The inaugural Mississippi Book Festival Saturday, Aug. 22 at the State Capitol in Jackson celebrates the state’s literary legacy as well as a current host of talented writers. Golden Triangle authors are among 75 writers to be featured in forums and other events. Deborah Johnson, Michael Kardos, Sid Salter and Michael Farris Smith join a roster that includes New York Times best-selling writers John Grisham and Greg Illes and National Book Award winner Ellen Gilchrist at the free day-long festival. Exhibitors, vendors, live music and food are also part of the family-friendly event.
The festival honors Mississippi’s literary heritage of writers such as Tennessee Williams and Willie Morris but also hopes to foster a cultural change, remarked Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves.
“In a state that is home to Faulkner, Eudora Welty and so many other tremendous national treasures, to have a literacy rate amongst our young people that is alarmingly low is something that is certainly ironic and needs to be addressed,” Reeves is quoted as saying in a May 14 Clarion-Ledger article.
Grisham kicks it off
An opening celebration with Grisham at 10 a.m. on the South Steps of the Capitol launches a day of more than 20 panel discussions on topics ranging from Harper Lee, Children’s Books and African-American History to Cooking/Foodways and Sports. Columbus’ Deborah Johnson is on one of the first panels.
“I’m too excited,” she said of participating in the Southern Fiction Today discussion at 10:30 a.m. “I love that Mississippi is doing this,” said the author of “The Secret of Magic” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2014). “A lot of times the negative gets trumpeted the most, so it’s good that this is a showcase for what is really positive about Mississippi.”
Michael Farris Smith of Columbus is a featured author on the Crossing Borders: Across Literary Boundaries panel at 2 p.m. Michael Kardos of Starkville joins him. Kardos is also in a Short Stories forum at 11:30 a.m. Sid Salter of Starkville appears on the Sports and Outdoors panel at 4 p.m.
Smith said, “I’m really looking forward to seeing all the writers I know and meeting those I don’t know.” The author of “Rivers” (Simon & Schuster, 2013) has attended book festivals in other states and said that, while they are about literature, they are also “great places to meet people and enjoy just a really good fellowship.”
Festivals tend to foster a kinship among writers. “We all feed off one another and encourage each other,” Smith said.
Johnson agrees. “Mississippi is really supportive of its writers,” she remarked. “Here the booksellers are behind you, and other writers are behind you; you just really feel like you have a community.”
A sampling
In addition to panels, highlights include U.S. Congressman Gregg Harper’s interview with a World War II veteran at 11:30 a.m. for the Library of Congress’ National Veterans History Program.
An inaugural Willie Morris Memorial Luncheon at Hal and Mal’s features Grisham as speaker. Tickets are $50 (required in advance), from msbookfestival.com.
At 2 p.m. former Gov. Haley Barbour takes part in the History and Biography panel. His “America’s Great Storm,” about Hurricane Katrina, will be released this week.
John Evans of Lemuria Books in Jackson is a force behind the festival, a nonprofit organization formed in 2013 by literacy advocates.
“In my 40 years of bookselling, I have witnessed the power of real books in the hands of readers,” he said. “In our first statewide book festival we celebrate the joys of reading and the authors who bring our culture to the page.”
Opportunity
Saturday’s festival not only brings well-known authors and book lovers together, it offers opportunities for emerging writers.
James Tracy of Columbus will be an exhibitor, introducing his just-printed book, “The Time Opener: 1692.” He’ll also have some of his short stories, poems and cartoons. Tracy hopes to attend the Historical Fiction discussion, a topic that relates to his book, as well as the Comics and Cartoons forum, with Marshall Ramsey and Mike McCarthy among panelists.
“It’s not very often we see such a large-scale effort made like this, short of a Comic-Con type thing,” Tracy said. “I think it’s a fantastic opportunity to find out more about what Mississippi offers.”
Area writers applaud organizers for taking the festival initiative.
“I’m very happy that they are not only doing it, but seem to be going all out,” Smith said.
Get the complete festival schedule at msbookfestival.com and follow the Facebook page. Send email to [email protected] or phone 769-717-2648.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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