Nestled between William Faulkner’s home of Rowan Oak and his birthplace of New Albany, Miss., Greenfield Farm served as the author’s agrarian observatory. Amidst farmers and mules harvesting corn and cotton, Faulkner gathered creative inspiration for his world-renowned novels.
Currently owned by the University of Mississippi, Faulkner’s mule farm will soon be transformed into Greenfield Farm, the first stipend-supported nonprofit writer’s residency in the Deep South.
Spearheading the residency’s creation is John T. Edge, director of the Mississippi Lab, a UM initiative that generates and supports creative projects. The Mississippi Lab aims to provide a secluded sanctuary for Southern writers and build upon the rich literary legacy of Mississippi.
“What we’re doing is a natural accompaniment to Rowan Oak. It’s the laboratory to Rowan Oak. It’s the place to do the work to drive change and progress in Mississippi,” Edge said. “This is a humanities laboratory for people to do deep thinking and deep writing to get removed from the nature of everyday life.”
However, Edge shared, Greenfield is not aimed strictly towards writers in the traditional sense. Rather, it welcomes anyone who wishes to write, including songwriters, poets, nonfiction writers and novelists.
Expected to host its first cohort beginning in mid-2025, the writer’s residency plans to open its doors to 50 to 60 writers each year between its commuter residency and stipend-supported overnight program.
The latter entails providing $1,000 per week to writers staying in overnight cabins. Thanks to this support, writers of all socioeconomic backgrounds will have the opportunity to pursue their craft without financial constraints.
“We have the best writing in the nation, and it’s time for Mississippians to get that fact out there and for Mississippians to tell their stories,” UM professor and former Mississippi poet laureate Beth Ann Fennelly said. “And the fact that this residency is going to be funded means that it’s really open to all Mississippians.”
Fennelly, along with Ralph Eubanks, UM faculty fellow and author of “A Place Like Mississippi,” are a part of the advisory committee for the project.
“More than any state in the union, Mississippi depends on its writers to tell its stories. We are a place that has a lot to explain,” Eubanks said. “To tell the full story of Mississippi — and the South in General — we must have a diverse and inclusive group of writers in residence at Greenfield Farm.”
Greenfield Farm will serve as a creative “front porch” to not only native Mississippian writers, but also to those whose work or identity is intertwined with Mississippi. Additionally, the residency program selection process will pay special recognition to those who have been displaced from the state.
“There are more than 40 writers who live in and around Oxford. That’s a fairly large creative community. What the Greenfield Farm project does is bring a group of creative people to Oxford and expand that community several times during the year,” Eubanks said. “Greenfield Farm holds the potential to bring some new voices to the University of Mississippi and the Oxford community.”
Although the infrastructure envisioned to uplift Mississippi’s creative economy is expected to cost about $9 million, the university and donors have provided significant financial support to allow the project to progress expeditiously.
“The fact that our leadership is supporting an ambitious and expensive humanities project that will likely have a big, big impact makes me really proud to be a professor here,” Fennelly said.
By visiting 10 residencies across the country, Edge and collaborators were able to build upon working residency models and create infrastructure catered specifically towards the cultural production of the region.
“At last year’s Mississippi Book Festival, I spoke about the Greenfield Farm project at an event, as we were seeking to expand the funder base of the project,” Eubanks said. “As a writer, I also shared with the group what I feel makes a good environment for a residency, which is a clean, well-lighted place to work, a good connection among those who are part of your residency cohort and opportunities for solitude that spark creativity.”
The residency’s grounds will offer writers across various disciplines the opportunity to write and collaborate within both newly constructed and refurbished studios and communal spaces.
“Because of Mississippi’s contentious history, especially in racial matters but also in economic injustice, a lot of the people who could have been drawn to stay and produce amazing work in Mississippi have felt like it hasn’t been a conducive home for them, and so they’ve gone elsewhere,” Fennelly said. “I think this is kind of an opportunity to have a homecoming for some of those people, you know, who maybe can see some of the positive changes Mississippi has made and want to be a part of it.”
With natural walking trails, flourishing greenery and ample spaces for writing, the Southern landscape will serve as a source of inspiration and rejuvenation for upcoming generations of writers as it did for Faulkner many years ago.
“We’re a state that depends upon writers to explain this state and our people in our history to others,” Edge said. “And we also depend upon writers within Mississippi to understand ourselves better and who we are and who we might be.”
More information about Greenfield Farm Writer’s Residency is available on the Mississippi Lab website.
