New Orleans Book Fest highlights faculty contributors

February 20, 2026

BY Katie lorio

Tulane’s Mintz Professor in Architecture and Associate Dean for Research at Tulane School of Architecture and Built Enviornment Richard Campanella will be featured in this year's New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane, as the event focuses on the story of 250 years of American History. Campanella will offer his insight into that history through a Louisiana lens.

“Louisiana differed from the rest of the nation in just about every way imaginable: demographically, culturally, linguistically, religiously, architecturally, even geographically,” he said in a recent interview with Tulane News, adding that the state’s location allowed Western, Southern and Caribbean cultures to converge under the umbrella of Louisiana culture.

“The assimilation of all that distinctiveness into the emerging American identity broadens the very notions of both ‘American’ as well as ‘identity,’” he said.

In addition to being the Mintz Professor in Architecture, Campanella also serves as the Associate Dean of Research for TuSABE. His work about Louisiana is regularly featured in publications such as Preservation in Print and The Advocate. His most recent book is Crossroads, Cutoffs, and Confluences: Origins of Louisiana Cities, Towns, and Villages.

Read the full feature on the Louisiana Focus at this year's Book Festival over on the Tulane News website.