Welcome to the Mississippi Writers Page Newsletter for Nov. 15-29, 2001.

Editor's Note: Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, this issue covers two weeks instead of one. Our next issue will be on November 30, 2001.

In this issue:

• This week in Mississippi Literary History
• News about Mississippi writers
• 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:

1729: The Natchez attacked French settlers at Fort Rosalie, burning the fort and killing 138 men, 35 women, and 56 children.The Natchez revolt spreads throughout the area, with a massacre at Fort St. Pierre, overlooking the Yazoo River near present-day Redwood. The French send 1,400 men from New Orleans and drive them out of the Grand Village near Fort Rosalie; over the next two years they will lay siege to the Natchez, virtually destroying them as a nation. (Nov. 28)

1911: William Attaway was born in Greenville, Mississippi. (Nov. 19)

1915: Graham R. Hodges was born in Wesson, Mississippi. (Nov. 20)

1916: Shelby Foote was born in Greenville, Mississippi. (Nov. 17)

1919: William Faulkner published “Landing in Luck” in the Mississippian, the student newspaper at the University of Mississippi. (Nov. 26)

1925: Robert Canzoneri was born in San Marcos, Texas. (Nov. 21)

1922: Thirteen-year-old Eudora Welty’s story “Soph’more Class” was published in Jackson Hi-Lite. (Nov. 26)

1932: Ben E. Bailey was born in Durant, Mississippi. (Nov. 19)

1934: Willie Morris was born in Jackson, Mississippi; within half a year, the family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi. (Nov. 29)

1940: William Faulkner published “Tomorrow” in the Saturday Evening Post. (Nov. 23)

1946: Michael B. Ballard was born in Louisville, Mississippi. (Nov. 24)

1948: William Faulkner is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. (Nov. 23)

1949: William Faulkner published Knight’s Gambit. (Nov. 27)

1951: Charlaine Harris was born in Tunica, Mississippi. (Nov. 25)

1956: Stephen Cresswell was born in Jackson, Mississippi. (Nov. 15)

1957: William Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun opened in London’s Royal Court Theatre. (Nov. 26)

1960: Richard Wright died of a heart attack in Paris. (Nov. 28)

1976: Tennessee Williams’ The Eccentricities of a Nightingale opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre starring Betsy Palmer and David Selby. (Nov. 23)

NEWS about MISSISSIPPI WRITERS

Mississippi writers association announces ‘Let’s Write’ Literary Contest

The Gulf Coast Writers Assocation has announced the opening of its 14th annual “Let’s Write” Literary Contest.

The association, based in Gulfport, Mississippi, will accept submissions from November 15, 2001, through February 15, 2002.

The contest has separate competitions for adults and youth. For the adult contest, all categories — Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction — are open to all writers throughout the world, published or unpublished. The Young Writers contest is limited to two categories, Poetry and Fiction, and is open only to teens — ages 13 through 18. Entrants reaching age 19 before February 15, 2002, should enter adult categories.

For detailed submission rules and guidelines or for more information, visit the Gulf Coast Writers Association website at www.gcwriters.org

"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.

AUTHOR EVENTS: Book Signings, Readings, and Appearances

Nov. 28: Barnard Observatory Lecture Hall, The University of Mississippi, 12 noon
Brown Bag Lecture: "'A Sinister Zone of Likeness': Journalists as Heroes and VIllains." Lecture by Joe Atkins, University of Mississippi associate professor of journalism. Sponsored by UM Center for the Study of Southern Culture. UM-Oxford campus, Barnard Observatory lecture hall. Call (662) 915-5993 for more information.

Nov. 30: Square Books, Oxford, Mississippi, 5 p.m.
Mississippian Martin Hegwood will return to Square Books to read from his newest thriller, Massacre Island. The book, the third in the Jack Delmas series, is the story of a woman's grisly murder on a small island off the coast of Alabama.

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

NEW BOOKS by Mississippi writers

Useless Virtues
Poems by T. R. Hummer
Louisiana State University Press (Paperback, $16.95, ISBN: 0807126691) Published October 2001

From the publisher:

Useless Virtues, T. R. Hummer’s seventh book of poetry, is a wide-ranging series of forays into metaphysical territory. Its presiding inquiry concerns the dependency of our consciousness and our spirit on the untrustworthy powers of language. How often and how deeply is our faith—in words, if not in gods—misplaced, destructive, glorious, redemptive? How can we know? This powerful collection is fueled by the desire to answer these impossible, indispensable questions.

The centerpiece of the book, Axis, takes as its terrain the thought of Martin Heidegger, and through this brilliant and controversial figure the nature of identity, of humanity, is contemplated. The poem is, finally, a lyrical farewell to the poet’s father and to his generation — the generation for which World War II was the great defining destiny — and hence to that century we called 19.

In these poems we find the almost sensual allure of direst possibility. From a woman who, during lovemaking, envisions strangling her lover, to a Pernod drinker whose dark imaginings recall the absinthe addicts of an earlier era — mortality and loss, as well as human failing, are hovering presences.

Philosophic and searching, traditional yet bold, Useless Virtues is the work of a master poet at his best.

Find out more about this book and other titles at the LSU Press website, www.lsu.edu/lsupress/fall2001_books/books/hummer.html.

Skipping Christmas
A novel by John Grisham
Doubleday (Hardcover, $19.95, ISBN: 0385505833)
Published Nov. 6, 2001

From the publisher:

Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty; they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences — and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.

A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition.

For more about this book as well as an excerpt, you may visit the official John Grisham website at www.randomhouse.com/features/grisham/index.html

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/

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