Official Panelists

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Betsy{if parents:author_name_middle}  Bradley

Betsy{if parents:author_name_middle} 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 Commission. Since arriving at MMA, Bradley has overseen significant growth of the institution, shepherding two capital campaigns that resulted in a move to...

Jimmy{if parents:author_name_middle}  Cajoleas

Jimmy{if parents:author_name_middle} 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 in New York.

Tracy{if parents:author_name_middle}  Carr

Tracy{if parents:author_name_middle} Carr

Tracy is a researcher, editor, and writer in Jackson, Mississippi. She manages the book reviews for the Mississippi Books Page in the Clarion-Ledger and Hattiesburg American newspapers and is the editor of the forthcoming Conversations with Ellen Gilchrist (University Press of...

Patrick{if parents:author_name_middle}  Dean

Patrick{if parents:author_name_middle} 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 degree in theology.  Since 2012, Patrick has been a free-lance writer, social-media content creator, and website designer. He is also the executive director of the...

William {if parents:author_name_middle}  Dunlap

William {if parents:author_name_middle} 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 are certain iconic Old Masters, such as Rembrandt’s series of self-portraits, which he quotes in paintings and constructions. ​He calls what he does ...

John T.{if parents:author_name_middle}  Edge

John T.{if parents:author_name_middle} Edge

John hosts the television show TrueSouth (SEC Network, ESPN, & Hulu), now in its sixth season, and serves Garden & Gun as a columnist. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, named...

Helen{if parents:author_name_middle}  Ellis

Helen{if parents:author_name_middle} Ellis

Helen is the author of five books including the New York Times bestselling American Housewife and Southern Lady Code. She writes humor for Garden & Gun and The New Yorker. Raised in Alabama, she lives with her husband in New York City.

W. Ralph{if parents:author_name_middle}  Eubanks

W. Ralph{if parents:author_name_middle} 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 native of Mount Olive, Mississippi, he is the author of two other books: Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi’s Dark...

Beth Ann{if parents:author_name_middle}  Fennelly

Beth Ann{if parents:author_name_middle} Fennelly

Beth Ann has published three poetry books: Open House, Tender Hooks, and Unmentionables, all with W. W. Norton. She is also the author of 3 books of prose: Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs; Great With Child: Letters to a Young Mother, a...

Tom{if parents:author_name_middle}  Franklin

Tom{if parents:author_name_middle} Franklin

Tom is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, which was nominated for nine awards and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award. His ...

Melissa{if parents:author_name_middle}  Ginsburg

Melissa{if parents:author_name_middle} Ginsburg

Melissa is the author of the novels The House Uptown and Sunset City, the poetry collections Doll Apollo (winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Award) and Dear Weather Ghost, and three poetry chapbooks, Arbor, Double Blind, ...

Richard{if parents:author_name_middle}  Grant

Richard{if parents:author_name_middle} Grant

Richard is an author of nonfiction books, a journalist, and a documentary film writer. His last two books, Dispatches from Pluto and The Deepest South of All, were New York Times bestsellers. His previous books include the adventure travel classic ...

John Caleb{if parents:author_name_middle}  Grenn

John Caleb{if parents:author_name_middle} Grenn

JC grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and holds degrees from The University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is an avid reader and reviewer of literary fiction. He promotes authors and their stories while cultivating bookish community through his Instagram page ...

Sarah Frances{if parents:author_name_middle}  Hardy

Sarah Frances{if parents:author_name_middle} Hardy

A resident of Oxford, Mississippi, Sarah is a retired lawyer and (not retired) fine artist who has redirected her creative juices towards writing and illustrating children's books. Her published work includes Puzzled by Pink, Paint Me!, and Dress Me!. She will be debuting her illustrations...

Robert E.{if parents:author_name_middle}  Luckett, Jr.

Robert E.{if parents:author_name_middle} 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 home, where he is a tenured Professor of History and Director of the Margaret Walker Center and COFO Civil Rights Education Center at Jackson State...

Jerry{if parents:author_name_middle}  Mitchell

Jerry{if parents:author_name_middle} Mitchell

The stories of investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell have helped put four Klansmen and a serial killer behind bars. His stories have also helped free two people from death row, exposed injustices and corruption, prompting investigations and reforms as well as the firings of boards and officials. He is a Pulitzer...

Michael{if parents:author_name_middle}  Morris

Michael{if parents:author_name_middle} Morris

A Jackson, Mississippi native, Michael Morris has served as the director of the Two Mississippi Museums-Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum-since 2023. He previously served in several roles during his eight years at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Morris earned his bachelor's...

Scott{if parents:author_name_middle}  Naugle

Scott{if parents:author_name_middle} Naugle

In addition to serving on the book festival board of directors since the very beginning, Scott is a member of the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. He is also co-owner of Pass Christian Books/Cat Island Coffeehouse in Pass Christian and Gulfport. Before all...

Aimee{if parents:author_name_middle}  Nezhukumatathil

Aimee{if parents:author_name_middle} Nezhukumatathil

Aimee is the author of the New York Times bestselling illustrated collection of nature essays World of Wonders, chosen as Barnes & Noble's Book of the Year and as a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. She has published four award-winning poetry collections and is...

Dustin{if parents:author_name_middle}  Parsons

Dustin{if parents:author_name_middle} Parsons

Dustin Parsons is the author of Exploded View: Essays on Fatherhood, With Diagrams. His work appears recently in The Georgia Review, Brevity, Waxwing, and many other magazines. He teaches writing and literature at the University of Mississippi.

Catherine{if parents:author_name_middle}  Pierce

Catherine{if parents:author_name_middle} Pierce

Catherine is the author of four books of poems: Danger Days (2020), The Tornado Is the World (2016), The Girls of Peculiar (2012), and Famous Last Words (2008), winner of the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize. Each of her last three books received the Mississippi Institute of...

Marshall {if parents:author_name_middle}  Ramsey

Marshall {if parents:author_name_middle} Ramsey

Marshall, a nationally recognized editorial cartoonist, shares his cartoons and travels the state as Mississippi Today’s Editor-At-Large. Marshall can often be found in communities across Mississippi, promoting public conversations about the news and inspiring audiences to engage in civic life. He’s also host of a weekly...

Ellen Hunter{if parents:author_name_middle}  Ruffin

Ellen Hunter{if parents:author_name_middle} Ruffin

Ellen, associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been curator of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection since 2006. She has served on the Newbery Medal Committee, the Children's Literature Legacy Award, and the Schneider Family Book Award. She also serves as an administrator of...

Maurice Carlos {if parents:author_name_middle}  Ruffin

Maurice Carlos {if parents:author_name_middle} Ruffin

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of National Bestseller, The American Daughters, a New York Times Editor’s Choice published by One World Random House. He is the recipient of the 2023 Louisiana Writer Award and the Black Rock Senegal Residency. He also wrote The Ones Who Don...

Katy Simpson Smith

Katy Simpson Smith

Katy was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. She is the author of the novels The Story of Land and Sea, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and one of Vogue's Best Books of 2014; Free Men; and The...

Heather Marie Stur

Heather Marie Stur

Heather Marie Stur, Ph.D., is professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi and co-director of the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society. She is the author of four books, including 21 Days to Baghdad: General Buford Blount and the 3rd Infantry Division in the Iraq...

Sami Thomason-Fyke

Sami Thomason-Fyke

Sami is a former bookseller, events manager, and youth specialist from Oxford, MS. After getting her degree in English Literature from Millsaps College, Sami worked at Square Books and Square Books, Jr. for 5 years before moving to the Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library. She also had a brief stint...

M.O.  Walsh

M.O. Walsh

M.O. is the author of the novels The Big Door Prize and My Sunshine Away, which was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pat Conroy Award for Southern Fiction. His first book, a story collection titled ...

Lawrence Wells

Lawrence Wells

Lawrence's "Ghostwriter" memoir tells of ghostwriting a novel about the "Fair Youth" of Shakespeare's sonnets. It was awarded the narrative non-fiction prize at the Words and Music Festival in New Orleans. His memoir "In Faulkner's Shadow," about his marriage to Dean Faulkner Wells, niece of author...

Jerid P. Woods (Akili Nzuri)

Jerid P. Woods (Akili Nzuri)

Jerid, also known as Akili Nzuri, is a writer, educator, Ph.D. candidate, and literary influencer. He was born and raised in Natchez, MS, and survives on an unwavering commitment to igniting a passion for reading in the youth; he also exists as a living testimony to the power of...

Nicola Yoon

Nicola Yoon

Nicola is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Instructions for Dancing; Everything, Everything; and The Sun Is Also a Star, and is a coauthor of Blackout. She is a National Book Award finalist, a Michael L. Printz Award...

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