Mississippi Literature Community Class
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Class information
Hello! Thanks for your interest in the Mississippi Literature class! Read on to learn how to apply for a spot:
Beth Ann Fennelly, Distinguished Professor of English and four-time teaching award winner, has a mission to get more Mississippians reading and writing Mississippi stories. She has been chosen as a 2026-2028 University of Mississippi Faculty Laureate, a project of The Mississippi Lab, which is supported by the Office of the Provost and Underwritten by the Dr. Daniel W. Jones Endowment for Faculty Support. She will teach a free weekly Mississippi Literature class for the LOU community, each week focusing on different Mississippi authors, in order to shine a light on Mississippi’s out-sized contribution to our nation’s literary output.
Class will take place from 6-7:30 on nine consecutive Mondays, starting M Sept. 21 and continuing until M Nov. 16. All reading materials will be provided, free of cost. Literary background is not required—any interested adult can participate. Books are for everyone!
Class will be filled by lottery, which will be open from July 15 until Sept.1. Successful applicants will be notified on Sept. 1 and will receive further information at that time concerning class materials and the location (class will be in-person, not via Zoom, and will be held in Oxford).
If you’d like to be considered for a spot in the this free class, please fill out this form:
Apply for a spot
Class syllabus
M Sept 21: discuss William Faulkner stories: “A Rose for Emily” and “Two Soldiers.”
M Sept 28: Eudora Welty: “A Worn Path” and “Why I Live at the P.O.”
M Oct 5: Lewis Nordan, “Music of the Swamp,” Larry Brown, “Samaritans,” and Richard Ford “Rock Springs”
M Oct 12: Kiese Laymon: “You Are the Second Person” and “How to Kill Yourself Slowly and Others in America.”
M Oct. 19: Harrison Scott Key: “The Wishbone,” and discuss first part of Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
M Oct 26: Discuss Salvage the Bones
M Nov. 2: Mary Miller stories, Natasha Trethewey poems
M Nov. 9: Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Ann Fisher Wirth
M Nov 16: final class—celebratory reading/wrap up