Welcome

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. 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 provocative and educational events 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. Membership is open to all regardless of ethnic origin, race, sex, political or religious persuasion. 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. Membership donations may be made directly to us or through  The Greater New Orleans Foundation. CLICK HERE for Membership and Donations Information. Because much of our programming is free, the Society solicits memberships and donations to support continuation of free programming. 

PROGRAMS FOR READERS AND WRITERS
The Faulkner – Wisdom Competition
The William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition has been one of the Society’s most successful projects. Created in 1992, today the competition  offers nine categories of creative writing with cash prizes for the winners ranging from $1,000 to $7,500. Our competition is for previously unpublished work and is intended to showcase new literary talent and boost  chances of publication. The competition opens on December 1 and winners are presented during  the following September.
The winners for the 2024- 25 Competition were announced formally at the 35th black tie annual meeting of the Society on September 28 during a gala gathering at the historic Ursuline Convent Complex. For a list of 2025 winners, runners-up, and judges visit:
https://faulknersociety.org/2024-2025-competition-winners/

The Competition for 2025-2026 Opened December 1
All entering should review the guidelines prior to submitting material. Please note that, while we will continue to offer nine categories, some  category descriptions are changing significantly. All new entries must be in our hands not later than midnight, June 15, 2026. For guidelines, CLICK HERE. All 2026 winners will be our invited guests for all events of the Faulkner for All weekend,
September 25- 27, 2026.
For 2024-2025 Results,Click Here!
For 2023-2024 Results, Click Here!
For 2021-2022 Results, Click here!
For 2020-2021 Results, Click Here!

About Faulkner for All!
Our most complicated and expensive project, Faulkner for All! embraces multiple disciplines and target audiences and it is our annual attempt to create the same kind of nurturing environment that enabled William Faulkner to progress from struggling poet to America’s best known novelist. The Faulkner Society was founded in memory of Nobel Laureate William Faulkner, who arrived in New Orleans in 1925 after suffering ridicule as “Count No-Count” in his native Oxford, MS. He took to New Orleans like the proverbial duck to water, calling it “the very best place to live” and New Orleans embraced and nurtured and inspired him. We assemble appreciative audiences for both established and developing artists during a long weekend of enlightening and entertaining programming for readers and writers of all ages. For a sample of what we offer, visit: Faulkner for All, 2025.

Faulkner for All, 2026

New Orleans Native Sarah Broom, Winner, The National Book Award, is shown here at home in the Faubourg Marigny of New Orleans. Ms. Broom will appear at Faulkner for All, 2026.

The Triumph of American Literature
The Faulkner Society is putting together a classy line-up of celebrated authors for its annual festival, Faulkner for All, September 24 through September 28, 2026. This is the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution and,  as a tip of the hat to the anniversary, the Society has selected as its humanities theme for public programming:
The Triumph of American Literature.
The theme is taken from the subtitle of an important new non-fiction work by the legendary American literary editor Gerald Howard, who  until his retirement was Executive Editor and Vice President of Doubleday Books and is a role model for agents and editors in the American publishing industry. The book is The Insider: Malcolm Cowley and the Triumph of American Literature. It is the fascinating story of how one talented and determined literary editor, Malcolm Cowley, rescued William Faulkner’s career when at mid-point it was dead with most of his work out of print.  Without Cowley, it is unlikely that Faulkner would have been awarded the Nobel Prize. A genius at promotion and media manipulation, Malcolm Cowley dreamed up the idea of an accessible Faulkner book for readers to re-acquaint them with the work of Faulkner, work Cowley believed was masterful and worthy of saving for posterity. The book, The Portable Faulkner, started out as a series of articles about Faulkner that Cowley had published. The book, then, was a success and Cowley was off and running, grooming Faulkner for the Nobel Prize. Describing Cowley, Gerald Howard says:
He didn’t have a program or a thesis. He had taste. He was just a pure creature of literature, immensely versatile and conversant with everything that seemed to matter in the literary universe.
Howard will be our keynote speaker and make two additional appearances.

Among other star-power headliners will be Sarah Broom, winner of the National Book Award for her remarkable memoir, The Yellow House. She has accepted our invitation to participate in three events, including an advice session for adult writers and a special evening event in conversation with bestselling author, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, also a New Orleans native, author of We Cast a Shadow, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, and The American Daughters.
Sarah and Maurice will explore the ways that Afro-American storytelling traditions have helped paved the way for
The Triumph of American Literature.

A third native New Orleanian, Nicholas Lemann, a distinguished journalist—longtime correspondent for The New Yorker, former dean of Columbia University’s journalism school, and a former writer for The Atlantic—has spent decades writing critically acclaimed non-fiction books and articles about  the important American themes:  the South, race, the rise and fall of the meritocracy, ethnic migrations . At Faulkner for All, he  will zero in on the important contributions of Jewish writers to The Triumph of American Literature. Lemann’s new book is a memoir:
Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries.  The Atlantic comments:
In telling the story of his ancestors’ relationship with America and Jewishness, as well as his own, Lemann offers surprising and sometimes unsettling new perspectives on what it means to be an American Jew today. 

T. R. Johnson—Professor of English at Tulane University and popular contemporary jazz showhost for WWOZ, the New Orleans radio station famous for its music programming—is not a New Orleanian by birth but he knows the Crescent City inside and out. He edited for Cambridge University Press a collection of 26 essays called New Orleans: A Literary History. His new book, also published by Cambridge, is New Orleans: A Writer’s City, which as received widespread acclaim from people who know New Orleans well.
David Simon, for instance, the man who created the poplular TV series The Wire and Treme, is high on it:  A thoughtful, comprehensive stations-of-the-cross journey through the literary history and traditions of a city that has done more, pound for pound, to create our American culture than any other city. 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Faulkner!
The Society always raises a cup to Mr. Faulkner on his birthday. This year,  the traditional tip of the hat falls on Friday, opening day of the festival. Stay tuned for details of 2026 salutes to Mr. Faulkner. One of the 2025 salutes was by Faulkner scholar Dr. Robin Sinclair, a former National Board of Directors member of the English Speaking Union. Dr. Sinclair generously has given the Faulkner Society permission to publish her remarks here on our web site. To read her comments on the characters of William Faulkner, Click Here. Her paper is an excellent resource for writers seeking to improve their work, especially the strength and appeal of their characters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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