Tulane authors, presenters at the 2026 NOLA Book Fest at Tulane University

When the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University officially opens on Thursday, March 12, Tulane faculty, staff, alumni and even a student will appear on panels discussing a variety of topics. The festival is free and open to the public. Seating at the sessions is first-come, first-served. For more information about the festival and to view the full schedule, visit the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University website.

*Dates and times are subject to change. See the Book Fest schedule for the latest information.

Faculty, staff and board members at Book Fest

Kate Baldwin
Professor of English and Communication Studies, School of Liberal Arts
Pros & Cons of Substack for Writers
Saturday at 10 a.m.

Mara Baumgarten Force
Professor of Practice, Director of the Schwartz Family Center for Experiential Business Learning and Seymour S. Goodman Professor of Business Administration, A. B. Freeman School of Business
When a Cookbook Becomes a Book: Rescuing Recipes, Preserving Stories
Saturday at 11 a.m.

Thomas Beller
Director of Creative Writing and Professor of English, School of Liberal Arts
The Stories We Tell: Reclaiming Identity through Memoir & Personal Essay
Saturday at 11 a.m.
Instant Classics: New Memoirs from Molly Jong-Fast + Susan Orlean
Saturday at 1 p.m.

Kim Boyle
Board of Tulane member
Power, Memory & the Stories We Tell: Black Women Leading through Generations
Saturday at 10 a.m.

Heddwen Brooks
Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology, School of Medicine
Rethinking Women's Health at Every Stage
Saturday at 3 p.m.

Richard Campanella
Associate Dean for Research, Senior Professor of Practice in Architecture and Geography, and Mintz Professor in Architecture, School of Architecture and Built Environment
How Louisiana Shaped a Nation
Friday at 11 a.m.

Edgar "Dook" Chase IV
Chapter IV, 1834 Club, Alva Jean's and Homage at Wave City Market
Culinary Heritage: Memory, Place & the Responsibility to Preserve
Friday at 12 p.m.

Jelagat Cheruiyot
Senior Professor of Practice, School of Science and Engineering
Interactive Pop-Up: Taylor Center for Design Thinking
Friday at 1 p.m.

Lindsay Cronk
Dean of Libraries and Academic Information Resources
Behind the Image: Women, Style & Substance
Friday at 12 p.m.

Kyle DeCoste
Instructor in Gender and Sexuality Studies and Music, School of Liberal Arts
Music, Education & The Sounds of Change
Saturday at 10 a.m.

Gabe Feldman
Sher Garner Professor of Sports Law and Paul and Abram B. Barron Professor of Law, Associate Provost for NCAA Compliance, Director of the Sports Law Program and Co-Director of the Tulane Center for Sport, Tulane Law School
Power Plays: Leadership Decisions that Shape College Athletics
Friday at 11 a.m.

Michael A. Fitts
President, Tulane University
The State of the Nation Project: In Books
Friday at 12 p.m.
The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun & Freedom in a Screen-Filled World
Saturday at 12 p.m.

Melissa Fuster
Associate Professor, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Interactive Pop-Up: Taylor Center for Design Thinking
Friday at 1 p.m.

Douglas Harris
Professor and Department Chair of Economics, Schlieder Foundation Chair in Public Education, School of Liberal Arts
The State of the Nation Project: In Books
Friday at 12 p.m.

Gary Hoover
Professor, Executive Director of the Murphy Institute, School of Liberal Arts
The State of the Nation Project: In Books
Friday at 12 p.m.
America at 250: Who Gets Ahead in America? And Why?
Friday at 1 p.m.

Walter Isaacson
Leonard Lauder Professor of American History and Values, School of Liberal Arts, Co-Chair, New Orleans Book Festival
America at 250: Opening Night with The Atlantic
Thursday at 5 p.m.
Who Shapes America Now?
Friday at 11:30 a.m.
It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life
Friday at 2:30 p.m.
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written: A Conversation with Walter Isaacson
Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

Jesse Keenan
Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning, Director of the Center on Climate Change and Urbanism, School of Architecture and Built Environment
Climate Reality: What Science, History & Cities Must Face
Friday at 1 p.m.

Rob Lalka
Professor of Practice, Executive Director of the Albert Lepage Center, Albert R. Lepage Professorship in Business, A. B. Freeman School of Business
The Power of Community & Connection in Times of Uncertainty & Change
Friday at 4 p.m.

Thomas LaVeist
Dean of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Outbreak Behind Bars: Spider Bites, Human Rights & the Unseen Danger to Public Health
Friday at 2 p.m.

Nicholas Mattei
Associate Professor, School of Science & Engineering
Inventing Connection: Trust, Access & the Future of the Internet
Friday at 10 a.m.

Golan Moskowitz
Associate Professor, Catherine and Henry J. Gaisman Faculty Fellow, School of Liberal Arts
When a Cookbook Becomes a Book: Rescuing Recipes, Preserving Stories
Saturday at 11 a.m.

Lesley-Ann Noel
Former professor of practice, associate director for design thinking for social impact, Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking
Interactive Pop-Up: Taylor Center for Design Thinking
Friday at 1 p.m.

Karisma Price
Assistant Professor of English, School of Liberal Arts
Capturing Transformation & Voice in Poetry
Friday at 2 p.m.

Peter Ricchiuti
Senior Professor of Practice, William B. Burkenroad Jr. Clinical Professorship in Equity Research, A. B. Freeman School of Business
How to Make Money in Any Market
Saturday at 10 a.m.

Nathaniel Rich
Professor of Practice, School of Liberal Arts
Climate Reality: What Science, History & Cities Must Face
Friday at 1 p.m.
When Societal Bonds Collapse: Moral Complexity in Fiction
Friday at 4 p.m.

Marguerite Sheffer
Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking
Interactive Pop-Up: Taylor Center for Design Thinking
Friday at 1 p.m.

Nick Spitzer
Professor of American Studies, School of Liberal Arts
Forty Years: Painting French Louisiana
Saturday at 12 p.m.

Michael Strecker
Assistant Vice President for News and Media Relations
Southern Football Noir, Big Apple Sleuths & Spine-tingling Obsessions: Crime Fiction to Die For
Saturday at 3 p.m.
Reading: Michael Strecker | Jokes for Crescent City Kids
Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Heroes in the Making: Creating Courageous Characters with Jesse Byrd, Marti Dumas + Misako Rocks!
Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

Emilie Taylor Welty
Program Director for Architecture, Design-Build Manager of the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design, Favrot III Associate Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture and Built Environment
Smallx20: Twenty Years of Community Engaged Design in New Orleans
Saturday at 1 p.m.

Jana Woodson
Deputy Athletic Director, External Operations
Beyond the Game: Women, Leadership & the Future of Sports
Friday at 11 a.m.

Ann Yoachim
Director of the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design, Professor of Practice in Design, School of Architecture and Built Environment
Smallx20: Twenty Years of Community Engaged Design in New Orleans
Saturday at 1 p.m.

Alumni at Book Fest

Dr. Jennifer Avegno
School of Liberal Arts
Rethinking Women's Health at Every Stage
Saturday at 3 p.m.

Bryan Batt
School of Liberal Arts
Batt Out of Heaven: A Conversation with Bryan Batt
Saturday at 2 p.m.

Blake Bertuccelli-Booth
School of Professional Advancement
Reading: Blake Bertuccelli-Booth | No, Robot
Sunday at 1:40 p.m.

Kaye Courington
Newcomb-Tulane College and Tulane Law School
Reading: Kaye Courington | Scrim: A New Orleans Story of Resilience and Rescue
Sunday at 12 p.m.

Quint Davis
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters
Making Jazz Fest: The Soul of New Orleans
Friday at 11:30 a.m.

Karen Essex
School of Liberal Arts
Behind the Image: Women, Style & Substance
Friday at 12 p.m.

Freddi Williams Evans
School of Liberal Arts Global Humanities Center
How Louisiana Shaped a Nation
Friday at 11 a.m.
Passing It On: The Art of John T. Scott
Friday at 4 p.m.
Second Line Culture & Street as Story
Saturday at 2 p.m.

Samantha Fleurinor
Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Interactive Pop-Up: Taylor Center for Design Thinking
Friday at 1 p.m.

Matt Forte
A. B. Freeman School of Business
Stay in the Game: Making the Most of Every Season
Saturday at 3 p.m.

Patty Heyda
School of Architecture and Built Environment
Smallx20: Twenty Years of Community Engaged Design in New Orleans
Saturday at 1 p.m.

Kelly Jacques
School of Liberal Arts
The Baker's Table
Saturday at 10 a.m.
Balancing Craft & Community: Restaurants with a Purpose
Saturday at 1 p.m.

Wendy Rodrigue Magnus
School of Liberal Arts
Beyond the Blue Dog: Wendy Rodrigue Magnus on Legacy, Leadership & Reinvention
Friday at 4 p.m.
Reading: Wendy Rodrigue Magnus | Why Is Blue Dog Blue?
Sunday at 1 p.m.

Ti Martin
A. B. Freeman School of Business
Culinary Heritage: Memory, Place & the Responsibility to Preserve
Friday at 12 p.m.

Sally Reeves
Newcomb-Tulane College
New Orleans Garden District: Profiles in Preservation
Saturday at 12 p.m.

Xavier Rush
School of Science & Engineering
Reading: Xavier Rush | Fitness Alphabet: XRELITE Xperience
Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Mike Sacks
School of Liberal Arts
A Wealth of Humor: A Conversation with Simon Rich, Writer for SNL & The New Yorker
Friday at 11 a.m.
Live from New Orleans: A Conversation with The New Yorker's Susan Morrison About Her Biography 'Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live'
Saturday at 3 p.m.

Ben Sandmel
School of Liberal Arts
How Louisiana Shaped a Nation
Friday at 11 a.m.

Bruce Spizer
A. B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane Law School
From the Beatles to Ozzy to John Prine: Music Legends
Friday at 2 p.m.

Sue Strachan
School of Liberal Arts
From Cellar to Shaker
Saturday at 11 a.m.

Tania Tetlow
Newcomb College
Miracles & Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus
Saturday at 2 p.m.

Dr. David Weill
School of Liberal Arts and School of Medicine
The Stories We Tell: Reclaiming Identity through Memoir & Personal Essay
Saturday at 11 a.m.

Bronwen Wyatt
School of Liberal Arts
The Baker's Table
Saturday at 10 a.m.

Students at Book Fest

Zachary Warter
A. B. Freeman School of Business
Reading: Zachary Warter | Otis the Do Happy Dog
Sunday at 12:40 p.m.