News & Events

Jennifer Maritza McCauley says “I can’t write without creating a soundtrack to my work. I love music playing in the background when I type and I love jigging and jumping and flapping my fingers to flailing sounds. Writing can be such a visceral experience; it fully inhabits me and music whisks me into a sort … Continued

“Race, class and gender collide in all the ways they do in the so-called real world. Gabriel Bump’s prose is fresh and frequently surprising. [The New Naturals] is funny, sad, sad-funny and funny-sad and just plain smart,” praises Percival Everett about Bump’s touching, timely novel exploring an attempt to found an underground utopia and the … Continued

An effort enlivened by the rich arts community in Oxford, Mississippi, the Thirtieth Oxford Conference for the Book is not solely for the book. Free live music is sprinkled throughout the three-day schedule, acknowledging that writing and rhythm work hand in hand. From ambient and experimental to rock and roll and jazz, local music keeps … Continued

For the third year in a row, the National Book Foundation hosts National Book Awards nominees in one of the most highly anticipated panels at the Oxford Conference for the Book. This year, you won’t want to miss José Olivarez (Promises of Gold, NBA Longlist) and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Chain-Gang All-Stars, NBA Finalist) in a … Continued

David Joy, Cassandra Jackson and Lauren Crawford lauded for works with sense of place Three writers who incorporate universal themes of art, landscape and family in their latest works are being honored as winners of this year’s Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing, housed at the University of Mississippi. North Carolina-based writer David Joy wins … Continued