level of interaction.  Here you have a mix of attendees who range from National Book Award winners to absolute novices, and–at least from where I sat–there were almost no cliques or class divides.   When I watched people interacting through the conference, and when I looked around at the tables at dinner Saturday night and lunch Sunday,  I was struck by the mix.  In my career I have edited two Faulkner prize-winning novels (Stewart O’Nan’s SNOW ANGELS and Leslie Lehr Spirson’s 66 LAPS)–I can’t think of another writers’ conference that produces better writing.” – Bruce Tracy, Executive Editor – Random House, Editor-in-Chief – Villard/Random House

“At Words & Music, a focus on real feedback, dialogue, and practical, inspiring discussion (as well as uncommonly terrific dining) sets this conference leagues apart.”  – Carole DeSanti, Vice-President, Editor-at-Large, Viking/Penguin

“At no other conference in the country does the city play such an important role in the occasion. After attending rousing lectures, readings, and group and one-and-one sessions, attendees can step right out the doors into the French Quarter and experience it with eyes anew, reminded of all the reasons they are drawn to write, read, and otherwise participate in the literary world. Three days are enough to breathe new life into any writer’s soul. A more lively and interesting group of writers could not be found above or below the Mason-Dixon. Faculty and attendees arrive eager to share their work, and leave transformed by the zing of information, inspiration, and conversation that the conference inspires.” – Brandi Bowles, Agent – Howard Morhaim Literary Agency

“Having attended writers’ conferences in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Oregon, and California, I hope it carries some weight when I assert that the Words & Music conference in New Orleans is far & away the best I’ve ever been to (and now go to every year they’ll have me).  The city alone would have won my heart. But add in the high level of talent assembled in the Grand Hotel Monteleone (built in 1886, haunt for William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, & where Truman Capote said he was born) and the incredible esprit de corps, Words & Music is the event to which I most look forward each Fall (and I’m including Christmas).” — Michael Murphy, Agent – Max & Co. A Literary Agency and Social Club

FROM AUTHORS
In every way—the delight and historical resonance of the venue, the savvy and charm of the organizers, the variety and quality of the attendees, the motivating intensity of the arstistic inspiration, the career-changing potential of the professional contacts, the joy of literary collegiality for everyone in attendance—in every way possible, Words & Music is one of the finest conferences in the world.  It is a permanent part of my life as a writer, and I am deeply grateful for that.” – Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of Alleys of Eden,  A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Fair Warning, Severance, among others

“No one knows how to throw a party like New Orleanians, and no one knows how to convene a meeting of literary minds like the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society. Rejuvenating to seasoned authors and tremendously nurturing to those who are just starting out, Words & Music is a festival, an homage, a think tank, a celebration of books all rolled into one. It is a touchstone in my life as a writer.” — Julia Glass, Winner 2002 National Book Award for Three Junes

“When Jill McCorkle chose Snow Angels for the novel prize, it changed my life.  I went from being an unemployed aspiring writer tapping away in my unheated attic to drinking champagne in a limousine and bowing my head to receive a gold medal from Richard Ford in a cathedral.  I’ve gotten a lot of breaks, but this was one of the biggest.  Now going to Words & Music is a highlight of my year, a chance to reunite and meet new friends and talk books and writing in one of my favorite cities.  Thank you, Joe and Rosemary.” — Stewart O’Nan, author of Snow Angels, Everyday People, Songs of the Missing, among others (Winner BEST NOVEL 1994)

“What New Orleans is to jazz and cuisine, the Words & Music Festival is to literary bons temps in America.  You talk, you read, you learn, you laugh and eat and drink and dance, you discover books and writers, you make friends.  They’ve ‘got heaven right here on earth….way down yonder in New Orleans.’  It’s the best of the best and I wouldn’t miss it.” – Michael Malone, author of Handling Sin, The Killing Club, The Last Noel, Four Corners of the Sky, among others

We all look forward to seeing YOU in New Orleans this November!

 

Novel Pitch and 1st Five Pages Contest!

NOVEL PITCH and 1st FIVE (5) PAGES of a NOVEL CONTEST
http://www.janicewiley-dorn.com/smokecitynarrators/pitch1st5contest.html

$8 ENTRY FEE — DEADLINE: Sept. 9, 2009
1st – $150 | 2nd – $75 | 3rd – $40 | 6 Honorable Mentions.

Sponsored by Smoke City Narrators. Open to USA residents. Entries must be original & unpublished (includes Internet). Multiple entries OK but only 1 prize awarded to any winner. Submit 2 copies of the first 5 pages of a novel, 1,500 words max. & a one-sentence pitch (mini-synopsis), 20 words max.
Optional: The 9 finalists will have their pitch and website link posted on SCN’s website & blog.
Novel pages not published. Authors retain all rights. See website for complete rules.
Thanks,
Janice Wiley-Dorn
Smoke City Narrators Contest Director
scnarrators@janicewiley-dorn.com
http://www.janicewiley-dorn.com
http://www.southernartistry.org/Janice_WileyDorn
http://www.published-novelist.blogspot.com/

 

Correction to Juleps in June Date!

Last week we sent out the first notice for Juleps in June, 2009.  We made a mistake in the flyer.  The correct date is Friday, June 5, not Friday, June 7.

The party, the Faulkner Society’s annual overture to the summer season, will take place at the lovely residence of Judith “Jude” Swenson, at 426 Vincent Avenue in old Metairie starting at 7 p.m. The event will feature food, wine, music, and, of course,mint juleps served in silver cups.

Tickets are $125 per person and the ticket price includes one silver julep cup.  Extra julep cups may be purchased for $35 if ordered in advance.  Orders for extra cups must be placed by May 15.

Funds raised for the event will benefit the Faulkner Society’s projects for aspiring authors and literary programming for the general reading public. We hope to see all of you there.

Sincerely,
Rosemary James, Faulkner Society

 

Michael Malone Guest of Honor at Faulkner Reception

Michael Malone, one of the wittiest writers in America, author of the southern classic, Handling Sin, will be the Faulkner Society’s guest of honor Sunday afternoon, May 17 at a reception, featuring food, wine, and music at The Cabildo at Jackson Square.

Michael will be signing his new novel, “Four Corners of the Sky.” Copies of other work also will be available.  The time is 3 p. m. to 5 p. m.

The event is free and open to the public.  Please RSVP, so we can plan for food and wine, to this e-mail address or by calling (504) 524-2940.  Copies of Michael’s new book can be reserved at the same time with credit card information.