Schedule

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, EXCEPT FOR THE OPENING-NIGHT AUTHORS’ PARTY, WHICH REQUIRES A TICKET
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TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2026
5:30 p.m. Prologue
An Oxford Conference for the Book Warm-Up Event
Launch Party and Reading
Aimee Nezhukumatathil with Night Owl
Off Square Books
129 Courthouse Square  

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2026
6:00 p.m. Ann J. Abadie Lecture in Southern Studies
Janisse Ray with Journey in Place
Nutt Auditorium University of Mississippi Campus

7:00 p.m. Oxford Conference for the Book Authors’ Party
Hosted by the Friends of the Library, the Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing,
the Mississippi Book Festival, and the Oxford Conference for the Book
Memory House/John Faulkner’s House
University of Mississippi Campus
406 University Ave.
(Advance Ticket Required)

 THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2026
9:30 a.m. “The Choctaw in Mississippi”
Jay Wesley and Eddie Johnson (Choctaw Traditions: Stories of the Life and Customs of the Mississippi Choctaw)
Annette Trefzer, moderator
Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics
University of Mississippi Campus 

11:00 a.m.  Library Welcome Lunch
Hosted by the Friends of the Library
Baxter Room J. D. Williams Library
(Lunch is free, but registration appreciated)

11:30 a.m. “National Book Foundation Presents: Balancing Acts”
Sarah Thankam Mathews (This Could All Be Different) and Camonghne Felix (Build Yourself a Boat) in conversation with A. H. Jerriod Avant
Baxter Room J. D. Williams Library
University of Mississippi Campus

1:00 p.m. “Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid”
Edda Fields-Black (Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War) in conversation with Robert Colby
Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics
University of Mississippi Campus
Session sponsored by the UM Center for Civil War Research

2:30 p.m. “First Books from Mississippi”
Addie E. Citchens (Dominion), Robert Busby (Bodock), and Nadia Alexis (Beyond the Watershed)
Beth Spencer, moderator
Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics
University of Mississippi Campus 

4:00 p.m. “‘Flash!’: Micro-Memoirs and Flash Writing”
Steve Almond (Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow), Ira Sukrungruang (This Jade World), and Beth Ann Fennelly (The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs)
Southside Gallery
150 Courthouse Square

6:00 p.m. Thacker Mountain Radio and Book Signing
Tom Junod (In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man: A Memoir) and AJ White (“In Arcadia”)
The Powerhouse
413 South 14th St.
(Authors from Thursdays sessions will sign books at Thacker Mountain Radio) 

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2026
9:00 a.m. Children’s Book Festival
First-grade: Sarah Frances Hardy and Steve Azar (One Mississippi)
Ford Center, University of Mississippi Campus 

11:00 a.m. Children’s Book Festival
Fifth-grade author: Lindsay Currie (The Mystery of Locked Rooms)
Ford Center, University of Mississippi Campus 

12:00 p.m. “Flash Class: Learn to Write Small While Lunching”
Flash-Writing Workshop and Lunch
Beth Ann Fennelly and Steve Almond
Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library
401 Bramlett Blvd.
(Lunch is free, but registration appreciated)

1:30 p.m. “Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries”
Nicholas Lemann (Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries)
Off Square Books
129 Courthouse Square

2:45 p.m. “Book Publishing: Inside and Out”
Michael Reynolds and Dan Simon (Ashland)
Off Square Books
129 Courthouse Square

4:00 p.m. “The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing”
Susan Gregg Gilmore (The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush), Kevin Sack (Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church), AJ White (“In Arcadia”)
W. Ralph Eubanks, moderator
Off Square Books
129 Courthouse Square

5:00 p.m. An Oxford Conference for the Book and Willie Morris Awards Celebration
Closing Reception and Book Signing
Reception hosted by the Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing
Music by Jeff Colburn, Slade Lewis, Paul Tate
Off Square Books
129 Courthouse Square