As I had mentioned in my previous post, Lemuria…Out and About, I have been having a grand and glorious time going around the metro meeting people in the community and letting them know what is going on at Lemuria Bookstore. I have been lucky enough to hear some great speakers and talking to “book people” and learning just what people are reading out there in the real world. I thought I might let you know what I have been up to these past two months.
You will usually find me at the Mississippi Department of Archives—History at Lunch program and at the Eudora Welty 
Library for their Applause program. These two programs are great especially if you are interested in Mississippi history and Mississippi authors and are both a wonderful way to spend your lunch hour. I hope that you will click on the above links and I will see you at one or both in the next few months. I was also lucky enough to be invited by the Daughters of the King at Chapel Cross to a lovely dinner and talk by Neil White, author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts and editor of Mississippians. Neil laughs that the only other person who has heard his story more than me is his wife! I really continue to enjoy his redemptive tale every time I hear it.
Did you know that there was a devastating flood in Paris in 1910? Well neither did I until the Alliance Francaise de
Jackson invited Jeffery Jackson to speak to them about his book Paris Under Water and I was there to help him have a book signing. It is really an amazing story and the comparisons to Katrina in New Orleans and even the Easter ’79 Flood in Jackson were interesting. One of the things that I really thought was amazing were the raised wood walkways that were built so that the people could still get around the city.
Let me tell you something, Peggy Brent and the folks out at Hinds Community College did a wonderful job last week with the Mississippi and the Arts Week. I was out there helping put on the book signings for Neil White, Culpepper Webb, Benjamin Cloyd and Curtis Wilkie. It was great to see all the students so excited to have these authors right there to listen to and then able to ask them questions about their various experiences and their writing process.
Many of you probably saw me at the CrossRoads Film Festival this past weekend. I was there with Mary Murphy, author of Scout, Atticus and Boo and film maker of Hey, Boo. I was so pleased to meet Mary who was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird which happens to be one of my all time favorite books. I saw many people there who must agree with me because they all came out of the film with huge smiles on there faces!
My favorite thing I did, because you all know I love talking about books, was speaking to the Elisnore Garden Club. We met in the DotCom building and had a fantastic time talking about books that would make great spring and summer reading and ate some great food while we were at it. I thought I might share a few of the titles that we talked about:
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
Georgia Bottoms by Mark Childress
What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell by Suzanne Marrs
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
These are just a few of the titles so I guess you will just have to swing by the bookstore and see me to get the rest of the list. If you would like me to speak to a group whether it be a luncheon club or just a group of friends getting together, shoot me an email at maggiel@lemuriabooks.com or a call 601.366.7619.
Ask for Maggie ’cause I got books and will travel….
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