Remembering Vampire Author Anne Rice at the All Saints’ Day Celebration

I first got hooked on (or shall I say sucked into) Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles when I was a teen, and ever since then, I’ve wanted to visit New Orleans. This city is Anne’s birthplace and a significant location in her notorious vampire novels. Because of this, the city has become synonymous with these nocturnal creatures. I dare say, it’s as much a vampire capital as Transylvania! I had the great fortune of being able to finally travel to New Orleans to attend a special event commemorating the author—Anne Rice: An All Saints’ Day Celebration. It was an experience that had a remarkable effect on my soul.

When Anne Rice passed away in December 2021, I was heartbroken. I went on Instagram and the first post I happened to see was from her official account announcing that she had passed. I was in disbelief. My husband could tell something was wrong, and when he asked me what it was, I could barely get out the words that my favorite author had died. I couldn’t hold back my tears, so I just cried.

Anne Rice was more than just a best-selling author or a writer of vampire stories to me. I was more than just a fan or devoted reader. I found her books during one of the most sensitive and challenging times in a person’s life, my adolescence. I wasn’t comfortable in my skin; I was very introverted; I had difficulty making friends; and I felt just plain weird compared to everyone else because of my eccentric interests and style. Then, I read Interview with the Vampire and it felt like I had uncovered a hidden world that I could retreat to.

When I read Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, I no longer felt alone. I was in the company of Lestat, Louis, Jesse, Marius, and so many other characters who would join the saga as it unfolded. What absorbed me the most was the way Anne painted these worlds her characters lived in and moved through. She wrote like an artist coloring her words with ornate brush strokes. Her descriptions, use of adjectives, and intricate detailing were beautiful to me. Her works are a major reason why I wanted to become a writer and create stories. She showed me what writing could do, the magic it could unlock.

The interesting thing is I can’t really recall exactly how I found out about Anne Rice. During the late 90s/early 2000s, I would hang out in different online goth chat rooms. One popular topic of conversation would be literature, and I have a feeling someone had to have mentioned her vampire tales, leading me to track down her novels in libraries. This is an anecdote I mentioned in a clip I submitted for the Anne Rice commemoration. More on that soon.

Anne’s son, Christopher Rice, who is also an author and the co-host of The Dinner Party Show podcast, had been planning a memorial for his mother so that fans could pay tribute. He, along with his podcast co-host Eric Shaw Quinn, shared that when certain key elements were in place, they would give everyone a year’s advance notice so people could make travel arrangements. In the fall of 2024, Christopher announced on social media that a date had been solidified for the event. That date would be November 1st, All Saints’ Day.

The Catholic celebration was special to Anne Rice who grew up Roman Catholic. The religious holiday also inspired the title of one of her early works, The Feast Of All Saints. Although she left the church as a young woman and was not a devout Catholic, her conflict with Christianity and the church was a topic that she explored through many of her books, from the Vampire Chronicles to her Christ the Lord series. She even addressed the subject head-on in her memoir Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, which was written during a time when she temporarily returned to her Catholic faith. Spirituality, mysticism, and existentialism are just some of the themes her stories delved into.

While I knew I wanted to attend the grand memorial, I wasn’t entirely sure if I would be able to make the trip happen. Fortunately, things aligned so I could be in New Orleans. Anne Rice’s burial site was at the top of my list of places to visit. Before the event in the evening, I went to Metairie Cemetery. The author is buried in a majestic mausoleum with her husband, Stan Rice. On one side of the structure were poems by Stan, who was a respected poet and painter. Flowers left by Anne’s devotees lay at the doors to the inner sanctum. It was emotional and surreal to be at her final resting place.

The Anne Rice: An All Saints’ Day Celebration took place at the historic Orpheum Theater. I happened to stay at The Roosevelt New Orleans, which was right across the street from the venue. Since I arrived in the city a couple days before, I had the pleasure of being able to catch the crew going in and out, preparing for the festivities. Posters were put up on the building announcing the event.     

When I walked downstairs to make my way to the theater, there was already a line wrapped around the corner.  People were dressed in all their finery. There were guests wearing vampire garb, fangs, Victorian gowns, and elegant capes. It was marvelous. The interior was opulent and looked very similar to the Orpheum in Los Angeles. A merch table was set up in the foyer. The hallways had portraits of Anne at different points in her life hanging on walls. Inside the theater, a violist and cellist played classical pieces. A collage of Anne Rice photographs was projected on the big screen, and the stage was decorated with lush greenery, which I took to be inspired by the Savage Garden described in the Vampire Chronicles.

The event started promptly at 7 p.m. and no recording was allowed. I was seated on one of the upper balconies and had a perfect view of the stage. One of the main purposes behind the memorial was to debut a special documentary about Anne Rice. It included interviews with her dearest family members, friends, and members of the Vampire Lestat Fan Club.

The biopic offered a glimpse into Anne’s childhood, marriage to Stan, and shed light on significant occurrences in her life, such as the loss of her 5-year-old daughter to leukemia, which heavily inspired Interview with the Vampire. Clips from her press appearances, book signings, and events were also shown. It was emotional to watch. Tears were shed on and off screen. I got the most choked up during parts where audio of Anne speaking was played.

Interspersed throughout the viewing were a variety of performances. A portion of the documentary would play, and then we’d be treated to live entertainment. A group of actors portrayed various characters from Rice’s novels, reciting quotes and reading passages from her books. Carolee Carmello, who played Lestat’s mother Gabrielle for the Broadway musical Lestat, sang the song “Make Me As You Are” from the production. That was nostalgic for me because it brought me back to when I went to San Francisco to see the musical on opening night 20 years ago. It was also declared that November 1^st would henceforth be National Anne Rice Day!

The evening was brought to us by the Dinner Partners, which consists of Christopher and Eric who are the creators of their podcast The Dinner Party Show. It started over a decade ago and Anne was a guest on a few episodes. The two delivered their own separate speeches during the course of the night and it was truly touching to listen to them recount certain memories. What struck my heart the most was when Anne’s son Christopher came on stage to express his gratitude to the audience and say goodbye to his mother. This memorial was a final farewell for him.     

Earlier, I mentioned that I submitted a clip for the event. Christopher announced that fans were encouraged to send in videos expressing what Anne Rice meant to them. All of the recordings would be compiled and used in a special video archive, but only a few would be selected to be shown during the tribute. My submission was one of the videos chosen. I was over the moon when I received an email letting me know. They used a brief snippet from the three-minute video I sent in and I was beside myself. To actually be part of and included in the screening was more than I could have asked for. The teenager inside me was jumping for joy. In a small way, I’m part of Anne Rice’s legacy.

Before the night was over, I had to make sure I left with a souvenir. I bought a shirt with a quote from Anne that says:

“I want to be loved and never forgotten. I’m greedy. I want to be immortal.”

-anne Rice

Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn were doing a meet and greet after the show, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to take part. In a nutshell, there was some confusion and due to crowd control, attendees weren’t allowed to reenter the theater for the meet and greet if we had left our seats to go to the merch table. I was really disappointed, but I didn’t let it ruin my night.

I feel immensely blessed to have attended the beautiful ceremony. I’m sure there were many fans worldwide who wanted to be there and couldn’t make it. However, there is going to be a video recording of the event up by the end of November for people to view. It’ll be available for free on Anne Rice’s official website on Thanksgiving (11/27).

Exiting the theater that night into the New Orleans streets was unreal. The Anne Rice: An All Saints’ Day Celebration was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it’ll live in my heart forever, just like Anne and her vampires.

Where to Stalk

Anne Rice official website