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Program of the 32nd Annual

Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium 

October 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, 2020

The theme for this year's symposium is “'Walking Along in the Changing-Time': Southern Writers in Uncertain Times." It is inspired by Eudora Welty's story “The Wide Net.”

Times listed are approximate start times of each reading in Central Daylight Time. Sessions will be at the following times:

  • Thursday, 6-7 p.m.
  • Friday, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
  • Friday, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
  • Friday, 7-9 p.m.
  • Saturday, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

All sessions will be live-streamed on Facebook at our WeltySymposium Group.
Books are available for purchase through The Bookend.
For signed copies, contact the author through their author website.

author of Blackwood

Friday, October 23, 11:20 a.m.

Michael Farris Smith returns with his newest Southern Gothic novel, Blackwood, which Kirkus Reviews has praised as “A gleaming, dark masterpiece by one of Southern fiction's leading voices.” Smith explores the fictional southwest Mississippi town of Red Bluff, where strange and desperate acts could be buried in the kudzu that engulfs the town. Smith is Associate Professor of English at Mississippi University for Women, where teaches creative writing, 20th-century fiction, and world literature. Smith has also pubished short fiction and written screenplay adaptations of several of his novels, which are currently in production. His previous novels include The Hands of Strangers, Rivers, Desperation Road, and The Fighter, Nick, along with his much anticipated prequel to The Great Gatsby, forthcoming in January, 2021.

blackwood sm