Saints & Sinners Festival Renames Award to Honor Dorothy Allison, Felice Picano
The Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival has renamed its Emerging Writer Award was the Dorothy Allison / Felice Picano Emerging Writer Award, honoring two late authors whose work and advocacy have helped shape LGBTQ+ literature.
This name change recognizes the impact of Allison and Picano, who were both fixtures of the Saints & Sinners festival since its founding in New Orleans in 2003. Allison, the author of the acclaimed 1992 Bastard Out of South Carolina which chronicled her harrowing working-class Southern upbringing, died in November 2024 at the age of 75. Picano, who championed gay life as multi-genre author and publisher of Seahorse Press and Gay Presses of New York, died last week at the age of 81.
"Dorothy and Felice were such a big part of the familial atmosphere created over the years at Saints and Sinners,” said Paul J. Willis, executive director of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, the parent organization of the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival. “They were both part of the first SAS program sharing their knowledge, experiences, and encouragement. It is hard to imagine a SASFest without one of them in attendance, but with renaming the emerging writer award in their honor, their inspiration will be with us every year!”
Previous winners of the Emerging Writer Award include Alexander Chee, Saeed Jones, and Bryan Washington.
“We want this award to reflect not only excellence, but legacy,” said author Rob Byrnes, who has underwritten the award’s $1500 prize since 2013. “Dorothy Allison and Felice Picano exemplify the spirit of mentorship, courage, and literary brilliance. This renaming pays tribute to the past while investing in the future.”
This year's Dorothy Allison / Felice Picano Emerging Writer Award will be shared by two writers: KB Brookins for their memoir Pretty, and Emma Copley Eisenberg for the novel Housemates. Both authors also helm nonprofits to nurture and support marginalized voices.
