- story by Ellis Anderson
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.
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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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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Coast participants listed in order of their appearance at the festival:
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