The Mississippi Writers Trail Will Celebrate the State’s Literary Legacy

Thanks in part to a new grant, Mississippi’s literary history will soon be preserved and celebrated with a series of historical markers designating the Mississippi Writers Trail. The program is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which has recently established awards of up to $30,000 given to support humanities projects in states across the country.

According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, “The first NEH Statehood Grant will go to support the creation of a Mississippi Writers Trail that will introduce visitors to the achievements of writers such as Margaret Walker Alexander, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Wright.” These writers, along with many others, will be honored with historical markers across the state that designate notable locations and share information about their work, writing lives, and literary triumphs.

In partnership with the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Book Festival, and Visit Mississippi, among other statewide groups, the trail promises to commemorate the literary history of the state while also celebrating and furthering the exciting programming of the current literary landscape. The first markers on the trail are set to be unveiled during one such program, the 2018 Mississippi Book Festival, which will take place at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson on August 8, 2018. According to The New York Times, one of the first locations included will be Eudora Welty’s home in Jackson, where she lived from 1925 until her death in 2001.

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To brush up on the work of some of the Mississippi writers who will be honored along the trail, pick up Welty’s The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty; Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing; Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!; Wright’s Native Son; and any and all of Tennessee Williams’ plays.