Welcome to the Mississippi Writers Page Newsletter for Nov. 8-14, 2001.

In this issue:

• This week in Mississippi Literary History
• News about Mississippi writers
• New features in the Mississippi Writers Page web site
• Author events: readings, book signings, and appearances
• New books from or about Mississippi
• On the horizon: upcoming events to plan for

THIS WEEK in MISSISSIPPI LITERARY HISTORY

The following events all happened during this week in Mississippi history.

Year:

1926: James Don Edwards was born in Ellisville, Mississippi. (Nov. 12)

1931: Winthrop Jordan was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Nov. 11)

1935: Dean Faulkner, father of Dean Faulkner Wells and youngest brother of Murry Falkner, John Faulkner, and William Faulkner, was killed in a plane crash. (Nov. 10)

1936: William Faulkner published “The Unvanquished” in the Saturday Evening Post. (Nov. 14)

1937: Six photographs by Eudora Welty appeared in Life magazine. (Nov. 8)

1942: Eudora Welty won a $300 O. Henry Memorial Prize for her short story “The Wide Net” published by Harper’s Magazine. (Nov. 13)

1950: William Faulkner was notified that he had won the Nobel Prize for literature. (Nov. 8)

1959: The Mansion, a novel by William Faulkner and volume three of the Snopes trilogy, was published by Random House. (Nov. 13)

1960: Period of Adjustment High Point over a Cavern, by Tennessee Williams, opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York to “respectful but tepid reviews.” (Nov. 10)

1997: Writer and University of Mississippi Professor William R. Ferris was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. (Nov. 9)

NEWS about MISSISSIPPI WRITERS

Germantown Arts Alliance honors Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi

Dr. Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, has been honored by the Tennessee-based Germantown Arts Alliance for significant contributions to the arts. Cited for his work in literature, Wilson was among five recipients of the Alliance’s 2001 Arts and Humanities Medal for Outstanding Achievement.

Katherine Bell, Alliance administrator, said the nominating committee was impressed with Wilson’s literary contributions, most notably his work as co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, (University of North Carolina Press, 1989). “The award honors his vision, dedication and devotion to excellence,” Bell said. He was also cited for his other published works, Judgment and Grace in Dixie: Southern Faiths from Faulkner to Elvis (University of Georgia Press, 1995) and Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920 (University of Georgia Press, 1980).

“I am very honored and pleased to receive the Arts and Humanities Award,” Wilson said. “The contemporary South is undergoing an artistic and cultural renaissance, and institutions like the Germantown Arts Alliance play an important role in nurturing cultural life. To be recognized by them is reassuring that my work and that of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture are parts of a larger story.”

Wilson has taught at the University of Mississippi since 1981 and has been adviser of the graduate program in Southern studies. Under his leadership in 1999, the UM Center — founded in 1977 — received a landmark $50,000 planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, designating it as one of only 16 in the nation to receive the award and to take part in its new Initiative for Regional Humanities Centers program. The grant may lead to the UM Center’s being designated one of only 10 major American humanities centers devoted to the study of the nation’s regions.

For more, please read the entire article at
www.olemiss.edu/mwp/news/2001/2001_10_31_wilsonhonored.html.

"Call for Papers: Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha 2002, 'Faulkner and His Contemporaries' "

The Department of English and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture have announced a call for papers for the 2002 Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference, to be held at the University of Mississippi from July 21-26, 2002. The deadline for submissions of plenary papers (approximately 6,000 words) and short papers (approximately 2,500 words) is January 15, 2002.

For more information, please read the entire article
www.olemiss.edu/mwp/news/2001/2002_cfp_faulkner.html

Do you have a news item about a Mississippi writer? Please send your information to mwp@olemiss.edu.

NEW FEATURES in the MISSISSIPPI WRITERS PAGE

The following articles were recently added to the Writer Listings:

• William Raspberry  (1935-     )

AUTHOR EVENTS: Book Signings, Readings, and Appearances

If you know of upcoming readings and appearances by Mississippi writers, please let us by writing us at mwp@olemiss.edu.

NEW BOOKS from or about the state of Mississippi

Send your suggestions to mwp@olemiss.edu.

ON THE HORIZON

The following events are planned for the coming weeks and months. You may want to begin planning to attend or participate.

The Ninth Oxford Conference for the Book
April 11-14, 2002
The University of Mississippi and Oxford, Mississippi

Check back for registration information.

The 29th Annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference:
"Faulkner and His Contemporaries"
July 21-26, 2002
The University of Mississippi, Oxford

Information on registration will be available in early 2002.

If you know of additional news items for this newsletter or if you have suggestions, please write us at mwp@olemiss.edu.

For more information about events in the Oxford and University, Mississippi Community, see the Ole Miss Community Calendar:
www.olemiss.edu/calendar/

The Mississippi Writers Page is online at
www.olemiss.edu/mwp/

Mississippi Writers Page Links
About This Site | New Book Info | News & Events | Literary Landmarks | Mississippi Literary History | Mississippi Publishing | Other Features | Other Web Resources

WRITER LISTINGS:
by author | by title | by place | by year | by genre

SEARCH THE MISSISSIPPI WRITERS PAGE

Ole Miss Links
UM Home Page | English Department | Center for the Study of Southern Culture | The University of Mississippi Foundation