by Mark Chesnut
Last updated: 8:00 AM ET, Sat April 25, 2026
One of the best ways to immerse yourself in New Orleans' literary and cultural
history is to check into The
Monteleone during the Tennessee
Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival. With its deep cultural ties and
prominent location in the French Quarter, this hotel — a member of Historic
Hotels of America and Preferred Hotels & Resorts — is an ideal base for
exploring the city’s creative heritage.
The literary festival,
which I recently attended, provides an ideal introduction to New Orleans’
literary scene, and The Monteleone, which opened in 1886 and is designated a
Literary Landmark, is an especially appropriate host hotel.
Regardless of the time of year, however, New Orleans is a
rewarding destination for travelers who want more than superficial
entertainment. This city rewards those who dive deeper into its rich, creative
traditions — whether it’s live music and theater, culinary experiences or
literature. The Big Easy knows how to spark the imagination.
Seeing New Orleans
through a Literary Lens
The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival offers
such a varied array of programming that it appeals to a wide range of traveler
types. Readings, staged performances, craft talks, panels, and fascinating
walking tours ensure that serious writers as well as book- and theater-lovers
alike will find engaging ways to participate. Running concurrently is the
affiliated Saints & Sinners Literary
Festival, one of the country’s longest-running LGBTQ+ literary festivals,
which adds programming with diverse perspectives.
This year’s festival continued its tradition of immersive
activities, and the organization has already announced that the 2027 festival
will run March 17-21, with the Stella Shout (a lively tribute to a key scene in
“A Streetcar Named Desire,” the Tennessee Williams play) kicking off March 14.
The Monteleone’s literary connection is visible throughout
the year. The hotel has welcomed legendary writers including Tennessee
Williams, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and Truman Capote, and several of
them have imbibed at its revolving Carousel Bar — where my husband and I were
lucky enough to snag a seat one evening. Vintage book displays enhance the
hotel’s historic elegance, and the upscale, literary vibe extends to Criollo, a stylish restaurant where we
savored a delicious dinner (for an especially immersive culinary experience,
book Le Petit Chef, the
venue’s table-mapping program).
The literary festival’s walking tours also provide an
introduction to the city’s creative diversity. One of my most interesting
experiences of the week was a “Writers in New Orleans” walking tour led by
local historian Dana Criswell, who guided participants past former residences
connected to figures including Faulkner and Capote. Historic walking tours,
focused on the French Quarter and the Garden District, are offered year-round
by the Friends of the Cabildo.
New Orleans Museum of Art. (Photo Credit: Zack Smith)
Exploring History in
New Orleans
Travelers looking to understand the city’s Black history may
want to consider joining an excursion with 2nd
Line Tours, which offers one of the best city tours I’ve taken in quite a
while. Its Soul of New Orleans itinerary, which we booked through TripAdvisor,
was a detailed and emotionally moving experience; the expert guide, Dennis,
used a screen in the transport van to incorporate photographs and video as we
moved through multiple neighborhoods, allowing participants to understand
better the context of the sites we passed.
Two stops stood out as especially noteworthy: StudioBE, which offers an eye-catching immersion
into large-scale Black art with a message, and the Tate, Etienne, Prevost Center in the
Lower Ninth Ward, which documents the story of the McDonogh 19 school
desegregation through the experiences of the three young girls who lived it;
the facility is set in the very school they attended.
Companies that offer multi-day itineraries offer options to
add even greater depth. Road Scholar,
for example, recently introduced a new Civil Rights program that complements
its other Big Easy guided vacations, which showcase cultural elements including
cuisine, music and Mardi Gras, to name a few.
The Sounds and
Flavors of the Big Easy
New Orleans is a unique city by any measure, and its culture
can be experienced in myriad ways. We enjoyed live jazz at the Bayou Bar, a wood-lined venue at
the Pontchartrain Hotel that
provides an intimate and relaxed setting for live music Tuesday through
Saturday; its food menu is quite good, too (my personal favorite: duck and
andouille gumbo).
Another hotspot for local cuisine is Seaworthy, set in a gorgeous 1832 Creole
townhome near the Barnett Hotel in the
Warehouse District. Sustainably harvested oysters are Seaworthy’s big draw, and
multiple private dining areas present unique options for small-group
celebrations.
One of my favorite new restaurants in New Orleans is Café Malou, which opened in Uptown in
late 2025. Open for breakfast and lunch, it serves a mouthwatering menu of
comforting dishes — including gravy eggs and boudin, as well as shrimp and
grits made with Spanish chorizo, roasted garlic and sherry. Café Malou ties in
nicely with the literary scene, too; it’s attached to Octavia Books, one of the city’s most legendary
independent bookstores.
The Monteleone exterior. (Photo Credit: The Monteleone Media)
Museums and Festivals
in New Orleans
The city’s vibrant museum and art scene round out its
cultural appeal. The New Orleans Museum of Art
and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art are
must-see venues for visual art, while the Historic
New Orleans Collection, the New Orleans
African American Museum, the National
WWII Museum and the Museum of the Southern
Jewish Experience add important context to the city’s narrative.
Annual events provide good reasons to plan trips at specific
times. Mardi
Gras, which takes place next on January 6-February 9, 2027, is the
highest-profile festival, of course, but there are lots of others — including
the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival, which is slated for April 23-May 3, 2026, Satchmo SummerFest, which takes
place August 1-2, 2026, and the Congo
Square Rhythms Festival, which showcases traditions of music, dance and
food every March.
In the Big Easy, it’s never difficult to find cultural
activities. It’s simply a matter of choosing the time and place.
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