NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

January 31, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOCAL AUTHOR TO DISCUSS FRIENDSHIP WITH TENNESSEE WILLIAMS IN LECTURE AT THE EAST BANK REGIONAL LIBRARY

JEFFERSON, LA – Alexandrea Weis, RN, PhD, an author of 15 books of fiction and young adults, will discuss her friendship with American playwright Tennessee Williams at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at the East Bank Regional Library (4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie, LA 70001).

This event is co-sponsored by the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. It is free of charge and open to the public.

Weis lived in the French Quarter with her parents during the 1960 and early 1970s. The family — her parents were involved in the film industry — occupied a cottage on Dumaine Street across the street from Madame John’s Legacy. Williams lived around the corner in an apartment on Royal Street. 

Weis explains that she was a small child — about four or five years old, and the last time I saw him she was about eight years old. Mostly it was her father would talk to him as Williams roamed the neighborhood and stopped their place frequently in the morning for coffee.

“We’d go to the Timesaver and get candy,” Weis said. She noted that when her family lived in the Quarter, it was still a neighborhood, and not very touristy. “In those days, if you lived in the Quarter, you knew everyone else who lived in the Quarter. He knew everyone and he liked to talk with everyone. But, he could also walk around and no one would bother him with requests for autographs. 

In high school, Williams even offered her help on a paper about Streetcar. Her teacher didn’t like what she wrote until she found out the information came directly from Tennessee.

Alexandrea Weis is an award-winning author, screenwriter, advanced practice registered nurse, and historian who has taught at major universities and worked as a nurse dealing with victims of sexual assault, abuse and mental illness in a clinical setting at New Orleans hospitals.

Because her father was a motion picture director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable.

Weis is a member of the International Thriller Writers and Horror Writers Association. She lives with her husband outside of New Orleans where she is a permitted certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.

This event is co-sponsored by the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, an annual five-day literary festival in the city of New Orleans. The festival is dedicated to the Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright Tennessee Williams. Every year, it features numerous events related to the long career of Williams, as well as writing workshops, panel discussions, literary readings, stage performances, a book fair, music, writing contests, and other events related to American literature, poetry, drama, opera, film, photography, art, history, culture, and cooking. The signature event is the Stella and Stanley Shouting Contest that closes the festival.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library serves as library headquarters. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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