Inaugural Conference of the Walker Percy Center for Writing and Publishing

October 14-16, 2011

*Note - for information about the upcoming 2013 Conference, click here. The following is archival information about the 2011 Inaugural Conference.

Location: Loyola University New Orleans
The conference will take place on the campus of Loyola University, New Orleans, which is located in the Uptown area of New Orleans, directly across from Audubon Park.

Panelists may register on-line.  

We are no longer accepting papers for the conference.

The Moviegoer at Fifty

Walker Percy’s novel The Moviegoer won the National Book Award in 1962 and has remained a popular favorite among New Orleanians and among Percy fans all over the world. Loyola University is especially pleased to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of this remarkable novel with a two-day conference on its campus October 14-16, 2011. Walker Percy has many special ties to Loyola, including his brief stint on the faculty in the 1970s, when he “discovered” the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and then helped to excerpt it for Loyola’s well-respected literary magazine, New Orleans Review.

We enthusiastically invite your participation in this two-day conference. Our panels will address aspects of Percy’s best-known novel—its contexts, its effects, its influences, and its place in American and southern literary history.

Keynote Speaker

Jay Tolson is one of Percy’s most respected biographers and a lively commentator on contemporary culture, politics, society and religion. His 1992 biography, Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy won the Southern Book Award and the Hugh Holman Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in Southern Literary Studies. He also edited The Correspondence of Shelby Foote & Walker Percy (1996) and is currently the News Director of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. We are honored to have him as our keynote speaker at a reception on Friday evening, October 14.

Panels and Schedule

We're excited to offer a variety of panel topics, including:

• The Moviegoer Breeds More Percy
• Surviving The Moviegoer: How Characters Deal with Contemporary Issues
• The Moviegoer as Spectator
• Pop-culture in The Moviegoer
• The Moviegoer and Other Southern Novels

Download our full schedule of conference panels

Special Events

A Visit and Mass at the Abbey, Percy’s Spiritual Home
This is an optional trip on Sunday, October 16 to St. Joseph’s Abbey in Covington (about an hour and a half from New Orleans) where Percy often visited and is now buried. The trip will include Mass for those who wish to attend, and a visit to Percy’s grave. There will be an additional fee of $25 for transportation costs. The bus will leave Loyola at 8:30 a.m. and it will return to Loyola at 1:30 p.m.

Conference Overview

Location: The conference will take place on the campus of Loyola University, New Orleans, which is located in the Uptown area of New Orleans, directly across from Audubon Park.

Time: The conference will begin at noon on Friday, October 14 and continue through late afternoon on Saturday, October 15, 2011, culminating with a showing of Win Riley’s new movie entitled “Walker Percy: A Documentary Film.” An optional visit to Covington is planned for Sunday, October 16.

Registration for panelists: Registration for panelists for the conference, which will include a reception and the keynote address on Friday evening, access to all the panels, and admission to the screening of Walker Percy: A Documentary Film will be $100. The bus to Covington will be an additional fee of $25.00. Partners/spouses of panelists will be charged only $25 for access to the entire Conference.  October is peak tourist season in New Orleans, so please make your hotel reservation early.  Loyola recommends these hotels.  Please also enjoy the wonderful food New Orleans has to offer.  Zagat recommends these restaurants in the area.  Be sure to make your dinner reservations early.

Registration for the Public: The Conference is also open to the public.  You do not have to be presenting a paper to attend the conference.  For $25.00, the general public fee includes Jay Tolson's keynote address and the reception on Friday night, and the screening of Walker Percy: A Documentary Film on Saturday evening.  It does not include access to the panels.  For $100.00, the V.I.P public fee includes access to all of the panels, as well as the keynote address, reception and film screening.  The public may pay at the door or send a check payble to Walker Percy Center to Loyola University, 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 157, New Orleans LA 70118.  Please include your email address for receipt. 

Please direct any questions to:
Dr. Mary McCay, Director: (504) 865-3389; email: wpc@loyno.edu
Rhoda Faust, Administrative Assistant: (504) 864-7041; email: wpc@loyno.edu 
Annie Goldman, Technical Advisor: (504) 865-2599; email: agoldman@loyno.edu