This summer, amid the heat and the mosquitoes, and behind the soft and desperate whoosh of a hand fan, there will be a book festival. It will be the first ever of its kind in the state of Mississippi, and to that I say: it’s high damn time. It’s time to celebrate the literary history of this state with the fanfare (and booze) that it deserves; and what better way to do that than gather together some of the finest Southern authors of our time to discuss the works of their contemporaries and influences.
The first ever Mississippi Book Festival will kick off on the south steps of the state Capitol on Saturday, August 22 at 10:00 am. The day will be packed to the gills with author panels, special events (namely, the Willie Morris memorial luncheon with speaker John Grisham), live music, great food, and pop-up shops for everyone. Bringing kids? Cool. There’s a tent for those kids, courtesy of The Children’s Museum. Eudora Welty fanatic? Who isn’t? The good people of the Eudora Welty House will be there with bells on, as will University Press of Mississippi, Millsaps College, and a whole slew of publishers, authors, and the like. Want a beer? Go get a beer, because we’ll have those too. At the end of the day, Parlor Market will be hosting the after party as part of their PM burger street fest, and after that after party will be the after after party in the same location sponsored by Cathead Vodka. What I’ve just listed are several reasons for you to come on top of the amazing author panels scheduled.
The festival is free and open to the public, and all of the authors scheduled throughout the day will have books for sale in the Lemuria tent. That’s right! We’ll have a tent! In that tent you will find several eager and sweaty Lemurians, awesome merchandise, and day-of volunteers ready to hand out fans and maps; excited to help you find the perfect book. If volunteering in our tent sounds totally awesome to you, just email hillary@lemuriabooks.com and we’ll schedule a time slot for you. Comes with a free Lemuria tank top. Boom. Free.
We are SO excited about all of this, and we hope that you are too. It’s my hope that the first book festival will surprise us all with its attendance, media coverage, and outreach. I want to end the day happy and exhausted, exclaiming, “We didn’t bring enough books!” So let’s make this happen. Share the website with your friends, send in a donation, grab your lawn chairs, your reading glasses and your sunscreen, and let’s make this the best first festival ever.
Comments are closed.