Columbus honors playwright Tennessee Williams

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – He is remembered for his way with words.

This weekend Columbus honors legendary playwright Tennessee Williams on his birthday.

Friday’s party celebrates the 110th birthday of the Columbus native.

Cake and conversation were served at the Tennessee Williams House Museum on Main Street in Columbus.

Actors shared one of Williams’s plays on the front porch of the home.

And guests could tour his childhood home and register for prizes from local merchants.

Visit Columbus Director Nancy Carpenter says she believes Williams drew inspiration for his stories from people and places in the Columbus area.

“I accepted an award on his behalf at the art museum in Meridian, and this has been a couple of years ago, when people said that Tennessee Williams live in Clarksdale and he lived in Canton and he lived in Nashville and certainly St. Louis, and I said he was only born in one place and that was Columbus, Mississippi. So, we do take a lot of pride in the fact that Tennessee Williams was born here,” said Nancy Carpenter, CEO Visit Columbus.

Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for “A Streetcar Named Desire.” He is also remembered for “The Glass Menagerie” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” among his many works.