“15th annual event attracts writers, publishers, editors, readers”
OXFORD, Miss. – The life and work of writer, folklorist and
anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston is to be spotlighted at
the 15th annual Oxford Conference for the Book April 3-5,
hosted by the University of Mississippi.
Beginning at 11:30 a.m. Thursday with a luncheon program at
UM’s J.D. Williams Library and three afternoon sessions at
the Oxford Conference Center, the conference runs through
Saturday afternoon with addresses, panels and readings.
Highlights include a special edition of Thacker Mountain
Radio, a marathon book signing at Off Square Books and an
open-mike poetry and fiction jam.
Conference sessions are open to the public at no charge,
but registration is encouraged to assure seating space.
Reservations and advance payment are required for two
optional conference events: a cocktail buffet Thursday
($50) and a box lunch Friday ($10). Two preconference
offerings that require reservations and fees are a daylong
writing workshop and a literary tour of the Mississippi
Delta. For more information or to register for the
conference, call 662-915-5993 or visit
http://www.oxfordconferenceforthebook.com/.
Although Hurston was born in 1891 and died in 1960, her
work remained relatively unread until recent years but is
required reading in many classes on 20th century
literature, said Ted Ownby, interim director of UM’s Center
for the Study of Southern Culture.
“Zora Neale Hurston gives the book conference a chance to
think about a good variety of topics: her own work as a
novelist, memoirist and folklorist; the connections among
African-American literature, Southern literature and
Caribbean literature; her choices of topics and dialect;
issues of race and gender; and even the ways trends in
reading and scholarship can change,” Ownby said.
Hurston is credited with helping bring Southern
African-American culture to mainstream America. She is the
author of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (HarperCollins,
1937), “Jonah’s Gourd Vine” (HarperCollins, 1934), “Mules
and Men” (HarperCollins, 1935), “Tell My Horse”
(HarperCollins, 1937) and more.
Among conference speakers slated to discuss Hurston’s life
and legacy are Patricia Willis, curator of the Collection
of American Literature at Yale’s Beinecke Library, authors
Deborah Plant and John Lowe, and literary scholars Adam
Gussow and Ethel Young-Minor, both UM faculty members.
Authors Jeffrey Renard Allen and Nichelle D. Tramble plan
to talk about Hurston’s influence on contemporary writers.
Other speakers include fiction writers Ellen Gilchrist,
Sallie Bingham, Susan Choi and Jack Pendarvis.
Author and former Oxford resident Jonathan Miles moderates
a panel with Dwight Garner, senior editor of the New York
Times Book Review; Fredric Koeppel, book review editor at
the Commercial Appeal in Memphis; and Peder Zane, book
review editor at the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
Film adaptations of Hurston’s fiction and a documentary
about her life are to be shown. Screenings of “Their Eyes
Were Watching God” and other films featuring her work are
scheduled throughout the day and evenings
Wednesday-Saturday at the Oxford-Lafayette County Library.
Other conference sessions include an address by literary
scholar Jerry Ward commemorating the 100th anniversary of
Richard Wright’s birth, a program marking the 40th
anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and a
talk by “Masterpiece Theatre” producer Rebecca Eaton.
A panel discussion is planned to highlight poets to
celebrate April’s distinction as National Poetry Month.
Moderator is poet Beth Ann Fennelly, UM assistant professor
of English, with panelists including poets Rob Griffith and
A. Van Jordan.
For the fifth year, a “Literature for Young Authors”
program is part of the conference. All participating
Oxford-area fifth- and ninth-grade students receive gift
copies of novels by the selected authors, courtesy of the
Junior Auxiliary of Oxford, the Lafayette County Literary
Council and Square Books Jr. The students are scheduled to
visit campus at 9 a.m. Friday to hear award-winning author
Christopher Paul Curtis, who has written six books for
children and young adults, several focusing on young
African-American boys growing up in Curtis’ own hometown of
Flint, Mich. Following at 10:30 a.m., Margaret McMullan,
author of historic novels for younger readers, is scheduled
to speak.
Preceding the conference for the fifth year is the
Mississippi Delta Literary Tour, based in Greenwood, with
visits to Greenville, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Tutwiler and
Merigold.
“I believe this year’s tour will be among the best so far,”
said Jimmy Thomas, managing editor of the New Encyclopedia
of Southern Culture and tour organizer for the trip. “We’ve
got a great group of folks coming from as far away as San
Francisco and Connecticut; and Hillary Jordan, the Oklahoma
author of an award-winning book set in the Mississippi
Delta, ‘Mudbound,’ will join us for the tour. We’re also
visiting McCarty’s Pottery in Merigold and spending an
afternoon of talks and blues at Greenwood’s incredible
TurnRow Book Company.”
The literary tour costs $475 per person for program
activities, eight meals and local transportation. Group
accommodations are available at the Alluvian Hotel at a
discounted rate of $155 by calling 1-866-600-2501 and
requesting the literary tour rate. Rooms also are available
in Greenwood at the Best Western, 662-455-5777, and Hampton
Inn, 662-455-7985.
Also part of preconference activities is the second annual
daylong workshop for writers April 2. “Mining Your Raw
Materials” is to be directed by fiction writer Margaret
Love-Denman, an Ole Miss alumnus and former Oxford
resident. The workshop fee of $250 includes evaluation of a
manuscript and a private session with Denman.
Conference sessions Thursday afternoon take place at the
Oxford Conference Center, 102 Ed Perry Blvd., with Thacker
Mountain Radio at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center, 413
S. 14th St. Friday morning sessions are at UM’s Ford
Center, with Friday afternoon sessions at the OCC.
Saturday’s sessions are scheduled at UM’s Nutt Auditorium.
The conference is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study
of Southern Culture, Square Books, Junior Auxiliary of
Oxford, Lafayette County-Oxford Public Library, Lafayette
County Literacy Council, Oxford Middle School PTA,
Mississippi Library Commission and Mississippi Hills
Heritage Area Alliance. It is funded in part by a
contribution from the R&B Feder Foundation for the Beaux
Arts and grants from the Mississippi Humanities Council,
National Endowment for the Arts, Mississippi Arts
Commission, Oxford Tourism Council and Yoknapatawpha Arts
Council.
For more information, go to
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south
or
http://www.oxfordconferenceforthebook.com.
For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-5993.