Dr. David Weill
College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine

For as long as he can remember, Weill (A&S ’85, M ’90) dreamt of becoming a doctor. That he became an author as well is something he attributes to the creative writing classes he took as an undergraduate at Tulane.

“It was a perfect complement to my lifelong goal of becoming a physician,” said Weill, author of the memoir “Exhale: Hope, Healing, and A Life in Transplant” and the novel “All That Really Matters.”

“I was sure that the interactions with patients and colleagues, the moral and ethical dilemmas I faced daily in the practice of medicine and the lessons taught to me by those who were facing death all provided rich material when I sat down to write.”

At Book Fest, Weill participated in a panel titled “Bayous, Backroads and Beyond: Fiction Set in Louisiana.”

Weill is the former Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease and Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Stanford University Medical Center. He is currently the Principal of the Weill Consulting Group which focuses on improving the delivery of pulmonary, ICU, and transplant care.

His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Salon, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, STAT, the Washington Post, The Hill, TODAY.com and the Los Angeles Times.

Rich Cohen
School of Liberal Arts

Cohen (SLA ’90) attributes his success as a writer to his love of history – a love he discovered as an undergraduate history major at Tulane.

“It was at Tulane that I learned to love history, that I learned to research history, and I learned that some of the best writing was historical nonfiction.”

Cohen said he also learned that writing about the past is often the best way to write about the present.

In fact, Cohen said it was a class taught by Professor Joseph Cohen (no relation) that gave him the inspiration for his book “The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King.”

At Book Fest, Cohen was on a panel titled “Whodunnit: True Crime and Crime Fiction.”

Cohen is also the author of the New York Times bestseller “Tough Jews,” “Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football,” “Sweet and Low,” and “The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse,” among many others.

His new book, “When the Game Was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season,” will be published on Sept. 5th, by Random House. He is also a co-creator of the HBO series Vinyl, an editor at large at Air Mail and a columnist at the Wall Street Journal.

Marie Quintana
School of Social Work

Quintana (SSW ’79) says the foundation she received at Tulane coupled with her deep love of New Orleans planted the seed that blossomed into a passion for storytelling.

“Writing a memoir was one of the most difficult and rewarding things I’ve ever done. It took years to find the courage and clarity to put my story on paper," said Quintana, author of “Last Flight from Havana: A Memoir of Cuba, Family, and Faith."

But she says studying for her master’s degree in social work while working part-time in the Tulane School of Law library instilled in her the confidence and courage to put her story in words.

“I was surrounded by books — by ideas and stories. My degree from Tulane was the beginning of a journey that I always go back to.”

At Book Fest, Quintana participated in conversations about her memoir, which tells the story of her life, beginning with her family fleeing Cuba during the tumultuous rise of Fidel Castro.

In addition to being an author, she is a nationally acclaimed business leader and speaker, boasting a 30-year career at renowned companies such as Tenet Healthcare, PepsiCo, Perot Systems and IBM.

Recognized among the Top 50 Hispanic Women in Business by Hispanic Business Magazine, she has also been honored as one of the Top 50 Women in Grocery by Progressive Grocer and named one of the Top 5 Latina Executives by Latina Style Magazine.