MS Book Fest Features Coast Writers

The 2nd annual Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson on August 20th will feature 200+ authors, including five prominent coast writers/artists who will be participating in panel discussions.  We've got the scoop on who, what and where, along with festival details!
- story by Ellis Anderson

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2015 at the first Mississippi Book Festival, photo courtesy MBF

 Five coast residents are featured on the schedule for the 2nd annual Mississippi Book Festival taking place in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday, August 20th. 
 
The inaugural fest made a regional splash last year (read Shoofly book columnist Carole McKellar’s story about the 2015 event).  More than 3,700 people attended the first event held on the lawn of the State Capitol and 100+ authors were present, including John Grisham.

This year, 200+ authors are participating and more than 30 panel discussions are scheduled.  Several nationally prominent writers are headlining the event, including Mississippi natives Richard Ford, W. Ralph Eubanks, and Katy Simpson Smith.
 
Representing the Mississippi Gulf Coast at the 2016 festival are  Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Margaret McMullan, Ken Murphy, Scott Naugle and Jesmyn Ward (see schedule of appearances by each at end this article). 

Rheta Grimsley Johnson divides her time between Pass Christian and Iuka, Mississippi.  The author of seven books, Johnson is one of the longest-running female syndicated columnists in the nation.  Her latest book is a memoir, The Dogs Buried Over the Bridge.  She will be participating in two panels, “Memoir” and “The Mississippi Experience.”

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Pass Christian resident Margaret McMullan is the author of seven award-winning novels, the latest of which is set in post-Katrina Pass Christian, Aftermath Lounge.  2015 also saw the publication of Every Father’s Daughter, an anthology of essays about fathers by nationally known writers curated by McMullan and Phillip Lopate.  She is a member of the festival’s “Short Stories” panel.

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Photographer Ken Murphy will be representing Bay St. Louis at the festival. Murphy has authored and published four award-winning photographic coffee table books, My South Coast Home, Photographs of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Mississippi; Mississippi: State of Blues with Scott Barretta; and Jackson with John Evans of Lemuria Books. His forthcoming book with designer Rick Dobbs is titled Local Spirit: Neighborhood Bars of Orleans Parish.  Murphy will be a member of the festival’s “Photography” panel.

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Scott Naugle has written hundreds of book reviews and feature articles for various publications including the McClatchy Newspaper Syndicate, The Sun Herald, The Mobile Register, and Beach Blvd magazine. He is the Chief Operating Officer of a large, publicly-traded insurance brokerage and co-owner of Pass Books/Cat Island Coffeehouse in Pass Christian, Mississippi.   He will be moderating the final panel, “The Mississippi Experience.” 

Jesmyn Ward and Scott Naugle at a recent book-signing at Pass Christian Books

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Jesmyn Ward grew up in DeLisle, Mississippi.  She is the author of the novels Where the Line Bleeds and Salvage the Bones, which won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction; the memoir, Men We Reaped; and the editor of The Fire This Time. Ward is currently at work on her third novel and is an associate professor of creative writing at Tulane University.  She will be moderating the panel “Jesmyn Ward and The Fire This Time.”

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Admission to the Mississippi Book Festival is free, and so is the parking.  The event opens to the public at 9am on the 20th.  Click here for the full schedule. 

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Coast participants listed in order of their appearance at the festival:

Jesmyn Ward - “Jesmyn Ward and The Fire This Time,” panel – 10:00am; Old Supreme Court Room 216 (C-SPAN)

Margaret McMullan – “Short Stories,” panel - 12:30pm;  State Capitol, Room 201H

Rheta Grimsley Johnson – “Memoir,” panel - 1:45pm; The Foundery at Galloway

Ken Murphy – “Photography,” panel - 3:00pm; State Capitol, Room 201H

Scott Naugle and Rheta Grimsley Johnson – “The Mississippi Experience/The Closing Chapter,” panel – 5:30pm; Galloway Sanctuary 

Click on the map image to open a full-sized PDF

2015 panel, photo courtesy MS Book Festival