And a saintly, sinful time was had by all
I’ve just returned from the 2024 Saints + Sinners Festival in New Orleans. It’s a gathering of writers, from the famous to the prolific to the aspiring. I started going to Saints + Sinners years before my novel was written, and have continued going almost every year for the past five or six years (except for the pandemic years, and even then, I participated virtually).
I don’t have much to compare it to (I’m hardly a connoisseur of literary conferences), but I can’t imagine that any other conference of it’s kind could be nearly so fun, educational, or full of community as this one.
And it’s the community aspect I like best. It’s an LGBTQ+ festival, and while it’s mostly “L” and “G,” with just a smattering of “T” and “+” (pretty much everyone agrees we can improve on that score), there’s already a sense of community built in, before you even meet anyone in particular, just because we’re all “family.” But beyond the queer community and culture that bind us, S+S is also filled with just wonderful, wonderful people.
This year, I was just an attendee. Unlike years past, when I’ve sat behind a microphone and shared my opinions, experiences, and work with my colleagues, this year I didn’t propose any panels, but rather just picked up my program on Friday morning and plotted out which sessions I wanted to experience.
By the time the weekend was over, I’d been to panels and workshops on aging writers, how to incorporate (often painful) religious histories in our work, how to create memorable protagonists, writing about crime, sci-fi and fantasy (which I do not do, but it was really interesting).
Now that I’m back home, I’m renewed and inspired to, among other things, write more. It probably won’t be next year, but I’m really looking forward to being able to arrive in New Orleans some spring (2026, I hope) with copies of a brand new book in the festival bookstore and an opportunity to read 8 minutes of my choosing to anyone who cares to listen.
If you’re an LGBTQ+ writer, you should absolutely put the 2025 festival on your calendar. It’s going to happen March 28-30, 2025. And I’ll see you at the Carousel Bar.
