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Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2012 Oxford Conference for the Book!  Plans for the 2013 conference are already underway.  We’ll share details beginning this summer, as well as a new website.

Contact Becca Walton at rwalton@olemiss.edu if you have questions or suggestions!

The 2012 Conference

The 2012 Oxford Conference for the Book will be the 19th annual event to celebrate books, reading, and writing while also examining the practical concerns on which the literary arts and the humanities depend, including literacy, freedom of expression, and the state of publishing.

The Conference for the Book, set for March 22–24, 2012, will open with a lunch and lecture on the history of the book in the United States by scholar David D. Hall. That afternoon Beth Ann Fennelly will host a celebration of National Poetry Month, joined by poets Nicole Cooley and Brad Richard. Immediately following will be a Writers Conversation between author Richard Ford and current John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence, Josh Weil. A panel moderated by Charles Reagan Wilson entitled “Writing Black Freedom Movements” will include Randal Jelks, Allen Tullos, and Michael Thomas. That evening a special Thacker Mountain Radio show will feature author and musician Bobby Keys along with Charlie Winton.  A cocktail reception will follow at the Barksdale-Isom Place.

Each year, two Friday morning sessions are devoted to educational programming and the celebration of literature for young people. All Oxford-area fifth- and ninth-grade students (nearly 1,000 readers) receive their own copies of books by the visitors and go to the conference to hear the authors speak about writing and reading. Elise Broach will discuss her book Masterpiece with fifth graders, and James Dashner will speak to ninth graders about The Maze Runner.

At noon on Friday, participants can attend a Poetry Craft Talk and Lunch with Nicole Cooley at the Lafayette County Oxford Public Library. Other Friday activities include a panel moderated by W. Ralph Eubanks entitled “Geography in Fiction: Real and Imagined” with writers Steve Yarbrough, Frederick Reuss,and Richard Grant, as well as a panel on writing biographies, moderated by Curtis Wilkie and including John Aloysius Farrell, Ken Auletta and Jon Meacham. Bobby Keys, former saxophonist with the Rolling Stones, writer Bill Ditenhafer, and publisher Charlie Winton will read later that afternoon.  At 5:30, Baratunde Thurston will read at Off Square Books, followed by a reception and book signing. 

Saturday panels include commentary on the future of reading and literacy with Elaine H. Scott and Claiborne Barksdale, followed by a panel on “The Urge Toward Memoir,” which will be moderated by Bill Dunlap and include Randy Fertel, Julia Reed, and Norma Watkins. Following the memoir panel, Jack Pendarvis, Anya Groner, Maud Newton, and Michael Bible will discuss blogging and online publishing.  After lunch, John T. Edge of the Southern Foodways Alliance will lead a talk about food writing featuring Brett Anderson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Kim Severson of the New York Times, and Randy Fertel, whose new book, The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak, has garnered much attention.

The conference will come to a close with an afternoon panel on the future of publishing with Square Books owner, Richard Howorth, and Barbara Epler and Declan Spring of New Directions Publications, followed by a reading moderated by Tom Franklin including Michael Downs and Jennifer Dubois.

The University of Mississippi and Square Books sponsor the conference in association with the Junior Auxiliary of Oxford, Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library, Lafayette County Literacy Council, LOFT: Lafayette/Oxford Foundation for Tomorrow, Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance, and Southern Literary Trail. The 2012 conference is partially funded by the University of Mississippi, a contribution from the R&B Feder Foundation for the Beaux Arts, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Oxford Tourism Council, and the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council.