A Quick Shot of Authors at the Mississippi Book Festival

Photos from the 2017 Mississippi Book Festival

There will be over 80 authors and artists signing books, speaking on panels, or manning a table in the author’s alley at the Mississippi Book Festival. While we don’t have enough space to feature everyone, here’s a sampling of some of the authors and speakers present at the Book Festival!

Radley Balko is a criminal justice reporter for the Washington Post. He was named the L.A. Press Club Journalist of the Year in 2011 and his work has been cited by the US Supreme Court. With Tucker Carrington, he co-authored the book The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South. He will answer questions in the Lighting Round (11:00 am) and will appear on the panel “True Crime” (4:00 pm, State Capitol Room 201 H). His book signing is at 3:00 pm in the book signing tent

Jack E. Davis is a professor of environmental history at the University of Florida. His most recent book, The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in History. He will appear on the panels “American History” (10:45 am, C-SPAN Room, Old Supreme Court Room) and “The Gulf with Jack E. Davis” (2:45 pm, State Capitol Room 202). His book signing is at 9:45 am in the book signing tent.

Matthew Guinn is an associate professor of creative writing at Belhaven University. His novels include The Resurrectionist and The Scribe. He will answer questions in the Lightning Round (11:30 am) and will appear on the panel  “Southern Gothic Revisited” (2:45 pm, Galloway Foundery). His book signing is at 4:15 pm in the book signing tent.

Edward Lee is the chef/owner of 610 Magnolia, MilkWood, and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, Kentucky; and culinary director of Succotash in Penn Quarter, Washington, D.C., and National Harbor, Maryland. He is the author of Buttermilk Graffiti and Smoke & Pickles, and wrote and hosted the feature documentary Fermented. He will appear on the panel “Our Nation’s New Melting Pot Cuisine” (10:45 am, Galloway Fellowship Center). His book signing is at 9:45 am in the book signing tent.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the poetry editor of Orion magazine and the author of four books of poetry including Miracle Fruit and Oceanic. Awards include a Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Angoff Award, and the Boatwright Prize. She will answer questions in the Lightning Round (2:45 pm) and will appear at the panel “Waxing Poetic with the Pros” (9:30 am, State Capitol Room 201 A). Her book signing is at 11:00 am in the book signing tent.

Salman Rushdie is the author of multiple books, including The Satanic Verses, Midnight’s Children, and Shalimar the Clown. Rushdie has won multiple awards including the Booker Prize for Fiction, the Hans Christian Anderson Literary Award, the Norman Mailer Prize, the PEN Pinter Prize, and the Whitbread Novel Award. In 2007, Rushdie was knighted for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours. He has an Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Humanism from Harvard University and has an Honorary Professorship from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will appear on the panel “Salman Rushdie: The Welty Lecture” (2:45 pm, Galloway Sanctuary).

Katy Simpson Smith is the author of multiple books, including the novel Free Men and the nonfiction work We Have Raised All of You: Motherhood in the South, 1750-1835. Her work has also appeared in The Oxford American, Garden & Gun, and Literary Hub. She will answer questions in the Lightning Round (12:15 pm) and will appear on the panel “Best Bets in Historical Fiction” (2:45 pm, State Capitol Room 113). Her book signing is at 4:15 pm in the book signing tent.

Angie Thomas is the author of the young adult novel The Hate U Give. The Hate U Give has won multiple awards, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the William C. Morris Award, and the Michael L. Printz Award. A film adaptation is currently in development.  She will appear on the panels “Angie Thomas: Kidnote” (9:30 am, Galloway Sanctuary) and “Hope (Nation) and Other Four-Letter Words” (10:45 am, Galloway Sanctuary). Her book signing is at 12:15 pm in the book signing tent.

Jesmyn Ward is the author of the novels Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing. Both Bones and Sing won a National Book Award, making her the first woman to win two National Book Awards for fiction. Other awards include an Alex Award for Salvage the Bones and a MacArthur "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is currently an associate professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She will appear on the panel “A Conversation with Jesmyn Ward” (12:00 pm, State Capitol Room 113). Her book signing is at 11:00 am in the book signing tent.

Check out the Mississippi Book Festival’s website for information on panelists we haven’t covered here! Which author are you most excited to see? Chime off in the comments below!