The Society for the Study of Southern Literature will meet March 14-16 at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. The theme "Southern Literature in Black and White" will be examined in numerous sessions, including a keynote address by sociologist John Shelton Reed, a panel on "Welty and Race" led by Suzanne Marrs, and the paper "Afro-Creole Color Prejudice in the Stories of Eloise Bibb Thompson (1878-1928)" by Joan Wylie Hall. Other scholars scheduled to present papers are Barbara Ewell, Katie Henninger, John Lowe, Ed Piacentino, and Frank Shelton. Anne Goodwyn Jones will be on hand to discuss the impact of her pioneering book Tomorrow Is Another Day, published 20 years ago. Award-winning author Tim Gautreaux, who teaches fiction at Southeastern University, will give a reading. Registration is $60 for faculty, $30 for students. 

SSSL membership is open to anyone interested in the study of Southern literature and culture. Members receive the SSSL newsletter, published twice a year in April and November, and are eligible to participate in SSSL panels and meetings. Annual dues are $10. Make registration check and/or dues payable to SSSL and mail to C. Ralph Stephens, SSSL Treasurer; Humanities & Arts, CBCC-Essex; 7201 Rossville Blvd.; Baltimore, MD 21237.

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The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival will celebrate its 16th anniversary March 20-24 with a five-day program honoring the legendary playwright and the literary heritage he inspired. Roy Blount Jr., Rick Bragg, Melissa Bank, and Jonathan Coleman, among others, will conduct master classes for writers and readers. The program will include more than two dozen panel discussions, celebrity interviews, and performances of Williams’s plays Sweet Bird of Youth, Suddenly Last Summer, and the one-act The Traveling Companion. Also, Manhattan Theatre Club will read excerpts from The Letters of Tennessee Williams, a new publication edited by Williams scholars. For more information, call 504-581-1144 or e-mail info@tennesseewilliams.net.

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Tennessee Williams went to New Orleans in 1938 and lived there on and off until his death in 1983. The Historic New Orleans Collection recently obtained a large and important collection of the playwright’s manuscripts, photographs, and memorabilia. On display through April 6, 2002, is a selection from the newly acquired materials that document the development and various productions of Sweet Bird of Youth. The exhibition, on view at the Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street, is free and open to the public. For more information, call 504-598-7171.

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The Holly Springs Garden Club will host its 64th annual pilgrimage April 19-21, 2002. Seven historic antebellum homes will be open for tours, including Walter Place (1858-59), a blend of Gothic and Greek Revival styles, home of General and Mrs. U. S. Grant during the planning of the Vicksburg campaign; Wakefield (1858 ), a newly restored Greek Revival home with classical murals entitled Songs of Orpheus in the entrance hall; and Strawberry Plains (1851), a two-story Greek Revival home now, with its surrounding 2,000 acres, the Southeastern Headquarters of the National Audubon Society. Three antebellum churches, the Marshall county Historical Museum, the Ida B. Wells Art Gallery, and the Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery will also be open for tours. For additional information, call 662-252-3260 or 662-252-4517.

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The Historic New Orleans Collection will sponsor the exhibition The Vast Country of Louisiana: The Founding Years, 1682-1731, through May 11, 2002. Beginning with La Salle’s claim that expanded the French Empire in North America southward from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, the exhibition uses nearly 100 maps, books, documents, prints, drawings, and artifacts to highlight the exploration, settlement, and financial history of the colony’s first 50 years. The Vast Country of Louisiana is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 533 Royal Street. For more information, call 504-523-4662.

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The Library of Virginia and Colonial Williamsburg recently opened the exhibition Jefferson and the Capitol of Virginia. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the 18th-century model of the building based on Jefferson’s design and commissioned by him while serving as minister of France. Also on display are plans and elevations that demonstrate the evolution of Jefferson’s thinking on the design of the Capitol as a public space. Jefferson and the Capitol of Virginia will continue through June 15 at the Library of Virginia, located at 800 East Broad Street in historic downtown Richmond. For details, call 804-692-3592.

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The Popular Culture Association in the South/American Culture Association in the South Conference will meet in Charlotte, N.C., October 3-5, 2002. Papers on all aspects of popular culture are welcome. Deadline for submissions: May 15, 2002. Awards are given annually to outstanding graduate student papers. The association publishes two journals. Direct inquiries to Elizabeth Cummins (cummins@umr.edu) or Larry Vonalt (lvonalt@umr.edu), Department of English, University of Missouri-Rolla Rolla, MO 65409-0560. Telephone: 573-341-4622. Web site: middleenglish.org/PCASACAS/.