Volume 10 No. 2 Fall 2015 • The Eudora Welty Foundation INAUGURAL SMASH! On Friday evening before the festival, the Welty House and Garden was the scene of a cocktail BOOK FESTIVAL party welcoming the authors, their guests, and festival sponsors. Docents graciously helped ATTRACTS 3,500+ the staff offer tours, and some 300 visitors enjoyed the evening’s festivities.

udora Welty was front and center at Mississippi’s Holly Lange, festival executive director, said Efirst ever book festival billed as “A Literary Lawn the event greatly exceeded expectations in Party” at the State Capitol August 22. Keynote attendance and hopes it will stimulate contin- speakers referenced her, two panel discussions ued appreciation of literature and a focus on featured Welty topics and scholars, and many literacy. friends—old and new—visited the Welty tent staffed by the Foundation and the Welty House Attractions at the festival included an exhibit and Garden on the grounds. from the Library of Congress, book vendors, musicians, food trucks, and booths sponsored by Welty Foundation National Advisory Board member many non-profit organizations. See more photos authors were featured prominently. on p. 7. John Grisham was a major headliner, open- ing the festival, hosting a fundraising luncheon, and participating in a standing- room-only panel discussion at Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church.

Former NAB member From left, Tom Nolan and Suzanne Marrs, editors of Meanwhile There Are Letters; Peggy Prenshaw, moderator; Julia Eichelberger, William Ferris joined John Grisham Grisham for the open- editor of Tell About Night Flowers; and Sally Wolff, author of A Dark ing panel and moderated Rose, were featured in a panel discussion that drew a full house to

REVIEW the Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol. John Grisham the closing panel, which included NAB member Julia Reed. NAB member Margaret McMullan was featured on two panels. Discussing “Eudora Welty: Letters, Loves, and the Scholastic Latest Scholarship” were Suzanne Marrs, Tom WRITING ENTRIES DUE Nolan, Julia Eichelberger, and Sally Wolff with Peggy Prenshaw moderating. The discussion was ONLINE DECEMBER 16 carried live on C Span 2’s “BookTV,” which LLC Welty Eudora Courtesy also For the first time, entries into the Scholastic showed Welty House scenes shot earlier. Writing Awards program must be submitted exclu- sively online, according to Lee Anne Bryan, out- Participating in “Margaret Walker Alexander, Eudora reach and education specialist for the Eudora Welty, and the Making of Literary Jackson” were Welty House and Garden and coordinator for the Carolyn Brown, Marrs, Eichelberger, and Alferdteen program. Paper manuscripts will not be accepted. Harrison, with Robby Luckett moderating. Directions for entering may be found on the Scholastic website at artandwriting.org. The statewide Over 100 writers drew capacity crowds at every SUMMER Mississippi Regional Scholastic Writing Awards program event as readers and authors celebrated the writ- is sponsored by the Eudora Welty Foundation and ten word. Lemuria Books’ John Evans, festival administered by the Welty House staff with a gen- organizer, said “he hoped it would be a day Eudora erous grant from the C Spire Foundation. The awards Welty could look down from heaven and smile ceremony will be held Sunday, April 10, 2016, at the upon,” noted The Clarion–Ledger in its coverage. 1 Welty House and Garden. New Book of Correspondence Attracts Readers, Reviews ill They or Won’t They” is the provoc- “Wative headline in The Paris Review — the latest of the very favorable reviews of Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald. Suzanne Marrs speaks to a full house at Edited by Suzanne Marrs and Tom Nolan, History Is Lunch at the this moving exchange of letters documents William Winter Archives the deep friendship between Welty and Ken and History Building. Millar, who used the pseudonym Ross Macdonald. Called “an epistolary romance,” the book was released to widespread acclaim in July. Details about the crafting of the book and links to the reviews are on the Welty Foundation website at eudorawelty.org. Nolan visited Mississippi from his home in California for several readings, signings, and receptions with Marrs celebrating the book’s publication, pictured here. Billie Green and Pat Meiners enjoy the reading and reception at Lemuria Books.

Special Projects Coordinator Maggie Stevenson shows Nolan inscribes Phyllis Hollenbeck’s Nolan and Marrs an exhibit of books on loan by Lemuria’s copy of Meanwhile There Are Leters. Mary Taylor visits with Suzanne Marrs as she John Evans. Two are first editions of Ross Macdonald signs Taylor’s book at Lemuria. THERE ARE GREAT REVIEWS! REVIEWS! THERE ARE GREAT mysteries. The center book is The Eye of the Story by Welty, dedicated to Ken Millar and inscribed to him by her.

Nolan offers a toast to Marrs, joined by Welty House Kay Barksdale passes libations docents Cecile and Bill Wardlaw, Laura Flint, and Lee Anne for the traditional Welty toast to Chico Taylor and C. B. Carroll visit at the Lemuria reception Bryan, Welty House outreach and education specialist. “absent friends.” beneath the Welty quotation at the entrance to the store.

MEANWHILE : : MEANWHILE At left, Marrs and Nolan were hosted on a visit to the Gulf coast by author Margaret McMullan, who joined them for a reading and signing at Pass Christian Books/Cat Island Coffeehouse. The bookstore is owned by Scott Nagle, Millsaps alumnus and a former student of Marrs’s. In background is Suzanne’s husband, Rowan Taylor. Foundation Chair Holmes Adams and Gayle Adams, left,and 2 Photo courtesy Susan Shands Jones Mary Yerger Dunbar, board member, join the Lemuria fun. of her poem to the audience. Lauren Allen delivers areading session. session. ations to apublicaudienceat the closing in smallgroups andpresented their cre Students workshoppedtheir own writing professors. creative and writing sions withwriters featured inspiring Millsaps Collegepartnership, the workshop Eudoranated through Welty the Foundation/ McMullan Family Foundation andcoord Funded by agenerous grant from the held at MillsapsCollegein July. first McMullan Young Writers Workshop spent five creativity-packed days at the Scholastic Writing Awardsthe program in Twenty-two goldandsilver key recipients MCMULLAN YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP LAUNCHED LAUNCHED WORKSHOP WRITERS YOUNG MCMULLAN second row left, andRichard BoadaandMichaelPickard, third from last andlast onbackrow, are shown with students after the closingceremony. Liz Egan,kneeling front, Millsaps Writing Center coordinator, guided the activitiesof the students throughout the writing workshop. instructors Mary Miller, of the Welty HouseandGarden for students. Welty scholar SuzanneMarrs, left, directs a tour keynotes anddaily ses at the closing ceremony. Vernell Allen presents his work mans the book sales table. book mans the Maggie Stevenson of Lemuria Books i - - - one onone. Poet Richard Boadareviews Carly Austin’s work Welty Foundation National Advisory Board. came to aclose.McMullanismember of the tional address as the young writers workshop Author Margaret McMullandelivered amotiva Millsaps creative writing professor Michael Pickard leads a group discussion. large audience at History IsLunch. Suzanne Marrs introduces McHaney to the - students inasmallgroup session. Fiction writerMaryMiller.center, works with here hemeets student writer Aerial Adams. President Barack Obama’s secondinauguration, the sonof Cubanimmigrants. The featured poet at an inspiring talk basedonhismemoir of hislife as Poet Richard Blancoopened the workshop with 3 YOUNG WRITERS INSPIRED & INSPIRING 4 GARDEN PARTY AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS sions by Welty scholars , friends, and family. Biennial, which also included three panel discus Garden. The party was anevent of the Welty tours of the refurbished clubhousein the Woodland Eudora’s favorite music,storytelling, dancing,and House andGarden, the party featured someof Sponsored by the Welty Foundation and the Welty summer evening. side porch andin the CamelliaRoomonabeautiful some 200 guests gathered on the front lawn and Garden” came to life with great enthusiasm as “June Recital Remix:MusicandDancinginEudora’s PANEL DISCUSSIONS FEATURE WELTY THEMES GARDEN DANCE PARTY ATTRACTS BIG CROWD; Pollack hit the dance floor. Welty scholars Rebecca Mark,Pearl McHaney, andHarriet Guests of all ages enjoyed the evening’s entertainment. Swayze, andHoward andSusanShands Jones . Foundation Board Member Jean Medley, Jim ChildandMarion Beverly Fatherree, BiennialCurator DavidKaplan and Welty Guests, clockwise from top left, includedMarshall Bennett and

- vocalist LisaPalmer, provided swing andjazzmusic. The Session,part of the Capital City Stage Band, with serve refreshments. refreshments. serve the party, greeting guestsand helping faithful help volunteersamong the with to Docents Laura Mageeand Ann Bittick were and her well-known spoof of anHelena Arden ad,shown courtesy of Eudora Welty LLC. rations andprops were inspired by photographs of Eudora taken at clubhouse parties props they prepared to adda festive touch for photo opsin the clubhouse. The deco Welty HouseandGarden staff members Lee Anne Bryan, left, and Molly Knight display in Welty’s stories during the evening. Suzanne shared anecdotes about music LuAnn Marrs, were inaparty mood. Suzanne Marrs, right, andher sister, and History. Mississippi Department of Archives Galey, right, specialprojects officer, tured inapanelmoderated by Forrest Agner, andElizabeth Crews were fea Fellows Ebony Lumumba, Jacob Left, former Welty Graduate Research Welty White, andHunter Cole. Governor WilliamWinter,Mary Alice Suzanne Marrs, PattiCarr Black, introduces Weltyand family friends Above, DavidKaplan, Biennialcurator, appearance with the band. band. the appearance with professor, made aspecial Cheryl Coker, Millsapsmusic - - traits ondisplay. SpencermanyCarol tours through the Weltypor $10.00. Visit readers are stillavailable for purchase for benefitedect the Welty Foundation. A few artwork, andother income from the proj Sales of the book,prints of someof the Keys. readings by the authors andmusicby Center. The exhibition’s opening featured exhibited in Atlanta at the Goat Farm Arts In July the full array of portraits was Marrs. friends PattiCarr BlackandSuzanne words about Eudora by long-time Welty Keys of Stellarondo, bourbonpunch,and The evening includedmusicby Caroline ites for exhibition, as well. portraitsbring theirinvited were to favor Local artists and owners of other Welty Education and Visitors Center in June. played at apreview party at the Welty Twenty of the Welty portraits were dis inspired by the art. the southalong with four literary pieces tions of Welty by artists from across at right. The book features 20illustra The Eudora Welty Portrait Reader They collaborated on the publicationof southern stories. nected, they say, by alove of bourbonand Wallace, a team of creative soulscon Kate Medley, Brooke Hatfield,andEmily Reader project was brought to reality by The imaginative Eudora Welty Portrait PORTRAIT READER BENEFITS WELTY FOUNDATION PORTRAIT creative collage tribute to creativeWelty. Marion Barnwell andLuran Buchananstudy a eudorawelty.org/store for details. , shown ------Eudora Welty Branch, loaned for the preview. the portrait by Baxter Knowlton that hangs in the Foundation board member;and Tim Medley view Jackson- HindsLibrary System; Jean Medley, Welty Patti Furr, center, executive director of the Foundation National Advisory Board. portrait by William Dunlap,member of the Welty Garden Director Bridget Edwards admire the Musician Caroline Keys and Welty Houseand McKay, and West at Murrah HighSchool. Redhead, history, andBryan, English, taught Medley, Sabree, Bryan isoutreach andeducationspecialist. Former teachers, reception. Redhead, isa former director of the Welty House. McKay, Lydia West, Karen Redhead, andLee Anne Bryan at the has areunion with friends Emily Kate Sabree, Mary Elizabeth From left, Welty Portrait Reader project creator Kate Medley PROJECT Portrait Reader Preview exhibition. display at the Welty Educationand Visitors Center for the Welty Tyson, andbelow by Laurin Stennis were among those on Welty portraits, top from left, by PattiCarr BlackandSara reception. the Portrait Reader preview exhibit and Nicole Robinson enjoy themselves at Mary Claire Primos,Chandler Griffin,and Morse at the exhibition. Welty Foundation board member, andDiane Artist Laurin Stennis visits with Carla Wall, more information. more information. Garden. Call601-353-7762 for ting the Eudora Welty Houseand $50.00 from eachsalebenefit Visitors Center for $100.00, with sale at the Welty Educationand portrait, directly above, are on Prints of Laurin Stennis’s Welty - 5 SPECTACULAR SUMMER FESTIVITIES GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOW COMPLETES SUMMER WORK Ikuko Takeda, a Ph.D. candidate at Louisiana State University, worked during May in the Welty Collection at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), thanks to a fellowship made possible through the Eudora Welty Foundation. Takeda focused on the relationship of Welty’s writings to the short-story cycle as a genre. She reviewed Welty’s uncollected stories, 1925-1987; The Wide Net, 1942; The Golden Apples and related works, 1949; and relevant correspondence, 1918-2002. She says she is confident that this work will help her in the preparation of her dissertation.

2015 Welty Graduate Research Fellow Ikuko Takeda is welcomed The Welty Graduate Research Fellowship is awarded annually and re- to the public presentation of her resarch by Elizabeth Crews, the search is coordinated by MDAH. It includes a stipend of $2,000, which first graduate student to be awarded the fellowship. may be used for travel, housing, and other expenses. WRITERS WORKSHOP STORYTIME ON PORCH ATTRACTS HIGHSCHOOLERS IS A KID CROWD PLEASER Thanks to Clara Martin of Oz, the children’s book de- partment at Lemuria, and the creativity of the Welty House and Garden Outreach and Education staff, chil- dren enjoyed an abundance of stories and activities during June.

‘Reading, Jamie Dickson, Germantown High School English and creative writing instructor, led a writers work- Writing

EDUCATION shop for local high school students, hosted by the Welty House and Garden this summer. For four Monday mornings in June, eight young peo- and ple had their writing workshopped by Dickson, who has an MFA in creative Writing from Bennington Col- lege. In the photograph, he is instructing students in Welty how to use the Internet to find an agent and market their work. MARRS RETIRES FROM CLASSROOM, CONTINUES AS WELTY SCHOLAR IT’S ALL ABOUT

Advanced Placement English teachers visit the Welty House and Garden as part of their continuing education through the Welty Foundation/Millsaps College partnership. Suzanne Marrs, Welty Foundation Scholar -in-Residence, leads this tour and lectures in the annual workshop. Although Marrs retired from college classroom teaching at the end of the 2014-15 academic year, she continues to direct many other educational programs, events, and scholarly 6 work for the Welty Foundation, the Welty House and Garden, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Writing, and Journalism’s Influence onMississippi” at Galloway MemorialUnited Methodist Church across thestreet from theCapitol. A standing-room-only crowd gathered to hear William Ferris, Jerry Mitchell, and John Grisham discuss“What Reading Means for Our Culture: Reading, House andGarden tent Visitor to the Eudora Welty Foundation and Welty Salisbury, director, University Press of MIssissippi Mississippi Department of Archives andHistory; Leila Senator DavidBlount; ChrisGoodwin,publicinformation, Humanities Council; Jere Nash,Festival organizer; Carol Andersen, assistant director, Mississippi and Lusby Brown Author Julia Eichelberger, author Carolyn Brown ‘Literary LawnParty’Highlights students Author Howard Bahr with Belhaven University Robby Luckett Authors Sterling Plumppand Advisory Board member Welty Foundation National Author Margaret McMullan, of Mississippi;andauthor Polly Dement Morrison; Seetha Srinivasan, director emerita, University Press Archives andHistory; author DennisMitchell; author K.C. Katie Blount, executive director, MississippiDepartment of W. Ralph Eubanks, andKathy Ott, Library of Congress. Mississippi Department of Archives andHIstory; author Julia Young, Archives andRecords Servicesdirector, Reeves; andFestival Director Holly Lange ing secretary; EleeandLieutenant Governor Tate Mary Alice Welty White, Weltycorrespond Foundation also heldat Galloway. was on the closingpanel, Advisory Board member, Foundation National Reed,Author Welty Julia - 7 MISSISSIPPI BOOK FESTIVAL

Ellie Reeves Governor Tate Reeves and White Lieutenant White Lieutenant Alice Alice Mary 8 STAFF PROFILES CONSIDER OUR ONLINE DONATION OPTION: ENTHUSIASM TO THE WELTY HOUSE AND GARDEN VERSATILE NEW STAFF MEMBERS BRING EXPERTISE, Welty House. an outreach andeducationspecialist at the dral working with 6th–12th graders. Isabelis youth leader at St. Andrew’s EpiscopalCathe a concentration inmuseumstudies.Sheisa College where shemajored inart history with is a2015PhiBeta Kappa graduate of Millsaps Isabel Gray friends. niece Leslie Thompson Jacobs were good Jackson Prep, where she andEudora’s great and Eloise. A Jacksonian, Maggieattended and her husband, Steve, have two dogs, Tillie A graduate of Belhaven University, Maggie helping coordinate publicprograms. ects coordinator, working with docents and Friends of the Library. Maggieisspecialproj ture Series,andaboard member of Jackson programming for the Millsaps Arts andLec ty Press of Mississippi,co-vice-president of She ispresident of Bookfriends of Universi last 15 years of her career at Lemuria Books. lovers of Welty andreading, havingspent the Maggie Lowery Stevenson House andGarden. those of the hard-working staff at the Welty lege senior have added their special skills to Two new staff members andaMillsapsCol Facebook® page and the WeltyFoundation website: Keep up with the news and events on the EUDORAWELTY.ORG/CONTRIBUTE

Eudora Welty HouseandGarden’s , who is from Tupelo, Mississippi, PO Box 55685 .

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Jackson, MS39296-5685 is nostranger to eudorawelty.org - - - - - supporting many public functions. — greeting visitors, assisting with tours, and of Art. Molly is the administrative assistant . Shealso works at the MississippiMuseum the chance to work in the Welty environment up reading Welty andis very happy to have From Folsom, Louisiana, Molly says shegrew working at the Welty HouseandGarden. graduate next springandplans to continue Welty HouseandGarden inFebruary. She will at Millsaps,started working part-time at the jor inCommunicationsandReligiousStudies Molly Knight, museum studiesandexperience at Welty. with students. She is excited about using her Mississippi Museumof Art, principally working mer and interned for two semesters at the Isabel worked at Brown’s Art Gallery this sum

who ispursuing adoublema - - continues inher part-time role. House andGarden Staff. Molly Knight, below left, right, are welcomed new additions to the Welty Maggie Stevenson, above, andIsabelGray, below John Grisham Eudora in the Clubhouse ORGANIZATION JACKSON, MS U.S. POSTAGEU.S. NON-PROFIT PERMIT #65 PAID