The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University reveals 2022 lineup of best-selling authors

The 2022 New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University will host its inaugural weekend, March 10-12, with a three-day, in-person literary celebration featuring more than 100 national, regional and local authors, including some of the nation’s most beloved bestsellers. The festival is free and open to the public. A schedule of events will be released in early February.

Authors appearing at the 2022 festival include (in alphabetical order) Thomas Adams, Iñaki Alday, Kent Babb, Amy Banks, John Barry, Jason Berry, Roy Blount, Jr., Charles Blow, Douglas Brinkley, David Brooks, Sarah Broom, Barri Bronston, William Brumfield, Richard Campanella, James Carville, Edgar Chase, IV, Judy Cooper, Karen Cox, Jarvis DeBerry, Brian DeMare, Justin Devillier, Jeff Duncan, Louis Edwards, Ada Ferrer, Pam Fessler, Charles Figley, Macon Fry, Katherine Gehl, Cheryl Gerber, James Gill, Blake Gilpin, Gary Ginsberg, Malcolm Gladwell, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed, Roberta Brandes Gratz, John Grisham, Kelly Harris, Russel L. Honoré, Andy Horowitz, Ilana Horwitz, Ladee Hubbard, Howard Hunter, Walter Isaacson, T.R. Johnson, Margarita Jover, Molly Kimball, Isaac Knapp, Mitch Landrieu, Kris Lane, Kiese Laymon, Nancy Lemann, Nick Lemann, Michael Lewis, Robert Livingston, Melissa Martin, Mary Matalin, Cappy McGarr, Carol McMichael Reese, Jon Meacham, Marc Morial, Peter S. Onuf, Tom Piazza, Lawrence N. Powell, Sister Helen Prejean, Peter Ricchiuti, Nathaniel Rich, Sandy Rosenthal, Joshua D. Rothman, David Rubenstein, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Matt Sakakeeny, Kalamu ya Salaam, Julian Sancton, Tom Sancton, Rupert Scofield, Bakari Sellers, Fatima Shaik, Alon Shaya, Clint Smith, Katy Simpson Smith, David Spielman, Michael Tisserand, Poppy Tooker, Sheba Turk, Mark VanLandingham, Kim Vaz-Deville, Cleo Wade, Darren Walker, David Weill, MD, Curtis Wilkie and Jane Wolfe.

The new, major literary event for the Crescent City, whose debut was postponed by the pandemic, will feature panel discussions, moderated conversations, keynote lectures, book fairs, family programming and workshops. Each day will include at least one major plenary session, which will feature a leading author. The event will also provide a forum for media outlets, authors and readers to network and collaborate in one of the world’s most vibrant and culturally diverse cities.

“We are thrilled to host such an impressive list of nationally acclaimed authors, many of whom are members of the Tulane and New Orleans community."

- President Michael Fitts

“An important part of Tulane’s mission is bringing the larger national, local and regional community to campus for major cultural events such as the New Orleans Book Festival,” Tulane President Michael Fitts said. “We are thrilled to host such an impressive list of nationally acclaimed authors, many of whom are members of the Tulane and New Orleans community. Our students will have a front row seat to hear from some of our country’s top literary minds. It will be an equal pleasure to welcome children and their families to campus for special programming designed just for our youngest readers.” 

All events will take place on Tulane’s uptown campus, including the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, McAlister Auditorium, Myra Clare Rogers Memorial Chapel, Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex and the Berger Family Lawn.

Family Day at the Festival, which will take place on Saturday, March 12, will focus on literacy advancement and feature readings and special literary-themed activities for the children of New Orleans and their families. Family Day is a partnership with the City of New Orleans’ Office of Youth and Families and the Scholastic Corporation, a global children’s publishing, education and media company. Family Day authors and additional book festival writers from all genres will be announced in the coming months.

The festival will engage with teachers and school organizations and literacy, child advocacy and city partners to encourage attendance and participation with the event.

The festival co-chairs are former New Orleans First Lady Cheryl Landrieu and Walter Isaacson, the Leonard A. Lauder Professor of American History and Values in Tulane’s School of Liberal Arts and bestselling author. Landrieu is the co-founder of the New Orleans Book Festival and has a long history of supporting strategic community initiatives in New Orleans, most recently focused on literacy and advocacy for the advancement of women and girls.

Isaacson is the former CEO of the Aspen Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow, the former chairman of CNN and the former editor of TIME magazine. He is currently an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm based in New York City.  

“The New Orleans Book Festival began in 2010 as a free literary event for families in New Orleans,” said Landrieu. “We are excited to expand in partnership with Tulane University to create a weekend of events featuring prominent national and local writers and journalists. The City of New Orleans has a strong literary history, and this festival seeks to continue and grow the literary community in our area. The partnership with Tulane will also generate the participation of the numerous talented writers from the Tulane community and interest from Tulane students. The New Orleans Book Festival will offer something to readers of all ages and backgrounds and provide an opportunity for all members of our community to come together over a shared love of reading.”

“We are very excited to bring The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University to our great city for a three-day celebration of literacy and culture from some of the most notable local, regional and best-selling authors,” said Isaacson. “We have a fabulous and diverse lineup of authors from a vast array of genres and disciplines. Although we could not host our event the last two years as planned, we are pleased that most authors are back for 2022. We hope to attract and captivate book enthusiasts of all ages from all over and make our festival one of the nation’s premier literary destinations.” 

Tulane’s own faculty have authored best-selling novels, histories, biographies and other works on subjects ranging from jazz music, the geography of New Orleans, children’s books, natural disasters, epidemics and the future of gene editing.

For more information on the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University, please visit ​www.bookfest.Tulane.edu or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.