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September 13, 2025 Festival
Participate
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
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Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Nana Kwame is the
New York Times
-bestselling author of
Friday Black
. His work has appeared in
The New
...
Kaveh Akbar
Kaveh's poems appear in
The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Best American Poetry,
and elsewhere. He is the...
Jonathan Allen
Jonathan is a senior political analyst with NBC News digital. A winner of the Dirksen and Hume awards for reporting, he was previously the White...
Allison Alsup
Allison's historically researched debut novel,
Foreign Seed
, was released this June by Keylight Books, an imprint of Turner Publishing. Allison's writing...
John G. Anderson
John is the youngest child of famed artist Walter Anderson and Agnes Anderson. Anderson, the family curator, grew up in the artistic retreat...
Katya Apekina
Katya is a novelist, screenwriter, and translator. Her debut novel,
The Deeper the Water, the Uglier the Fish
, was named a Best Book...
Jami Attenberg
Jami has written about food, travel, books, relationships, and urban life for
The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal,
...
A. H. Jerriod Avant
Jerriod was born and raised in Longtown, Mississippi. His first book,
Muscadine
, (Four Way Books, 2023) received the 2024 Mississippi Institute of the Arts and...
Jeff Barry
Jeff is a native Memphian with deep Mississippi roots. After graduate school, he lived on a small cattle farm like the one featured in
...
Manly Barton
Manly Barton is serving his fourth term in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He is the current Speaker Pro-Tem of the House of Representatives and...
Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn
Sarah-SoonLing is an educator, speaker, author, and professional learning facilitator. She is currently Deputy Director, Learning and Engagement at Learning for Justice. Sarah...
Terri Blackstock
Terri is a
New York Times
and
USA Today
best-selling novelist, with over seven million books sold worldwide. She is the...
Ashley Blooms
Ashley (they/she) is the author of
Where I Can’t Follow
, which was a finalist for the Weatherford Award, and was named...
Chris Bohjalian
Chris is the #1
New York Times
bestselling author of twenty-four books, including
The Lioness, Hour of the Witch, Midwives,
and...
Lee Boudreaux
Lee, Vice President and Executive Editor, joined Doubleday in 2018 and publishes exclusively fiction, seeking out unexpected stories and original voices in novels notable...
Camille Boxhill
Camille is a Jamaican-American writer currently based in South Florida. She earned anMA in Creative Writing with Distinction from the University of Bristol. Boxhill is...
Betsy Bradley
Betsy was appointed director of the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) in December, 2001. Previously, she served as executive director of the Mississippi Arts...
KB Brookins
KB is a Black queer and trans writer, cultural worker, and visual artist from Texas. KB's chapbook
How To Identify Yourself with a Wound<
...
Layne Bruce
Layne has served executive director of the Mississippi Press Association and secretary of the Mississippi Press Foundation since 2007. MPA is the trade association...
Gabi Burton
Gabi grew up reading and writing in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 2021. Now, she works as...
LeVar Burton
LeVar is best known for his roles in
ROOTS, Star Trek: Next Generation,
and
Reading Rainbow
. He is an actor,...
Anne Byrn
Anne is a
New York Times
bestselling food writer and author. She writes the weekly newsletter Between the Layers, one of the...
Jimmy Cajoleas
Jimmy was born in Jackson, Mississippi. He earned his MFA from the University of Mississippi. He is the author of five novels and lives...
Cebo Campbell
Cebo is an author and creative director based in Brooklyn, New York. Winner of the Linda L. Ross Creative Writing Award and the Stories...
Tracy Carr
Tracy is a researcher, editor, and writer in Jackson, Mississippi. She manages the book reviews for the Mississippi Books Page in the
...
F.E. Choe
F.E. is a Korean-American writer whose work has been published in
Clarkesworld
Magazine,
The Moth Magazine
, and
Fractured
...
Adam Clay
Adam's most recent book is
Circle Back
(Milkweed Editions, 2024). His poems have appeared in
Ploughshares, Denver Quarterly, Tin House, Bennington Review, Georgia
...
Constance Collier-Mercado
Constance is an experimental writer, artist, and womanist culture worker committed to Black language and collective memory. Born in Chicago and raised in the Bronx,...
Margo Cooper
Margo is a photographer and oral historian working in the classic documentary tradition. She is a longtime contributing writer and photographer for
...
Jonathan Corcoran
Jonathan is the author of the memoir,
No Son of Mine
(April 2024, University Press of Kentucky), and the story collection,
The
...
Eli Cranor
Nationally bestselling, award-winning author Eli Cranor writes from Arkansas where he lives with his wife and kids. His critically acclaimed debut novel,
...
Elizabeth Crook
Elizabeth, a recipient of the Texas Writer Award, is the author of six novels, including
The Night Journal
, which received the Spur...
Avery Cunningham
Avery is a resident of Memphis, TN, and a 2016 graduate of DePaul University's Master of Arts Writing & Publishing program. She has over a...
Patrick Dean
Patrick lives, works, and plays in and around Monteagle, Tennessee. He has written speeches for Congressional candidates, taught inner-city high-school English, and earned a master's...
Kate DiCamillo
Kate is one of America’s most beloved storytellers. She is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a two-time Newbery Medalist....
Eric Jay Dolin
Eric is the author of sixteen books, including
Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
, which was chosen as one of the...
Todd Doughty
Todd is currently SVP, Publicity and Communications, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and has worked at Penguin Random House for more than two decades. A graduate...
Jeff Duncan
Jeff, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, is a sports columnist for the
New Orleans Times-Picayune
and was a member of the team that...
William Dunlap
William is a painter, writer, arts advocate, and commentator. The American landscape, its flora, and fauna are essential elements in Dunlap’s art, as...
John T. Edge
John hosts the television show TrueSouth (SEC Network, ESPN, & Hulu), now in its sixth season, and serves
Garden & Gun
as a columnist. He...
Jonathan Eig
Jonathan is a former senior writer for
The Wall Street Journal.
He is the
New York Times
bestselling author of five...
Helen Ellis
Helen is the author of five books including the
New York Times
bestselling
American Housewife and Southern Lady Code
. She writes...
W. Ralph Eubanks
W. Ralph is the author of
A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through A Real and Imagined Literary Landscape
(Timber Press, March 2021). A...
Jen Fawkes
Jen is the author of
Mannequin and Wife
(LSU Press), a 2020 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, and
Tales the Devil Told Me<
...
Beth Ann Fennelly
Beth Ann has published three poetry books:
Open House, Tender Hooks
, and
Unmentionables
, all with W. W. Norton. She is...
Ellen Ann Fentress
Ellen Ann is a journalist, writer and filmmaker. Her book
The Steps We Take: A Memoir of Southern Reckoning
is being released...
Germaine Flood
Germaine, a graduate of Northwest Rankin High School and Mississippi College, began her professional radio career as an on-air personality in 2004. She has...
Dionne Ford
Dionne is author of the memoir
Go Back and Get It
(Bold Type Books) and co-editor of the anthology
Slavery's Descendants:
...
Josh Foreman
Josh writes about Mississippi and the broader South with his longtime friend Ryan Starrett. In their narrative history books, Josh and Ryan tell stories from...
Crystal Forte
Crystal is a proud graduate of the class of 2008 and 2010 of Miles College. She also holds a Masters in English Language Arts Education ...
Tom Franklin
Tom is the award-winning and
New York Times
bestselling author of
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
, which was nominated...
X.M. Frascogna, Jr.
X.M. has specialized in entertainment and sports law since the early seventies. He has co-authored with his sons five books about football...
Marion Garrard Barnwell
Marion grew up in the fabled Mississippi Delta. Her writing life began at age thirteen with a column in the town newspaper. For ...
Melissa Ginsburg
Melissa is the author of the novels
The House Uptown
and
Sunset City
, the poetry collections
Doll Apollo
(winner...
Sarah Gonzales
Sarah was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Alberta. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design with a Bachelors of Visual...
Alina Grabowski
Alina grew up in coastal Massachusetts and holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University. Her debut novel,
Women and Children
...
Garrett M. Graff
Bestselling historian, journalist, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff has spent two decades covering politics, technology, and national security. His award-winning work-including...
Juliet Grames
Juliet is the author of
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
, a national and international bestseller, and
The Lost
...
Richard Grant
Richard is an author of nonfiction books, a journalist, and a documentary film writer. His last two books,
Dispatches from Pluto
and ...
Catherine Simone Gray
Catherine is an author, educator, and creator of the blog Unsilenced Woman, where her writings on motherhood, the body, and healing from trauma have captivated...
Dale Gray
Dale was born in South Africa. After graduating from Stellenbosch University, she moved to South Korea to teach English and spent six years ...
John Caleb Grenn
JC grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and holds degrees from The University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He...
Minrose Gwin
Minrose is the author of the novels
The Queen of Palmyra
, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick and a finalist...
Grace Elizabeth Hale
Grace is the Commonwealth Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Virginia. An award-winning historian and internationally recognized expert on...
Shaun Hamill
Shaun received his BA in English from the University of Texas at Arlington, and his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His debut novel,...
Sarah Frances Hardy
A resident of Oxford, Mississippi, Sarah is a retired lawyer and (not retired) fine artist who has redirected her creative juices towards writing...
Mary Annaïse Heglar
Mary is known for her essays that dissect and interrogate the climate crisis, drawing heavily on her personal experience as a Black woman...
Mary Annaïse Heglar
Mary is known for her essays that dissect and interrogate the climate crisis, drawing heavily on her personal experience as a Black woman with deep...
Beth Henley
Beth Henley is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and professor. Her plays include CRIMES OF THE HEART (Pulitzer Prize in Drama, New York Drama Critics Circle...
Kelly Lytle Hernández
Kelly is a professor of History, African American Studies, and Urban Planning at UCLA where she holds The Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History...
Ernest Herndon
Ernest has authored or coauthored 18 books, including two guidebooks ("Canoeing Mississippi" and "Canoeing Louisiana") and a downriver adventure travel narrative ("Paddling the Pascagoula,"...
J.L. Holloway
J.L., a native of Prentiss, Mississippi, who started picking cotton at the age of 4, has been an entrepreneur his entire life. Holloway has...
Jasmine L. Holmes
Jasmine is a passionate writer and educator who celebrates Black stories through her books, including
Carved in Ebony, Mother to Son
, ...
Senator John Horhn
John is in his 32nd year as a member of the Mississippi Senate, where he has been a champion for small business development and the...
Gabino Iglesias
Gabino is the author of the Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker award-winning novel,
The Devil Takes You Home
, as well as author...
Jenny Jackson
Jenny is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Pineapple Street
. A graduate of Williams College and the Columbia Publishing Course,...
Major Jackson
Major is the author of six collections of poetry:
Razzle Dazzle: New & Selected Poems; The Absurd Man; Roll Deep; Holding Company; Hoops;<
...
Paulette Jiles
Paulette is a novelist, poet, and memoirist. She is the author of
Cousins
, a memoir, and the novels
Enemy Women, Stormy Weather,
...
Sebastian Junger
Sebastian is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Tribe, War, Freedom, A Death in Belmont, Fire, and The Perfect Storm<
...
Andrew W. Kahrl
Andrew is a professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Virginia, where he specializes in the history of race and...
Joseph Kanon
Joseph is the Edgar Award-winning author of
Los Alamos
and nine other novels:
The Prodigal Spy, Alibi, Stardust, Istanbul Passage, Leaving
...
Jonathan Karl
Bio to come.
Rachel Khong
Rachel is the author of
Goodbye, Vitamin
, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction, and named a Best Book of the...
Erik Larson
Erik is the author of six national bestsellers:
The Splendid and the Vile, Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil
...
Joe Lee
Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, and with a background in radio, television, and journalism, Joe Lee has written nine suspense novels, the last seven...
R. J. Lee
A Natchez, Ms native, R. J. Lee graduated from Sewanee (U. of the South) with a degree in English and Creative Writing, taking courses...
Claire Lombardo
Claire is the author of
The Most Fun We Ever Had
, which has been optioned for television by Reese Witherspoon. She lives...
Beverly Lowry
Beverly is the author of six novels and four previous works of nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in
The New Yorker, The New York
...
Robert E. Luckett, Jr.
Robby received his BA in political science from Yale University and his PhD in history from the University of Georgia. A native Mississippian, he returned...
Ebony Lumumba
Dr. Lumumba is an associate professor of English at Jackson State University and serves as department chair. She was named the 2013 Eudora Welty...
Rachel Lyon
Rachel is the author of
Fruit of the Dead
and
Self-Portrait with Boy
, a finalist for the Center for Fiction's...
Anna Lyons
Anna is an artist raised in southern Louisiana now living in Jackson, MS. She is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of...
Jenn Lyons
Twice-nominated Astounding Award finalist Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, her cats and a nearly infinite number of opinions on...
Lee Mandelo
Lee is a writer, critic, and occasional editor whose fields of interest include speculative and queer fiction, especially when the two coincide. His ...
Mesha Maren
Mesha is the author of the novels
Sugar Run, Perpetual West
, and
Shae
(May 2024, Algonquin Books). Her short stories and...
Suzanne Marrs
Professor Emerita of English at Millsaps College where she taught for twenty-seven years, Suzanne Marrs received the 1998 Phoenix Award for Outstanding Welty Scholarship from the...
Betsy Fischer Martin
Betsy is an Emmy-winning journalist and former TV news executive. Currently she is the Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American...
Jonathan Martin
Jonathan is a senior political columnist for
Politico
, which he joined after spending nearly a decade as the national political correspondent for the ...
Alane Salierno Mason
Alane is an executive editor and vice president at the independent, employee-owned W.W. Norton & Company, where she has worked for 30 years. In...
Priyanka Mattoo
Priyanka is a writer, filmmaker, former talent agent, and a cofounder of Earios, a women-led podcast network. She is a contributor to
...
