This weekend, from March 21 to March 25, New Orleans is honoring American playwright Tennessee Williams at the 31st Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival.

Located in the French Quarter, the festival is an opportunity for students and writers to learn from over 130 writers, musicians and other artists visiting from around the world.

Tennessee Williams, the author of the famous play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” spent time living in New Orleans, describing the city as his spiritual home. The festival is scheduled at the end of March each year in honor of Williams’ birthday.

Williams’ art and writing contributions to New Orleans will be recognized at the event.

John Biguenet, chair of Loyola’s English department, has participated in numerous panels at the festival in the past, including playwriting.

“Young writers have the chance to make that kind of connections that allow them to begin to have their work in front of audiences,” Biguenet said. “Another aspect to the event is making professional contact that leads to publication, so meeting writers and agents, or a producer.”

The English department has arranged for Loyola students to receive free tickets to the festival.

The diverse panel of writers allows attendees to learn about a variety of topics involved with writing.

“One of the things the festival does is to give students, and anybody who attends the festival, a chance to hear published writers talk about the partialities of writing in a particular form, the business end and also the theory,” Biguenet said.