News & Events

On March 15, 1998, during the Fifth Oxford Conference for the Book, singer/songwriters Tommy Goldsmith, Tom House, and Karren Pell performed their song cycle of Lee Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladies. The piece was commissioned by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. From the book: Ivy Rowe may not have much education, but her thoughts are classic, … Continued

Poets have always been a part of the Oxford Conference for the Book, especially this year, since the first day of the conference would have coincided with the first day of National Poetry Month. Here we have Hanif Abdurraqib reading one of his poems, along with an interview in Cultured magazine from January. Abdurraqib was … Continued

Continuing our virtual Oxford Conference for the Book today is Tommy Tomlinson, who was originally scheduled to read from his memoir “The Elephant in the Room” on Friday, April 3. Instead, you can read about his struggles with his weight and what made him reassess his life in this Rolling Stone article from January 2019. … Continued

Since we can’t gather in person to celebrate the written word this year, we’d like to post audio and video from previous Oxford Conferences for the Book. We begin the series with John T. Edge in medias res, introducing Daniel Woodrell, who reads from his novel Give Us a Kiss: A Country Noir, from The … Continued

The Oxford Conference for the Book will not take place on April 1-3, 2020 due to concerns about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The conference is the longest-running event produced by the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. “We are disappointed that we had to cancel the conference, but the health … Continued