TIMELINE

A Mississippi Writer Timeline

A Compendium of Births, Deaths, Publications, Awards, and Other Events in Mississippi’s Literary History

Note: In most cases, timeline entries are added as articles on individual authors are added to this web site. The hyperlinks listed below connect to biographical and critical articles about that author. Articles on individual writers will continue to be added in the coming months. If an author’s name does not appear on this timeline or if it appears but is not a hyperlink, the article for that author has not yet been added to the database. Please try again later.

1940	Publications: The Hamlet, a novel by William Faulkner (Random House). How "Bigger" Was Born: The Story of Native Son, nonfiction by Richard Wright (International Publishers). Native Son, a novel by Richard Wright (Harper). Thomas Harris born in Jackson, Tennessee; his family later moves to Rich, Mississippi, his father's hometown. April 25: Margaret-Love Denman was born in Oxford, Mississippi. September 15: Anne Moody born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. December 30: Battle of Angels by Tennessee Williams premieres in Boston, starring Miriam Hopkins. It bombs. William Faulkner receives an O. Henry Award.
1941	Publications: Men Working, by John Faulkner (Harcourt, Brace). Lanterns on the Levee, by William Alexander Percy (Knopf). A Curtain of Green, short stories by Eudora Welty (Doubleday). Native Son (The Biography of a Young American): A Play in Ten Scenes, by Richard Wright and Paul Green (Harper). 12 Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States, nonfiction by Richard Wright (Viking). Lawrence Wells born. February 27: Mary J. Turner (Shannon Riley) was born near Ripley, Mississippi. May 14: Paul Ruffin born in Millport, Alabama. June 14: John Armistead born in Mobile, Alabama. December 28: Writer and educator Otha Richard Sullivan was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Richard Wright accepted the Spingarn Award from the NAACP at its convention in Houston. Richard Wright’s adaptation of his novel Native Son (with Paul Green) opens on Broadway.
1942	Publications: Dollar Cotton, by John Faulkner (Harcourt, Brace). Mother Berry of Blue Mountain, biography by David Edgar Guyton (Broadman Press) Go Down, Moses, a novel by William Faulkner (Random House). For My peopl, by Margaret Walker (Yale University Press). The Robber Bridegroom, a novella by Eudora Welty (Doubleday). April 23: Barry Hannah born in Clinton, Mississippi. July 23: D.C. Berry born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Eudora Welty receives a Guggenheim fellowship and an O. Henry Award. January 21: William Alexander Percy dies.
1943	Publications: Collected Poems, by William Alexander Percy (Knopf). The Wide Net, and Other Stories, by Eudora Welty (Harcourt). February 23: English professor Noel Polk was born in Picayune, Mississippi. September 13: Mildred D. Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi. October 10: Frederick Barthelme was born in Houston, Texas. October 12: Sociologist Joyce A. Ladner was born in Waynesboro, Mississippi November 5: Linda Peavy was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Eudora Welty receives an O. Henry Award.
1944	Publications: American Story: Historical Broadcast Series of the NBC Inter-American University of the Air, by Muna Lee (Columbia UP). On Being Good Neighbors, by Mariano Picón Salas, translated by Muna Lee (Division of Intellectual Cooperation, Pan American Union). Pioneers of Puerto Rico, by Muna Lee (Heath). Five Young Americana Poets, poetry by Tennessee Williams (New Directions). February 16: Richard Ford born in Jackson, Mississippi. December 26: Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie opens in Chicago, starring Laurette Taylor. It is greeted by rave reviews but sparse audiences attend. Premiere of the film To Have and Have Not, screenplay by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner. Eudora Welty receives a grant in literature from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1945	Publications: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, and Other One Act Plays, drama by Tennessee Williams (New Directions). Battle of Ages, a play by Tennessee Williams (Murray). Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth, autobiography by Richard Wright (Harper). The Glass Menagerie, a play by Tennessee Williams (New Directions). February 19: Writer Clifton L. Taulbert was born in Glen Allan, Mississippi. Tennessee Williams's play The Glass Menagerie produced on Broadway and wins the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best play of the season.
1946	Publications: Blue Mountain Ballads, by Tennessee Williams (Schlimer). The Portable Faulkner, short stories and excerpts from novels by William Faulkner, edited by Malcolm Cowley (Viking). Secret Country, by Jorge Carrera Andrade, translated by Muna Lee (Macmillan). Delta Wedding, a novel by Eudora Welty (Harcourt). August 3: Novelist Howard Bahr was born in Meridian, Mississippi. September 17: Legal historian Walter F. Pratt, Jr. was born in Jackson, Mississippi. October 11: Poet and educator Claire T. Feild was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi. December 25: Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi. November 7: Novelist Walker Percy married Mary Bernice Townsend. Premiere of the film The Big Sleep, screenplay by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furthman.
1947	Publications: The Cultural Approach: Another Way in International Relations, by Ruth Emily McMurry and Muna Lee (U of North Carolina P). A Streetcar Named Desire, a play by Tennessee Williams (New Directions). You Touched Me!, a play by Tennessee Williams (S. French). July 7: Steve Barthelme born in Houston, Texas. July 21: Billie Jean Young born. December 11: Patrick Creevy born in Chicago, Illinois. December 3: Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desired opens on Broadway, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy. At the same time the play also debuts in New Orleans (without the Broadway cast).
1948	Publications: American Blues, a play by Tennessee Williams (New York Dramatists Play Service). Intruder in the Dust, a novel by William Faulkner (Random House). Music from Spain, by Eudora Welty (Levee Press). Summer and Smoke, a play by Tennessee Williams (New Directions). Immortal Shadows: A Book of Dramatic Criticism, by Stark Young (C. Scribner's Sons) Charles Reagan Wilson was born. July 3: Edward Cohen was born in Jackson, Mississippi. August 30: Joseph Bosco was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. October 29: David Davis was born. Tennessee Williams’s play Summer and Smoke was produced on Broadway. William Faulkner was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Tennessee Williams received a Pulitzer Prize in drama for A Streetcar Named Desire.
1949	Publications: Knight's Gambit, a collection of detective stories by William Faulkner (Random House). A History of Spain, by Rafael Altamira, translated by Muna Lee (Van Nostrand). Tournament, a novel by Shelby Foote (Dial Press). The Golden Apples, short stories by Eudora Welty (Harcourt). Premiere of the film Intruder in the Dust, based on the novel by William Faulkner. William Faulkner receives an O. Henry Award.