Mississippi is nicknamed “The Birthplace of America’s Music,” though it is also home to a large and impactful literary community. This is exactly what the Water Valley Literary Festival aims to highlight on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
All programming will be at Bozarts Gallery.
Panels will be held throughout the day and will highlight a variety of genres, including fiction, biography, young adult and children’s literature. Violet Valley Bookstore will be selling books to attendees, and authors will sign copies. Featured authors include Calvin Hawkins, Robert Fieseler and E. Stanley Goldbold Jr.
Jamie Harker, professor of English, director of the Sarah Isom Center and event organizer, expressed excitement about the conversations that will be taking place with the featured authors.
“We look forward to hearing from these amazing writers, and we hope people will take the opportunity to talk with writers in an intimate setting,” Harker said.
Harker spoke of the ties between Water Valley locals and the out-of-town authors invited.
“We have the biographer of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter talking with Brandon Presley, who lives in Water Valley, who’s the former Democratic candidate for governor,” Harker said. “So even (for) those who are from elsewhere, there’s connections with folks in town that’s a part of that conversation.”
There will be a lunch conversation led by Harker at 12:30 p.m., and the festival will close with a reception from 5 p.m.-6 p.m.
“I’m doing a discussion with a New Orleans gay journalist at 12:30 (p.m.) who just published a book about (the) Cold War repression of queer folks and Black folks in Florida,” Harker said. “It’s really interesting.”
While focusing on bringing the literary community together, this festival also aims to posthumously honor the legacy of Hubert Creekmore.
Creekmore was a University of Mississippi alumnus, novelist, translator and literary critic from Water Valley. He wrote four novels, most of them set in Mississippi. The most famous was “The Welcome,” released in 1947 and reprinted by University Press two years ago. Creekmore worked for various literary agencies in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s.
Harker said the idea for the festival came from a group of Water Valley residents who were fans of Creekmore’s writing.
“We had a group of folks who live in Water Valley who, in various ways, like Hubert Creekmore and are interested in him,” Harker said. “And so we formed it as a sort of society for Hubert Creekmore about a year ago, and we were kind of debating what ideas we had, like a birthday party for him.”
The festival idea then broadened to a greater celebration of Water Valley’s literary prowess, Harker said.
“We thought (a festival) would be … a good way to showcase Water Valley as a place where writers are,” Harker said. “So we thought, ‘Let’s start small. Let’s do something cool and bring in some interesting people.’”
Some of the events during the festival will focus on honoring Creekmore’s legacy, said Annete Trefzer, event organizer and UM professor of English.
“Some of Creekmore’s family will be attending the festival, and (State) Rep. Sam Creekmore will declare a Mississippi Hubert Creekmore Day,” Trefzer said. “This should happen right after the Creekmore panel at noon.”
Harker said the festival aims to spotlight the literary community in Water Valley.
“It’s more about having a local thing that’s really focused on writers in the community, connections and larger ideas,” Harker said. “Everyone’s welcome obviously, but we really want it to be by Water Valleyians for Water Valleyians.”
Trefzer hopes the festival will also engage students from the university community.
“The younger generation of students is especially invited to branch out and come join us to learn about local authors, and — if they are writers — to participate in the events or become members of the literary society,” Trefzer said.
Though Harker appreciates the literary culture of Oxford, she wants to establish Water Valley as its own literary destination.
“What’s nice about this is it doesn’t have to be Oxford,” Harker said. “We’re not trying to be Oxford … Other communities have their own connections with folks, and to emphasize those local connections and make folks who live there feel like they can be writers too or they can appreciate that, is part of it.”
Bozarts Gallery is located at 403 North Main Street in Water Valley.
