Mississippi Book Festival Wrap-up

The second annual Mississippi Book Festival is in the books and, boy, was it a blast! The whole shebang kicked off at 9:30 with Newbery winning author Kate DiCamillo, who immediately opened the floor to questions.We loved her writing advice to prospective authors, which was, "The only wrong way to write a book is just to not sit down and do it."

The sanctuary at @gallowayumc is packed for Kate DiCamillo. #litlawnparty @msbookfest pic.twitter.com/xYnJKyEQbY

— MSLibrary Commission (@MSLibraryComm) August 20, 2016

There were a multitude things to do to fill the day between DiCamillo and the final panel at 5:30. It was definitely a day of hard decision making. How do you choose between seeing a panel with Ellen Gilchrist and one with Michael Farris Smith? Or Trent Lott and Jeff Zenter? Or even Julia Reed and Jesmyn Ward? If you were equally stumped, you can catch up on some of the events you may have missed. C-Span has some of the panels available to stream online:

Panel Discussion on Race
Panel Discussion on Education
Panel Discussion on Civil Rights History
Panel Discussion on Mississippi History
Panel Discussion on Civil Rights
Panel Discussion on Campaign 2016

There were a number of things to do outside of author panels and interviews. We spent some time meeting indie authors on Authors Alley. We also indulged and bought a few books from Lemuria Bookstore. Getting your favorite author's signature can be quite a rush!


Talking Book Services shared a booth with the Mississippi Center for the Book. TBS Director Shellie Zeigler declared this year's event even better than last year. She said she spoke with a record number of people about the service, even a few who didn't realize that they or their family members were eligible to receive the free service.

Vote for your favorite MS author and learn about Talking Book Services in the Rotunda! #litlawnparty @msbookfest pic.twitter.com/ukJ8V1ECaL

— MSLibrary Commission (@MSLibraryComm) August 20, 2016

Our 3D printer was a huge hit again this year. A continuous line of legislators, authors, students, librarians, grandparents, parents, and kids all stopped by our display area on the second floor to learn more about 3D printing from Library Development Director Joy Garretson.

Nonstop flow of people into room 204 to see our #3Dprinter demo at the @msbookfest #litlawnparty #msbookfest pic.twitter.com/LuRGxYtKvt

— MSLibrary Commission (@MSLibraryComm) August 20, 2016

If you had a ball at this year's festival, be sure to take a moment to reply to the Mississippi Book Festival's survey. Feedback will only improve next year's festival. By the way, you can go ahead and mark your calendars for that. The third annual Mississippi Book Festival is August 19, 2017.

We look forward to seeing you at next year's Literary Lawn Party, the hottest event of the year!