With author readings, book signing parties, panel discussions, a catfish dinner, and a live radio show, the University’s 11th Oxford Conference for the Book, April 1-4, proved a huge success for attendees—book lovers and leading writers from around the country.

Appearing at the 11th conference, dedicated to novelist Walker Percy, were humorist Roy Blount Jr., editor Gary Fisketjon, publisher Jonathan Galassi, novelist Kaye Gibbons, journalist Sebastian Junger, poet William Jay Smith, 2003-04 John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence Janisse Ray, and Newbery Award-winner Mildred D. Taylor, among many others.

In addition to honoring Percy with presentations and discussions focusing on his life and work, the conference also honored Taylor, who was born in Jackson, with the celebration of Mildred D. Taylor Day in Mississippi, on April 2.

“This year’s conference went beyond anything we’ve ever done,” said Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, the conference’s primary sponsor, along with Oxford’s Square Books. “Percy proved to be an unusually popular writer to honor—he has so many passionate fans who were here—and honoring Mildred D. Taylor, such a renowned author for young readers, enabled us to create a new connection with children all over the state.”

To recognize Taylor—who has written nine award-winning novels for young adults—more than 500 students from schools in the Oxford area and as far away as West Point and the Delta gathered at the Ford Center for Performing Arts to see a skit from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and hear Taylor speak about how the book came to be published. Also at the Ford Center, the writer accepted the proclamation signed by Governor Haley Barbour declaring April 2 Mildred D. Taylor Day statewide.

Additional conference events included the opening of the Mississippi Mystery Writers Exhibition at the John Davis Williams Library; a down-home musical performance by the group Reckon Crew, featuring songs adapted from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, among other Southern works; and a special on-campus broadcast of Thacker Mountain Radio, the weekly live radio program produced by Square Books. The show featured a reading by Taylor and a surprise performance by legendary rocker Elvis Costello, in town recording at an Oxford studio.

Conference organizers also scheduled two extra events this year in an effort to offer a full week of literary activities. Preceding the conference was a three-day literary tour of the Delta, featuring journalist Julia Reed and novelist Beverly Lowry, both of whom also served as panelists in Oxford. A two-day Eudora Welty program in Jackson followed the conference and included a tour of the writer’s gardens and discussions of her work.

Next year’s Oxford Conference for the Book will take place April 7-9 and is dedicated to the life and works of Flannery O’Connor.

“One aspect that I really like about the Oxford conference is that the people in attendance seem to understand books not simply as entertainment or business but books as momentous things—as vehicles of epiphany and social change and art,” said Janisse Ray. “Books are important at the level of marrow.”

Jennifer Southall

Margaret McMullan, author of In My Mother’s House and How I Found the Strong
phot by Patrick O'Connor

Jon Meacham, managing editor of Newsweek and author of Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
photo from Newsweek

Fifth graders from Oxford Middle School performing a skit based on Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
photo by Doug McLean

Mary Pratt Percy Lobdell, daughter of Walker Percy, to whom the 2005 conference was dedicated, talks with Campbell McCool (right) at Isom Place dinner as Clarke Reed listens.
photo by Doug McLean

Beverly Lowry, novelist, biographer, and director of the Creative Nonfiction Program at George Mason University
photo by Marion Ettlinger