To mark Baldwin’s centenary, the Authors Guild Foundation invites you to join a conversation featuring writers, scholars, and essayists on the work of James Baldwin. On May 21, join Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. and W. Ralph Eubanks for a discussion of Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son.”
Join Maude Schuyler Clay and Ralph Eubanks for an insightful discussion on the legacy of MAX Hall of Fame photographers William Eggleston and William Ferris and their influence on a new generation of Mississippi creatives, including Kate Medley. Also enjoy a documentary short about William Eggleston by Kate Medley and Jesse Paddock.
Natasha Trethewey, author of The House of Being (Yale University Press, 2024) will participate in the Thirty-First Oxford Conference for the Book, sponsored by the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Trethewey will be in conversation with W. Ralph Eubanks at 1:00 p.m. on April 3, followed by a book signing that afternoon at Off Square Books.
Revival: Lost Southern Voices, a festival for readers, celebrates historically excluded, erased, or marginalized Southern voices. During this annual conference, invited presenters discuss Southern authors or artists whose works are out-of-print or otherwise do not receive the attention they deserve. David Rae Morris will discuss the work of his father, Willie Morris, and W. Ralph Eubanks will discuss the work of Mississippi Delta native William Attaway.
Following an illustrated presentation of images and insights from historians and conservationists alike, Boyce Upholt, author of The Great River, will be joined by author and essayist W. Ralph Eubanks. Their discussion of The Great River will illuminate what the river was and is—its power, purpose, and impact through time—from its source in northern Minnesota to where it meets the Gulf of Mexico below New Orleans.
At this year’s Mississippi Book Festival—which is in its tenth year—Eubanks will participate in a panel on a new documentary and book on the life of Mississippi writer Eudora Welty. Seen through the backdrop of Jackson, Mississippi, the documentary and book Eudora is a revealing portrait of adventure, daring, humor and love as we meet a writer we only thought we knew.
Join me for an author talk with Pete Candler about how Pete's road trips through the American South led to a personal confrontation with history in his new book, A Deeper South.
In A Deeper South: The Beauty, Mystery, and Sorrow of the Southern Road, Pete Candler offers a travel narrative drawn from twenty-five years of road-tripping through the backroads of the American South. Featuring Candler's own photography, the book taps into the public imagination and the process of both remembering and forgetting that define our collective memory of place.
Join us for a conversation between author Jesmyn Ward and author and essayist Ralph Eubanks about Ward's newest novel, "Let Us Descend," a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. This author talk is part of the 2024 Arlington Reads spring series, "James Baldwin Centennial," which celebrates what would have been James Baldwin's 100th birthday in August 2024 with a series of authors whose work is about or influenced by James Baldwin.
Grace Elizabeth Hale will visit Columbus, Mississippi to discuss her new book In the Pines: A Lynching, A Lie, A Reckoning. Hale will be in conversation with friend and author Ralph Eubanks at the Omova Theater in Columbus. The event is co-sponsored by the department of history at Mississippi State University, Friendly City Books, and the Columbus (MS) Arts Council.
Black Power was a broad, heterogeneous phenomenon that appealed to a multi-hued chorus of activists in the African American community, including the 89 students who were arrested at the University of Mississippi in 1970. In this keynote address for the Mississippi Historical Society, author W. Ralph Eubanks will discuss the significance of the 1970 Black Power protest at the University of Mississippi and how student arrests related to the 27 demands of the university’s Black students represents one of the last stands of massive resistance to integration and Black equality..
Claire Dederer, in conversation with Ralph Eubanks, will discuss her book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma. Dederer explores the audience’s relationship with artists from Michael Jackson to Virginia Woolf, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work?
The latest Vocation of the Writer Lecture at the College of the Holy Crossfeatures W. Ralph Eubanks, the author of A Place Like Mississippi. The Vocation of the Writer Lecture is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program as part of its Working Writers Series and the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
W, Ralph Eubanks will deliver the annual Holtzclaw Lecture on “The Mississippi Delta Beyond the Blues” October 16th, 2:00pm. Eubanks argues that every American should develop a closer idea of the real Mississippi Delta beyond the mythology that has been constructed over the years. In this talk, he’ll examine the political, policy, and cultural issues that have disadvantaged the people of the MIssissippi Delta and the myths that prevent us from seeing them.
In his keynote address for the Rural Sociological Society, Eubanks will discuss how the story of the Mississippi Delta is one that reveals how America's thirst and ambition for transformation and reinvention—such as the current emphasis on cultural tourism as an economic force—is often made on the backs of the poor and disadvantaged.
In Built from the Fire, journalist Victor Luckerson moves beyond the mythology of Black Wall Street to tell the story of an aspirant black neighborhood that, like so many others, has long been buffeted by racist government policies. Through the eyes of dozens of race massacre survivors and their descendants, Luckerson delivers an honest, moving portrait of this potent national symbol of success and solidarity—and weaves an epic tale about a neighborhood that refused, more than once, to be erased. He will discuss his book in conversation with University of Mississippi professor W. Ralph Eubanks
In Nature’s Messenger acclaimed writer Patrick Dean follows Catesby from his youth as a landed gentleman in rural England to his early work as a naturalist and his adventurous travels. A pioneer in many ways, Catesby’s careful attention to the knowledge of non-Europeans in America—the enslaved Africans and Native Americans who had their own sources of food and medicine from nature—set him apart from others of his time. Patrick will be in conversation with friend and author Ralph Eubanks on Monday, June 19th at 5:30 PM @ Off Square Books.
Books and Gin is a series featuring food, music, drink, and Mississippi writers. The first Books and Gin series at the Beaver Creek Distillery series will be a reading by W. Ralph Eubanks. The Beaver Creek Distillery is located in the Piney Woods town of Bassfield, just a few miles from where Eubanks grew up in Mount Olive.
Rivers and waterways have inspired storytelling since human history began on the banks of majestic estuaries. RiverRun’s three-part Literary Series, curated by author Marie Arana, celebrates great written works that reflect the beauty and importance of our waters. W. Ralph Eubanks, along with Delia Owens, Leila Philip, and David Quammen, will be part of a panel called The Waters We Need to Save , which will address exploration, history, and climate change.
Join National Book Award-honored authors Jonathan Escoffery (If I Survive You, 2022 Fiction Longlist) and Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, 2020 Fiction Finalist) for readings and conversation on what it means to belong, both in and outside of their fiction, and in and outside of the South. Moderated by W. Ralph Eubanks, author of A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through a Real and Imagined Literary Landscape.
Mississippi will host its first ever Banned Books Festival on March 25 in response to school districts removing scores of library books that have yet to be “approved.” Writers Kiese Laymon and Jesmyn Ward will discuss their writing and its relationship with censorship in conversation with fellow writer W. Ralph Eubanks.
What happens to move things from a blank page to a beautiful book? This panel discusses the ongoing struggle to give voice to the ways Black writers find joy, the ways we resist, the ways we declare our will to be free. We explore the perspective of Black writers on the craft of writing and storytelling and the unique voice we bring to the page. Panelist include Jericho Brown, Tiphanie Yanique, Darlene Taylor, and W. Ralph Eubanks.
The Governor’s Arts Awards program signifies the important relationship between government and the arts. Established in 1988, the Governor’s Arts Awards recognize individuals and organizations who have made noteworthy contributions to or achieved artistic excellence in Mississippi. The awards are presented each year by the Mississippi Arts Commission in partnership with the Governor’s Office.The award ceremony at the Two Mississippi Museums is free and open to the public though capacity may be limited.
Though there are no statues honoring the Confederacy to be found in Boston and Cambridge, award-winning author W. Ralph Eubanks discusses the historic memorials that obscure the achievements of Black Americans. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation with the Mississippi native on his experience spending a year surrounded by the monuments of the American North and his recently published book on the landscape and literature of his homeland A Place Like Mississippi.
W. Ralph Eubanks will discuss the cultural and literary importance of the Mississippi Delta as well as the ways the work of Tennessee Williams remains relevant in understanding the cultural influence of the Delta.
