September 13, 2025 Festival
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September 13, 2025 Festival
Participate
Official Panelists
Funders
About
What We're About
Who We Are
Most Recent Festival
Make a Contribution
Be a Funder
Become a Volunteer
Join as an Exhibitor
Suggest a Panelist
2025 Official Panelists
Look who's coming!
Search by name or browse by category.
Just Announced!
Children
Picture Book
Fiction
Contemporary
Historical
Southern
Editor
LGBTQIA
Lifestyle
Humor
Mississippi
Moderator
Non-Fiction
History
Memoir
Poetry
Workshop Leader
Nadia Alexis
Nadia is a poet, writer, and photographer, born and raised in Harlem, to Haitian immigrants. She is the author of
Beyond the
...
Steve Almond
Steve is the author of twelve books, including the
NYT
bestsellers "Candyfreak" and "Against Football." His first novel, "Which Brings Me...
Kristen Arnett
Kristen is the author of the
New York Times
-bestselling novel
Mostly Dead Things
and the award-winning collection
Felt
...
Kai Bird
Kai is a Pulitzer Prize winning historian who has published biographies of John J. McCloy, McGeorge Bundy, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Robert Ames-and now ...
Jeffrey Boutwell
Jeffrey is a writer, historian, and public policy specialist whose forty-year career spanned journalism, government, and international scientific research and cooperation. He has...
Geraldine Brooks
New York Times
-bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks writes impeccably researched historical novels, including
The Secret Chord
,
March<
...
Peter Brown
Peter is the author and illustrator of many bestselling children's books, including
The Wild Robot
Trilogy,
Children Make Terrible Pets,
...
Landon Bryant
Landon is a dynamic force in the world of social media, rapidly gaining fame as an influential Southern storyteller. You likely know Landon...
Lee Cole
Lee was born and grew up in rural Kentucky. He is the author of the novels
Groundskeeping
and, most recently,
...
Andy Corren
Andy was born and raised on the wrong side of Fayetteville, North Carolina. He barely graduated Westover, got fired from every job in...
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy is the author of the critically acclaimed novels
Hurricane Girl, Very Nice, The Red Car, Bad Marie
, and
Twins<
...
Jonathan Evison
Jonathan is the author of the novels
Again and Again; Small World; All About Lulu; West of Here; The Revised Fundamentals of
...
Rickey Fayne
Rickey is a fiction writer from rural West Tennessee whose work has appeared in
American Short Fiction, Guernica, The Sewanee Review
,...
Beth Ann Fennelly
Beth Ann has published three poetry books:
Open House, Tender Hooks
, and
Unmentionables
, all with W. W. Norton. She is...
Olivia Clare Friedman
Olivia is the author of four books, most recently the book of poems
AN ARM FIXED TO A WING
(2025) from LSU ...
Garrett M. Graff
Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist historian Garrett M. Graff has covered politics, technology, and national security for two decades. His award-winning work-including...
Adam Gussow
Adam is a professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi and a blues harmonica player and teacher. He has...
Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon
Dr. Hallmon has transformed the lives of thousands of Black entrepreneurs across the world through her flagship brand The Village Market, and sister organizations The...
Jenny Jackson
Jenny is Vice President, Editorial Director of Fiction at Alfred A. Knopf. She publishes a range of literary and commercial fiction, from Gabrielle...
Suleika Jaouad
Suleika is the author of the
New York Times
bestselling memoir
Between Two Kingdoms
, which has been translated into more than...
Keetje Kuipers
Keetje is the author of four collections of poetry, all from BOA Editions:
Lonely Women Make Good Lovers
(2025), winner of the...
Chris La Tray
Chris is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and a citizen of...
Breanna J. McDaniel
Breanna (she/her/hers) is an emerging creative and early career scholar. She's published in myriad academic journals, an academic anthology, and her...
Omo Moses
Omo is an entrepreneur, author, producer, and organizer. He is currently the founder and chief executive of MathTalk, a public benefit, ed-tech company...
Leila Mottley
Leila is the author of the novel
Nightcrawling
, an Oprah's Book Club pick and
New York Times
bestseller, and the...
Jere Nash
A native of Greenville, Mississippi, Jere Nash was a political consultant until he retired several years ago. He is co-author with Andy Taggart...
Imani Perry
Imani is the National Book Award–winning author of
South to America
, as well as seven other books of nonfiction. She is the...
Lauren Rhoades
Lauren is a writer, editor, and grantmaker living in Jackson, Mississippi. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Lauren has served with AmeriCorps, started Mississippi's first...
Adam Roberts
Adam is the author of
The Amateur Gourmet, Secrets of the Best Chefs
, and
Give My Swiss Chards to Broadway
....
Marie Rutkoski
Marie is
New York Times
bestselling author of books for children and young adults, including "The Winner's Curse." She published her...
Ryan P. Semmes
Dr. Semmes is Professor and Director of Research at the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University. He has been on...
Traci Thomas
Traci is the creator and host of The Stacks, a podcast about books and the way they shape culture. Traci is also a monthly...
Robyn Wall
Robyn is the author of
I Worked Hard on That!
and the
My Cool Family
board book series. She lives...
Jemimah Wei
Jemimah was born and raised in Singapore and is now based between Singapore and the United States. She is a National Book Foundation 5...
