Mississippi Arts Hour

In this next installment of the Favorite Poem Podcast Project hosted by Mississippi Poet Laureate, poet and memoirist Mike Smith brings us Marianne Moore’s intriguing poem “The Fish.” Please listen—and enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kristen Brandt talks to Keri Davis. Keri is an artist, teacher, musician, and owner of Pacesetter Gallery, which opened in Flowood in 2021. The gallery features over 60 artists from across Mississippi. Keri has hosted hundreds of events, from art classes, workshops, plein air painting competitions, and creative events for the central MS area. The gallery has been voted Best Art Gallery by Mississi...

Larry Morrisey travels to Oxford to catch up with painter Charlie Buckley. Buckley remembers his years studying with artist and 2026 Governor’s Arts Awards recipient, Dottie Armstrong. He also explains how his “stacked houses” paintings have transformed into a long-term project for him. He’s now documenting historic buildings in communities across the state. If you enjoy listening to this pod...

Lauren Rhoades talks with New York Times bestselling author Ace Atkins about his new novel EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, a rollicking comedic thriller set in 1985, in which a suburban teen suspects his mom's new boyfriend is a KGB agent. Atkins is an award-winning author of more than thirty novels and numerous short stories. A former college football player and newspaper reporter, he's a rece...

Leslie Barker talks with performer, choreographer, and director Emma Pittman. Currently, you can see Emma as Cherry Valance on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning production, The Outsiders. After winning “The Search for Roxie,” she made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago. Join us for a conversation about Emma’s journey from Mississippi to New York City stages. Emma also speaks about the ex...

Larry Morrisey travels to Oxford to talk with the writer William Boyle. Boyle published his eighth novel, ‘Saint of the Narrows Street,’ earlier this year. He tells about the influence of legendary Mississippi writer Larry Brown’s work, his use of music as a way to describe his characters, and the “small-town” culture of the Brooklyn neighborhood where his novel is set. If you enjoy listening to t...

Kristen Brandt talks to Wade Acuff. Wade is an animator and illustrator living in Brandon, Mississippi. He has worked with major studios such as Netflix, Paramount, and Nickelodeon, and been involved in the production of films including Ma, Big Bad, and the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. His skill set is broad, ranging from illustration and concept work to 3D modeling and visual effects. If y...

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Favorite Poem Podcast series, hosted by Mississippi Poet Laureate Ann Fisher-Wirth. In this podcast, Melissa reveals the intricate complexity of H. D.’s beautiful, short Imagist poem “Oread.”   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kristen Brandt sits down with zine maker and National Folk Festival Folklife Area artist, Justin Ransburg. Justin is a visual artist who creates illustrations, comic books, murals, and mixed media artworks. He has created numerous murals in Jackson and statewide. They talk about his work and what attendees of the National Folk Festival can expect to see in his booth in the Folklife area. If you en...

Larry Morrisey visits with bluesman John Primer, one of the featured musicians at the National Folk Festival in Jackson, November 7-9. A native of Camden, Mississippi, Primer has been an important part of the Chicago blues scene since the early 1970s. He has worked with a “who’s who” list of blues legends, including Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, and Magic Slim. Primer has led his own band since the...

Leslie Barker talks with Lucie Wren Cooper and Tyler Tadlock. Individually, they are multidisciplinary artists. Together, they are the Jackson-based music duo, Sad Bath. Lucie and Tyler discuss the inspiration they find in Mississippi, the importance of community and collaboration, and their process of creating across disciplines. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider contributin...

In this third episode of the Favorite Poem Podcast Project, hosted by Mississippi Poet Laureate Ann Fisher-Wirth, Beth Ann Fennelly reads and discusses Shakespeare’s beautiful sonnet 29, “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes.”  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MAC Executive Director, David Lewis, chats with author John T. Edge to discuss his new book, House of Smoke. They also discuss Southern culture, John T's show "True South," and their shared work with South Arts, as well as the literary magnet that is Oxford, MS. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.   https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast . ...

Leslie Barker talks with writer and teacher, Catherine Simone Gray. An Emerging Writer in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity, her work has been published in The Bitter Southerner and The Michigan Quarterly Review: Mixtape. Catherine is the creator of the blog Unsilenced Woman and recently released her first book, PROUD FLESH: A MEMOIR OF MOTHERHOOD, INTIMATE VIOLENCE, AND RECLAIMING PLEASURE. In the interv...

David Lewis sits down with Landon Bryant to discuss his new book "Bless Your Heart". They talk about his journey as a social media personality and guru of Southern culture. Bryant shares his past work as an educator with the Mississippi Whole Schools program and talks about his current and future work moving into stand-up comedy. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider contributing...

Lauren Rhoades talks with author Addie E. Citchens about her widely acclaimed debut novel DOMINION, a searing family drama set in the Mississippi Delta. Citchens is a Clarksdale native who now lives in New Orleans. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Oxford American's "Best of the South." Citchens writings on blues history have been featured in Mississippi Folklife. On t...

This is the second installment of the Favorite Poem Podcast Series hosted by Mississippi Poet Laureate Ann Fisher-Wirth, featuring C. Liegh McInnis reading and discussing a poem by Margaret Walker. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Larry Morrisey talks with Hattiesburg-based photographer Betty Press. A Nebraska native, Press has lived in Mississippi for over 20 years. She has photographed throughout the state. Over the summer she was a featured artist in the biennial exhibition of Mississippi artists at the Mississippi Museum of Art. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.   htt...

The Mississippi Arts Hour goes international for this week's episode. Executive Director David Lewis is talking all about the Venice Architecture Biennale and speaking with Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum. At the American Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, MSU's two design research centers are on display, for the first time in the university's history. David interviews both center...

Kristen Brandt talks to Rae Nell Vaughn of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Jay Wesley, Director for the Department of Chahta Immi, as well as anthropologist and professor Tom Mould. They have collaborated on two related publications that represent some of the most comprehensive collections of Choctaw histories, stories, and traditions ever compiled into print. They discuss the two publ...

Leslie Barker talks with theatre artists, John and Diana Howell. They are two of the founding members of Fondren Theatre Workshop. Since its inception in 2003, Fondren Theatre Workshop has been committed to being not just a community theater, but a theater community. John and Diana talk about how it all started and some of the most memorable productions throughout the years. To name just a fe...

Lauren Rhoades talks with poet Kendall Dunkelberg, whose newly released collection of poetry is titled TREE FALL WITH BIRDSONG. Dunkelberg directs the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women. He is the editor of Poetry South, and has three previous poetry collections, BARRIER ISLAND SUITE, TIME CAPSULES, and LANDSCAPES AND ARCHITECTURES, and the textbook, A WRITER...

In this first podcast from the new series The Favorite Poem Project, Mississippi Poet Laureate Ann Fisher-Wirth discusses the American poet Emily Dickinson, reads her poem "A Bird came down the Walk—", and talks about the poem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Larry Morrisey sits down with musician and Meridian native Patrick Sansone about his radio show “Baroque Down Palace,” which has recently been added to MPB Think Radio’s Saturday night music lineup (6 p.m. on Saturdays). Sansone features a wide range of music from the 1960s and 1970s that incorporates classical or orchestral elements as part of the arrangement. “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles is a...

Mississippi Arts Commission Executive Director David Lewis sits down with some of the team from ‘Sipp Culture. Brandi and Carlton Turner founded and run the arts organization based in Utica. They talk about how 'Sipp Culture came to be and how community conversations drive their mission. Then they talk with Saint Allen Austin about the work he is doing for 'Sipp Culture and the Surdna Foundation f...