2016 Festival
Highlights
The Mississippi Book Festival’s second edition in 2016 saw a 70 percent spike in attendance. The crowd of 6,200 book lovers at the State Capitol and nearby venues counted dozens of young readers enthralled with children’s lit favorites Kate DiCamillo and Jacqueline Woodson, a birthday party for Curious George’s 75th anniversary and the family-friendly Kids Corner. Top, award-winning authors filled the spotlight for adults, including Jon Meacham (Pulitzer Prize, American Lion), Jesmyn Ward (National Book Award, Salvage the Bones) and Harrison Scott Key (Thurber Prize, The World’s Largest Man). Julia Reed (Julia Reed’s South), Roy Blount Jr. (Save Room for Pie) and Bill Dunlap (Short Mean Fiction) shared a spirited look at Southern culture that left listeners in stitches. Key improvements made a smoother festival with more on every front: authors, activities, air-conditioned panel venues, acclaimed exhibits. Food trucks, live music and a bustling marketplace of books turned the literary lawn party into a summer staple for downtown Jackson. 2016 Funders >Video
Slideshow
Panels
- A Conversation with Jacqueline Woodson: Jacqueline Woodson
- A Conversation with Jon Meacham: Jon Meacham
- A Conversation with Kate DiCamillo: Kate DiCamillo
- Art in Mississippi: Betsy Bradley, Bill Dunlap, Barbara Gauntt, and Ke Francis
- Book Club Picks: Mary Laura Philpott, Ashley Warlick, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, Karen White, Natashia Deón, and Anton DiSclafani
- Children’s Illustrated: Sarah Frances Hardy, Louise Borden, William Joyce, Irene Latham, Barry Moser, and Carole Boston Weatherford
- Civil Rights History I: W. Ralph Eubanks, Crystal R. Sanders, Joseph Reiff, Jason Morgan Ward, and Debbie Harwell
- Civil Rights History II: Pamela Junior, Patricia Michelle Boyett, Trent Brown, Sally Palmer Thomason, and Martha Wyatt-Rossignol
- Comics and Cartoons: Brannon Costello, Marshall Ramsey, Ricky Nobile, Mary Laura Philpott, Tim Jackson, and Tim Fielder
- Historical Fiction: Howard Bahr, Tom Piazza, Katy Simpson Smith, Taylor Brown, and Ariel Lawhon
- Jesmyn Ward and The Fire This Time: Jesmyn Ward
- Memoir: Carolyn Brown, Ellen Gilchrist, Harrison Scott Key, Chris Offutt, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Richard Grant, and Barry Moser
- Middle Grade Readers: Deborah Wiles, Augusta Scattergood, Shannon Hitchcock, Kathi Appelt, Esta Spalding, John David Anderson, and Jean Claude Bemis
- Mississippi History: Gerard Helferich, Anne Webster, J. Lee Annis, Jr., James F. Barnett, Jr., and Jim Woodrick
- Mississippi Noir: William Boyle, Michael Farris Smith, Mary Miller, RaShell Smith-Spears, and John M. Floyd
- Mystery and Thriller: Matthew Guinn, Randy Pierce, Melissa Ginsberg, Neely Tucker, and John Hart
- Photography: James Patterson, Maude Schuyler Clay, R. Kim Rushing, Langdon Clay, Ken Murphy, and Ed Croom
- Poetry: Derrick Harriell, Kendall Dunkelberg, Bee Donley, Caroline Randall Williams, James Kimbrell, and R. Flowers Rivera
- Schools in Change: Charles C. Bolton,Teena Horn, John Griffin Jones, Jon N. Hale, and Michael Copperman
- Short Stories: Margaret McMullan, Rick Bass, Becky Hagenston, Gerry Wilson, and Bill Dunlap
- Southern Cooking: Catarina Passidomo Townes, Robert St. John, Julia Reed, Sara Foster, and Ann Taylor Pittman
- Southern Culture: Julia Reed and Friends: Julia Reed, Roy Blount, Jr., and Bill Dunlap
- Southern Fiction Today: M.O. Walsh, Ed Tarkington, Lee Clay Johnson, Brad Watson, Steve Yates, and Paulette Boudreaux
- Sports and Outdoors: Sid Salter, Donald Jackson, Jason A. Peterson, and Stuart Stevens
- The Mississippi Experience / The Closing Chapter: Scott Naugle, Stuart Stevens, Richard Grant, Jim Dees, W. Ralph Eubanks, and Rheta Grimsley Johnson
- The National Page: Eliza Borné, Jay McInerney, John Hart, Robert Olen Butler, and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
- The Presidential Year: Stuart Stevens, Jon Meacham, and Trent Lott
- True Crime: James R. Crockett, Charlie Spillers, John Hailman, and Beverly Lowry
- William Faulkner: His Life and Writings: James Thomas, Robert Hamblin, Jay Watson, James Thomas, M. Thomas Inge, and Lorie Watkins Massey
- Willie Morris and His Books: Rick Cleveland, Teresa Nicholas, Larry Wells JoAnne Prichard Morris, David Rae Morris, Barry Moser and Jack Bales
- Young Adult: Clara Martin, Nicole Castroman, Kathryn Purdie, A.C. Thomas, Jeff Zentner, and Taylor Kitchings
Activities
Lawn Party
Literary Lawn Party
The Mississippi Book Festival held its second annual “literary lawn party” in and around the Mississippi State Capitol Building on Saturday August 20, 2016, in downtown Jackson, and attracted more than 6,400 people. The Capitol lawn and surrounding streets became gathering places for book lovers, booksellers, food trucks, and more. The entire event was handicap accessible with free parking available on public streets and in nearby parking garages. See individual Activities listed below for photos and/or videos of each.
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Exhibitors
Exhibitors on the Lawn
C-SPAN | Eudora Welty Foundation | Margaret Walker Center | Millsaps College | Mississippi Girlchoir | Mississippi Humanities Council | Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters | Mississippi Library Association | Mississippi Public Broadcasting | Mississippi State Law Library | Mississippi Today | New Stage | Visit Mississippi
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JUST FOR KIDS
Curious George Birthday Party
Meet everyone’s favorite monkey! Play games, make things, sing songs and hear stories. Free popsicles, popcorn, cotton candy and snow cones for the first 150 party participants!
- 10:00 – 10:30 a.m.
- Kids Corner Tent
- West Street near the Capitol (Look for balloon arches)
- Open to the Public | FREE
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Southern Cooking
Sponsored by Community Foundation of Greater Jackson
- Catarina Passidomo Townes, MODERATOR
- Robert St. John, An Italian Palate
- Julia Reed, Julia Reed’s South: Spirited Entertaining and High-Style Fun All Year Long
- Sara Foster, Foster’s Market Favorites
- Ann Taylor Pittman, Everyday Whole Grains: 175 New Recipes from Amaranth to Wild Rice
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Comics and Cartoons
- Brannon Costello, MODERATOR
- Marshall Ramsey
- Ricky Nobile, Home Grown, Home Drawn: 45 Years of Mississippi Editorial Cartoons
- Mary Laura Philpott, Penguins with People Problems
- Tim Jackson, Pioneering Cartoonists of Color
- Tim Fielder, Matty’s Rocket, Black Metropolis
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Jesmyn Ward and The Fire This Time
Sponsored by University of Southern Mississippi Friends of University Libraries
- Jesmyn Ward, The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, MODERATOR
- Kiese Laymon, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America
- Garnette Cadogan, “Black and Blue”
- Honorée Jeffers, The Glory Gets
- Kima Jones, “Homegoing, AD”
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Exhibits
Capitol Exhibits
Don’t miss these engaging national showcases on display in the Capitol Building just for the Festival!
- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS EXHIBIT
- CENTER FOR THE BOOK and TALKING BOOKS EXHIBIT
- SMITHSONIAN LEARNING LAB presented by the Mississippi Arts Commission
- 3-D PRINTER EXPERIENCE presented by Mississippi Library Commission
- MISSISSIPPI DIGITAL LIBRARY
- STATE READING FAIR WINNERS presented by Mississippi Department of Education
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Just for Kids
Imagination Playground
Courtesy the Mississippi Children’s Museum, Imagination Playground offers endless variety of construction play with giant blocks and shapes.
- 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Kids Corner
- West Street near the Capitol (Look for balloon arches)
- Open to the Public | FREE
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Authors and Artists
Authors Alley
Meet more than 70 authors and artists selling their most recent works along Mississippi Street.
Al Ainsworth | Jaquelyn Allen | Al Arnold | Vicki Baylis | Sarah Beaugez | Kay Black, Twister Inc. | Lottie Boggan | Walter Boutwell | Ronica Branson | Talamieka Brice | Catherine Bruce | Demetria Buie | Vernell Chapman | Phyllis Dixon | Anita Dottes | Damion Fairconectue | Pam Franklin (MS) | Pam Franklin (FL) | Faith Garbin | Joedda Gore | Nancy Graham | Sherye Green | Gretchen Haien | Vera Hall | Michael Hewes | Katy Houston | Grady Howell Jr. | Kaye Johnson | Tom Lawrence | Cyndie LePori | Andree Maduell | Chris Manuel | James McCafferty | Dee Myrick | Josef Nix | Leif Pederson | George Ramphrey | Oren Renick | Evelyn Roughton | Richard Schwartz | Michael Seay | Yahya Shabazz | Janice Singleton | Deborah Williams Smith | Reuben Sparks | Laurin Stennis | Janet Taylor-Perry | Merle Temple | Michael Thompson | James L. Tracey | AnDerecco Turner | RD Vincent | Juanita Walker | J. Culpepper Webb | Julie Wetzel | Seneca Wilson | Bryce Yelverton | Mississippi Animal Rescue League | Mississippi Writers Anonymous | Parents & Kids Magazine | Well-Being Magazine | Wilkinson County Museum
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Schools in Change
Sponsored by Mississippi Humanities Council
- Charles C. Bolton, The Hardest Deal of All: The Battle over School Integration in Mississippi, 1870-1980, MODERATOR
- Teena Horn and John Griffin Jones, Lines Were Drawn: Remembering Court-Ordered Integration at a Mississippi High School
- Jon N. Hale, The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement
- Michael Copperman,Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta
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Children’s Illustrated
Sponsored by University of Southern Mississippi School of Library and Information Science
- Sarah Frances Hardy, Dress Me, MODERATOR
- Louise Borden, The Journey That Saved Curious George
- William Joyce, Ollie’s Odyssey
- Irene Latham, Fresh Delicious
- Barry Moser, Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds
- Carole Boston Weatherford, You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer
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Civil Rights History I
Sponsored by Mississippi Humanities Council and First Commercial Bank
- W. Ralph Eubanks, The House at the End of the Road, Ever is a Long Time, MODERATOR
- Crystal R. Sanders, A Chance for Change: Head Start & Mississippi’s Black Freedom Struggle
- Joseph Reiff, Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society
- Jason Morgan Ward, Hanging Bridge: Racial Violence and America’s Civil Rights Century
- Debbie Harwell, Wednesdays in Mississippi: Proper Ladies Working for Radical Change, Freedom Summer 1964
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Middle Grade Readers
- Deborah Wiles, Countdown, Revolution, MODERATOR
- Augusta Scattergood, Making Friends with Billy Wong
- Shannon Hitchcock, Ruby Lee and Me
- Kathi Appelt, Maybe a Fox
- Esta Spalding, Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts
- John David Anderson, Ms. Bixby’s Last Day
- Jean Claude Bemis, Out of Abaton, Book 1 The Wooden Prince
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Short Stories
Sponsored by University of Southern Mississippi Department of English
- Margaret McMullan, Every Father’s Daughter, Aftermath Lounge, MODERATOR
- Rick Bass, For A Little While
- Becky Hagenston, Scavengers
- Gerry Wilson, Crosscurrents and Other Stories
- Bill Dunlap, Short Mean Fiction: Words and Pictures
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Willie Morris and His Books
Sponsored by Mississippi State University
- Rick Cleveland, Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes, MODERATOR
- Teresa Nicholas, The Life of Willie Morris
- Larry Wells
- JoAnne Prichard Morris
- David Rae Morris
- Barry Moser
- Jack Bales, Willie Morris: An Exhaustive Annotated Bibliography and a Biography
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Memoir
Sponsored by University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts & Letters
- Carolyn Brown, A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty, Song of My Life: A Biography of Margaret Walker, MODERATOR
- Ellen Gilchrist, Things Like the Truth
- Harrison Scott Key, The World’s Largest Man
- Chris Offutt, My Father, the Pornographer
- Rheta Grimsley Johnson, The Dogs Buried Under the Bridge
- Richard Grant, Dispatches from Pluto
- Barry Moser, We Were Brothers
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William Faulkner: His Life and Writings
Sponsored by Mississippi Humanities Council as part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative
- James Thomas, Conversations with Barry Hannah, MODERATOR
- Robert Hamblin, Myself and the World: A Biography of W. Faulkner
- Jay Watson, Fifty Years After Faulkner
- Jay Watson and James Thomas, Faulkner and the Black Literatures of the Americas
- M. Thomas Inge, The Dixie Limited: Writers on William Faulkner
- Lorie Watkins Massey, William Faulkner, Gavin Stevens, and the Cavalier Tradition
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Mississippi Noir
Sponsored by University of Mississippi Office of the Provost
- William Boyle, Death Don’t Have No Mercy, MODERATOR
- Michael Farris Smith, Rivers
- Mary Miller, The Last Days of California
- RaShell Smith-Spears, “Losing Her Religion”
- John M. Floyd, Dreamland, Fifty Mysteries: The Angela Files
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Mississippi History
Sponsored by Beard and Riser Architects and Nautilus Publishing
- Gerard Helferich, Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin: Madness, Vengeance, and the Campaign of 1912, High Cotton, MODERATOR
- Anne Webster, Mississippians in the Great War: Selected Letters
- J. Lee Annis, Jr., Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi
- James F. Barnett, Jr., The Natchez Indians: A History to 1735
- Jim Woodrick, The Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi
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Civil Rights History II
Sponsored by Pigott and Johnson and Mississippi Humanities Council
- Pamela Junior, MODERATOR
- Patricia Michelle Boyett, Right to Revolt: The Crusade for Racial Justice in Mississippi’s Central Piney Woods
- Trent Brown (Editor of new edition of Hodding Carter II), So the Heffners Left McComb
- Sally Palmer Thomason, Delta Rainbow: The Irrepressible Betty Bobo Pearson
- Martha Wyatt-Rossignol, My Triumph Over Prejudice: A Memoir
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Sports and Outdoors
Sponsored by Mississippi Humanities Council
- Sid Salter, Jack Cristil: Voice of the MSU Bulldogs, MODERATOR
- Donald Jackson, Deeper Currents
- Jason A. Peterson, Full Court Press: MS State University, the Press, and the Battle to Integrate College Basketball
- Stuart Stevens, The Last Season: A Father, a Son, and a Lifetime of College Football
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Photography
Sponsored by Mississippi Arts Commission
- James Patterson, MODERATOR
- Maude Schuyler Clay, Mississippi History
- R. Kim Rushing, Parchman
- Langdon Clay, One Writer’s Garden: Eudora Welty’s Home Place
- Ken Murphy, Jackson: Photographs, Mississippi: State of Blues
- Ed Croom, The Land of Rowan Oak: An Exploration of Faulkner’s Natural World
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The Presidential Year
Sponsored by Taggart, Rimes & Graham, PLLC
- Stuart Stevens, The Innocent Have Nothing to Fear, MODERATOR
- Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion
- Trent Lott, Crisis Point: Why We Must – and How We Can – Overcome Our Broken Politics in Washington and Across America
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The Mississippi Experience / The Closing Chapter
Sponsored by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
- Scott Naugle, MODERATOR
- Stuart Stevens, The Innocent Have Nothing to Fear
- Richard Grant, Dispatches from Pluto
- Jim Dees, The Statue and the Fury
- W. Ralph Eubanks, The House at the End of the Road
- Rheta Grimsley Johnson, The Dogs Buried Under the Bridge
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