arts & culture

This week on The Reading Life: Novelist and playwright John Biguenet, whose new work “Broomstick,” will have a staged reading at the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. We'll also talk with New Orleans writing  marathon director Dr. Richard Louth, who'll be leading a group of writers around the French Quarter during the Festival weekend.

The 2012 Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival kicks off a five-day celebration in the French Quarter.

The bold, edgy sculptures, paintings and drawings of artist Thornton Dial confront a darker side of humanity in the exhibit Hard Truths, now on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art.  WWNO's Diane Mack goes Inside the Arts for a look at these works, which span two decades.

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SXSW is all about volume, in more ways than one. Roughly 2,000 acts perform at the four-day music festival every year, so to spend just three minutes with each in advance of the big event is to deny your friends and loved ones a solid 100 hours of your waking, undivided attention.

This week on The Reading Life, Susan talks with historian Carolyn Morrow Long, author of "Madame Lalaurie: Mistress of the Haunted House," and poet Bill Lavender, whose new memoir-in-verse is called "Memory Wing."

Today on "The Sound of Books" with Fred Kasten, the new book from award-winning journalist Debbie Nathan:  "Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case."

He's hailed as one of the most innovative dance-makers of his generation.  And now, Stephen Petronio ...

New Orleans contemporary jewelry artist and metal sculptor Thomas Mann is known for his trademark handcrafted techno-romantic jewelry.

Today on "The Sound of Books" with Fred Kasten, the widely praised stand-alone novel by "Easy Rawlins" mystery series author Walter Mosley -- "The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey."

The  countdown to the greatest free show on earth is upon us, and the revelry in the French Quarter will kick into high gear Friday, as the 29th Annual Mardi Gras Mask Market gets underway in the French Market. We go Inside the Arts...