New Orleans native John Kennedy Toole’s iconic work “A Confederacy of Dunces” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981. The story of its publication is worthy of its own book – or, in this case, podcast! This is a rare 1982 interview with Mrs. Thelma Ducoing Toole, the author’s mother. She talks with Dr. Kenneth Holditch, a friend, literary scholar and longtime professor of English at the University of New Orleans. She recounts to him the story of how, after years of trying, she was finally successful in getting her late son’s comic novel published, making it a part of New Orleans’ literary history. Thanks to the University of New Orleans for the use of this archival interview.

From WYES - New Orleans' storyteller - this is Literary New Orleans, a podcast looking at the locally-written word over three centuries of history, based on the WYES-TV documentary "Literary New Orleans," produced and hosted by Peggy Scott Laborde. It features interviews with Walter Isaacson, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, T.R. Johnson, Dr. Kenneth Holditch and Thelma Toole. This "Literary New Orleans" podcast was produced by WYES and made possible by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, which partners with communities, institutions and individuals to explore Louisiana's past, reflect on our present and imagine our future. Learn more at LEH.org. For a complete list of sponsors, visit https://www.wyes.org/tv/wyes-originals/literary-new-orleans/

T.R. Johnson is the author of the highly-acclaimed book “New Orleans: A Writer’s City.” A professor of English at Tulane University, he teaches a course on the literary history of New Orleans, which makes him the perfect person to discuss the topic with producer Peggy Scott Laborde. In the interview, the two discuss why the city is such a fertile setting for writers and talk about many of Louisiana’s famous literary figures, including Lafcadio Hearn, Kate Chopin, Grace King, Solomon Northup, Tennessee Williams and Anne Rice.