Behind the Image: Women, Style & Substance | Elyce Arons + Karen Essex Moderated by: Lindsay Cronk 

In We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade, Elyce Arons offers an intimate portrait of creative partnership and enduring friendship behind one of fashion’s most beloved brands. Karen Essex’s Run, Darling reimagines the lives of the Gabor sisters, exploring how glamour, ambition, and myth-making shape both public image and private identity. Together, these writers examine how stories—both lived and imagined—construct female icons, the tension between perception and reality, and the emotional labor of maintaining visibility in the public eye. This conversation considers how memoir and historical fiction each offer powerful ways to reclaim nuance, agency and humanity behind the image. 

The New Orleans Book Festival brings the world’s leading authors to Tulane University for a multi-day celebration of their works. The Festival features both fiction and non-fiction and convenes readings, panel discussions, symposia and keynote speeches. It provides an opportunity for outlets, authors and readers to interact with each other in one of the most vibrant and culturally diverse cities in the world.