THE PIRATE’S ALLEY FAULKNER SOCIETY
The Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society is a nationally recognized non-profit arts organization with programming  designed to honor and assist writers, provide high quality literary entertainment for general public readers, and combat the growing national disgrace of illiteracy. Many of our programs are offered free or at discounted rates to students and the general reading public. The Society, which offers special programming benefits for members and sponsors.is a 501 (c) (3) literary and educational institution and, as such, grant donations, membership contributions, and contributions to our fundraisers are fully tax-deductible.

The Society’s most ambitious annual undertakings are:

  • William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.
  • Happy Birthday, Mr. Faulkner! 
  • Faulkner for All! our four-day literary celebration including our gala black-tie annual meeting, literary critiques, presentation of new work by scholars and authors, and presentation of the winners of our international literary competition.
  • Workshops, Master Classes, Manuscript Critiques for Developing Writers.
  • Literacy Initiatives for those At-Risk for Illiteracy, Including National Read-a-thon Day, NEA sponsored BIG READ projects, and partnerships with the English Speaking Union and One Book One New Orleans.
  • The Double Dealer literary journal and Student Intern Program.
  • Free public sessions of Meet the Authors and My New Orleans events for dedicated readers.
  • Joint Ventures with other non-profits to embellish the Louisiana’s available cultural resources. Joint ventures include government institutions, private foundations, and businesses as well as other non-profit organizations.
  • Early summer fundraiser.

A New Year of Services for Readers & Writers
The Faulkner Society was created in 1990 with the overall goal of working to enhance the national image of New Orleans as a cultural and intellectual destination. In addition to enlightening and entertaining programming for the general public, mission specifics include providing realistic assistance to developing writers of all ages, creating literacy initiatives and continuing education  in literature and writing. Our programming year begins annually with our celebration of William Faulkner’s birthday on September 25th. In 2024 Mr. Faulkner’s birthday will be celebrated with a luncheon event honoring the Society’s founding members, patrons, and volunteers. 

The primary event of the season is the annual four-day festival featuring not just our namesake but the work of all great writers: past present, and yet to come.The 2024 festival Faulkner for All! will take place October 18-21. Agents and editors will be the star presenters on the writers’ side of the programs with opportunities for writers registered for the festival to have their work critiqued and to meet literary professionals in one-on-one critique sessions. The general public will hear from such literary luminaries as Thomas Mallon, author of the novel Fellow Travelers, adapted for a new TV series, which premiered recently on Showtime. Mallon’s novels also include Landfall, partially set in New Orleans and centering on President Bush and the mis-handling of the Katrina aftermath. Mallon also is invited to teach a master class for writing students on the importance of keeping a diary. New winners of the
William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition will be introduced at the annual gala during the festival.

Meet the Author Series opens December 10th

An older man leaning on a bench in a park. The Society will kick-off it’s 2023-24 Meet the Author series on Sunday, December 10th with renowned author Walter Isaacson celebrating his new book about one of America’s most intriguing and influential personalities: Elon Musk. The event will take place from 1:00 p. m. to 3:00 p. m. at the historic Beauregard – Keyes House. The event is free and open to the public. Because of the size of the venue and for food and wine preparations, however, advance reservations are requested. Those who reserve will be sent an electronic pass to present at the door.

WILLIAM FAULKNER – WILLIAM WISDOM
CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION
While the Society did not state person to person events during COVID and its aftermath, the Faulkner  – Wisdom Competition has continued and the most recent winners were
presented Sunday, September 24, 2023, at Happy Birthday, Mr. Faulkner! The black tie gala took place at  the historic Ursuline Convent in the Vieux Carre of New Orleans. All winners were our invited guests for all events of the Faulkner Festival weekend, September 22 – 25.

For a list of the 2020 Winners, click on:
2020 Winners  

For a list of the 2021 winners, click on:
2021 Winner

New Competition Opens December 1, 2023 – Deadline is May 1, 20
There were not enough entries in 2022 and 2023 to meet the minimum entries requirements of our by-laws. All writers who
entered material in 2022 and 2023 are automatically entered in the new multi-year competition which opens December 1, 2023.
Any writers who entered material for those years will have the opportunity to resubmit their manuscripts if they have
changed their material at no additional fee. Any such re-submissions must be done prior to February 1.  All entering should review the guidelines prior to submitting material. All new entries must be in our hands not later than midnight, May 1, 2024. All material must be submitted electronically. Paper entries will not be accepted in any categories.

FAULKNER FOR ALL!
2024 Festival, Save the Dates:
October 18 – October 21

2019 BIG READ STARRED: BESTSELLING AUTHOR TAYARI JONES
The Faulkner Society has had the good fortune over the years to be selected by the National Endowment of the Arts and its administrative partner Arts Midwest to create a number of BIG READ projects, designed to break the dreadful cycle of illiteracy that plagues America by encouraging youngsters to delve into good literature. Envisioned originally by First Lady Laura Bush, BIG READ was created in the wake of an important national survey which revealed that functional illiteracy was increasing dramatically in the United States.
The NEA created a list of of literary works it considers essential reading.  Each year various non-profits compete for grants from NEA to create projects focusing on a book on the NEA list, some contemporary and some classics by authors of the past. In 2019, the Society selected Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, whose more recent bestseller was an Oprah selection, An American Marriage. Ms. Jones was a sell out hit with Faulkner Society audiences, scheduling her key appearances concurrent with the Faulkner festival. For more on this important NEA program, click on BIG READ. For more on Ms. Jones, Click here .  The Society plans to apply for a new BIG READ
grant for the 2024-25 grant year.

SPRING CONCERT SERIES TO RESUME FOR
2024 LENTEN SEASON

The Faulkner Society’s annual prelude to the celebration of Easter—six free public concerts featuring major types of the music created and enjoyed by New Orleanians for three centuries—opens traditionally a week after Fat Tuesday. The 40 days following Mardi Gras day make up the Lenten season, which opens on Ash Wednesday, a period when Christians reflect on the meaning of Christ’s death on the Cross and characterized by abstinence and charitable outreach to the disadvantaged. The concerts are free with expenses underwritten by patrons in advance. Voluntary collections taken at the end of each concert benefit the poor. We were unable to stage the series as a Lenten series in 2020,-23 because of the pandemic.  We will now to reboot the concert series for Spring, 2024. Venue for the series is St. Mary’s Chapel of the historic Ursuline Convent complex. The chapel has extraordinary accoustics and is provided to the series by the Society’s partners, The Archdiocese of New Orleans and St. Louis King of France Cathedral Basilica.  Proceeds from the concert series always are designated for charities which support the indigent.

The Theme for the Next Series
The 2024 theme will be The Amadeus Syndrome: The Influence of the Classics on Contemporary Music.

The Society is actively soliciting donations from individuals and funding agencies so
that the series can continue to be offered free to the general public and we can continue to serve the poor of New Orleans.

Membership Drive is Underway Now
If you have not already become a member or sponsor in the current programming year, come join us as we continue our new generation of literary services for readers and writers. We invite you to become members of the Society and secure the Society’s future. For membership levels and benefits, please
Email: faulkhouse@aol.com

Note:
Memberships include invitations to all events, both ticketed and free, public events. Annual free events include our series of free, public concerts organized to benefit the poor of New Orleans which take place on Tuesdays during Lent at the historic Ursuline Convent complex and our year-round calendar of free, public literary events in the two series Meet the Author and My New Orleans.

FAULKNER SOCIETY IMPACT
We have launched a major fundraising campaign to commemorate more than a generation of service annually to some 7,500 writers and readers and to our beloved City of New Orleans, which was 300 years old in 2018.  To help us continue the impact, e-mail us at faulkhouse@aol.com. We welcome offers of volunteer service as well as financial contributions. To join our number,  E-mail us at faulkhouse@aol.com for a membership form and membership benefits summary.

SUPPORT OUR LOYAL PATRONS AT
FAULKNER HOUSE BOOKS!

As many of you already know, the Pirate’s Alley residence and business were sold to new owners last fall and Faulkner House Books is continuing operations under these most difficult of circumstances.  The new owners of the bookstore, Garner Robinson and Devereaux Bell, have pledged to continue the support the bookstore always has provided to the non-profit Faulkner Society. They have come up with a wonderful idea for dedicated readers utilizing the longstanding literary experience of store manager Joanne Sealy, a terrific reader and judge of good literature for a broad variety of reading tastes.  They have established a subscription service.  You can join at various levels and fill out a form that includes descriptions of the kinds of books you like and Joanne will select new books especially for you and send them to you monthly.  It’s a great idea any time but now during this era of staying at home to stay safe, when reading is a great escape from our home prison cells, it is a fabulous way to get the books you want without getting in harm’s way. 
It’s also a great way to help ensure that a great patron of literature, Faulkner House Books, is around to serve you and support the Faulkner Society when the plague fades into the background. For more information, contact Joanne at the bookstore, (504) 524-2940.  (Yes, the new owners are keeping their staff on in spite of the fact that the store itself…a space very tight for social distancing…is open with limited customers allowed to enter at any one time, straining the store’s ability to reach its normal level of revenues.)

You can also e-mail garner@faulknerhousebooks.com or devereaux@faulknerhousebooks.com for more information. Finally, visit www.faulknerhousebooks.com for literary updates. We look forward to seeing you all at a Faulkner gathering in the not too distant future.
For now: keep on reading and writing and stay safe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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