Welcome to the Mississippi Writers Page Newsletter for January 2-8, 2004

In this issue:

• This week in Mississippi Literary History
• Author events: readings, book signings, and appearances
• On the horizon: events coming up in the weeks and months ahead

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

Year:
1700: Iberville returned to Fort Maurepas, named “Biloxi” by the settlers, with more settlers and an appointment for Sauvolle as governor. (Jan. 6)

1894: Journalist, historian, and fiction writer George W. Lee was born in Indianola, Mississippi. (Jan. 4)

1919: William Faulkner was discharged from the Canadian division of the Royal Air Force “in consequence of being Surplus to R.A.F. requirements.” (Jan. 4)

1946: Author John A. Williams was discharged from the U.S. Navy after having been one of the first blacks to be admitted to the hospital corps during World War II. (Jan. 4)

1954: The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty was published by Harcourt, Brace and Company. (Jan. 7)

1958: Two plays by Tennessee Williams, Suddenly Last Summer and Something Unspoken, opened under the collective title Garden District (after their shared New Orleans locale) Off-Broadway at the York Theatre in New York. (Jan. 7)

1962: William Faulkner was injured in a fall from his horse in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Jan. 3)

1963: Novelist Stark Young died in New York. He was buried in Friendship Cemetery in Como, Mississippi. (Jan. 6)

1989: Photographs by Eudora Welty, with a foreword by Reynolds Price, was published by the University Press of Mississippi, Jackson. (Jan. 6)

1990: Sara Dodge Kimbrough, a portrait painter and art teacher on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, died in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. (Jan. 8)

Jan. 20, 2004: Off-Square Books, Oxford, Mississippi, 5:00 p.m.

Elijah Wald presents his work Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. Signing/reception at 5 p.m., reading at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.squarebooks.com.

Through Feb. 29, 2004: National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

Passionate Observer: Photographs by Eudora Welty, highlighting over 50 of Welty’s black-and-white photographs from the 1930s, will be exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. For more details, visit the museum web site at www.nmwa.org.

Feb. 12, 2004: Johnson Commons Ballroom, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 7:00 p.m.

Reading and lecture by Richard Ford. Sponsored by the John and Renee Grisham Visiting Writers Series and the Department of English at the University of Mississippi.

If you know of upcoming literary events by or about Mississippi writers, please let us know by writing us at mwp@olemiss.edu.

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

April 1-4, 2004

The 11th Oxford Conference for the Book, in Oxford, Mississippi. Notable authors, editors, publishers and others in the trade gather with educators, literacy advocates and book lovers for panel discussions, readings and scholarly presentations. The 2003 conference is dedicated to Mississippian and author Walker Percy (1916-90). Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Oxford Tourism Council, and Square Books. Free admission; preregistration recommended through the Center for Study of Southern Culture (www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/).

June 17-20, 2004

Oxford Film Festival, in Oxford, Mississippi. Oxford’s second annual community-sponsored film festival consists of 4 days of screenings, along with workshops on film-making, screen-writing, etc., for adults and children, juried professional independent and amateur films, presentations and awards. Ticket prices and details are available at www.oxfordfilmfest.com.

July 25-29, 2004

31st Annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference, “Faulkner and Material Culture.” The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi. More information, including registration fees and online application forms, available at www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner.