Mississippi Arts Hour

This week on the Arts Hour, Lauren Rhoades talks with Louis Bourgeois, founder of the Mississippi Prison Writes Initiative, whose goal is to teach and encourage creative writing and the arts in prisons across Mississippi. They’re also joined by Corey Carroll, a formerly incarcerated writer and visual artist whose writing and drawings are included in the recently released anthology, edited by Louis...

Maria Zeringue talks with writer Minrose Gwin. Gwin is a native of Mississippi who was born in Tupelo. She has devoted much of her writing career to exploring Mississippi's landscapes, food, characters, and history. Her most recent novel, "Beautiful Dreamers," takes place on the MS Gulf Coast and follows a recently divorced single mother, Virginia Feather, her daughter Memory, and Virginia's best...

Kristen Brandt talks to Eliot Parker. Eliot is an author based out of Oxford with a new book titled Double-Crossed. This thriller follows the continued stories of investigator Ronan McCullogh whose past adventures are chronicled in Parker’s earlier works A Knife’s Edge, an Amazon bestseller, and Fragile Brilliance which received the Literary Merit Award from the West Virginia Library Association....

Larry Morrisey visits with jazz drummer (and Jackson native) Darrian Douglas. Douglas has been based in New York City for the past several years, but he spent the formative years of his professional career in New Orleans, where he played in Ellis Marsalis’ band, among others. Douglas is also the director of the Second Line Arts Collective, a New Orleans-based nonprofit that provides jazz education...

David Lewis speaks with author and historian Jasmine Holmes. Jasmine is a Jackson native and has written seven books. David and Jasmine talk about her inspirations, her work at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and her latest book, Yonder Come Day . If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.   https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast...

Poetry is alive and thriving in the Magnolia State! On the Mississippi Poetry Podcast you’ll hear poets sharing their work, telling their stories, and offering tips to help listeners flex their poetic muscles. In this episode, poet Melissa Ginsburg joins host and Mississippi Poet Laureate Catherine Pierce to talk about paper dolls, poetry as a lens, and the magic of focusi...

Maria Zeringue talks with artists Robin Whitfield and Shirley Hamilton. Robin is the founder of the non-profit, Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp, which was developed to manage and interpret the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve in Grenada, MS. Shirley is an art teacher, based in Winona, who also serves on the board of Friends of the Chkchiuma Swamp. In this episode, Robin and Shirley discuss their “Enchanted F...

Lauren Rhoades talks with Max Hipp, a teacher, writer, and musician from Oxford, Mississippi. Hipp's debut collection of short stories, titled WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU OPENS YOUR HEART, was published this year. The characters in this collection howl with loneliness. They've reached the ends of their coping mechanisms and bank accounts and are making terrible life choices and trying to recover in the...

Larry Morrisey talks with Memphis-based writer and filmmaker Willy Bearden about his new memoir, “Mississippi Hippie.” The book tells of his tumultuous childhood in Rolling Fork into his early years in Memphis as a twenty-something. Bearden mixes humorous stories of Delta characters with more somber looks at friends and family he has lost over the years. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, p...

Kristen Brandt talks to Kyle Hilton, a Jackson-based illustrator. Kyle is also the author of Art History Paper Dolls and Literary Paper Dolls. His work appears in publications like the New York Times, Variety, and The Wall Street Journal. They discuss Kyle’s path to becoming an illustrator and his process of creating unique representations of contemporary media. If you enjoyed listening to th...

Larry Morrisey travels to Pontotoc to visit with bluesman Terry “Harmonica” Bean. Bean’s latest record, “Drop Dead on Your Front Door,” has just been released by the Music Maker Foundation in North Carolina. Terry talks about his family roots in the blues, getting started playing in the Delta and his regular work in Europe. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to...

Lauren Rhoades talks with children's book author Allen R. Wells and New York Times-bestselling children's book illustrator Shamar Knight-Justice. Their beautiful new picture book, Danté Plays His Blues, was published earlier this year. Danté Plays His Blues is a tender and heartwarming children's book about a boy affected by housing insecurity who learns the power of expressing his feelings throug...

Kristen Brandt talks to Dr. Annette Trefzer of the University of Mississippi. Annette, a professor and writer based in Oxford, has edited a new book titled 'Faulkner, Welty, Wright: A Mississippi Confluence.' This collection of comparative scholarship examines connections among these three most influential and acclaimed of Mississippi's writers. Some of her past work has included Exposing Mississi...

Larry Morrisey talks with writer Snowden Wright from Yazoo City. Wright is a native of Meridian and his new book, “The Queen City Detective Agency,” is set there during the 1980s. Wright tells us about his pathway to becoming a writer and his interest in setting a book in his hometown. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.   https://donate.mpbfoundatio...

Kristen Brandt interviews Julie Whitehead. Julie works a freelance writer with a focus on mental health with, and her forthcoming book titled “Hurricane Baby” will release on August 20. This collection of short stories is based on the author’s experiences, observations and speculations about Hurricane Katrina but is presented through the lens of narrative fiction. They discuss Julie’s path to...

Lauren Rhoades talks with artist Noah Saterstrom, whose exhibition What Became of Dr. Smith is currently on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art. What Became of Dr. Smith envisions the life of Saterstrom’s great-grandfather, a traveling optometrist who, according to family lore, disappeared in 1924. Through a years-long search in state, local, and private archives, Saterstrom discovered t...

Revisiting a 2023 conversation between Mississippi Arts Commission Director David Lewis and Meridian Symphony Orchestra Education Director Kayla Fuentes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Larry Morrisey visits with Jim Beaugez, a music writer based in Clinton. Beaugez has been writing about Mississippi musicians and culture for the past decade for a number of national publications, including Rolling Stone, Smithsonian Magazine and Garden and Gun. He also produced “My Life in Five Riffs,” an online video series that showcased prominent guitar players demonstrating the songs that hel...

Lauren Rhoades talks with author Lawrence Wells, whose memoir, Ghostwriter: Shakespeare, Literary Landmines, and an Eccentric Patron’s Royal Obsession, was just published by the University Press of Mississippi, along with the novel Fair Youth, which he ghostwrote for Gertrude C. Ford. Larry is the director of Yoknapatawpha Press in Oxford, Mississippi, which he established with his late wife, Dean...

Larry Morrisey visits with writer Boyce Upholt. He writes articles on the natural world for a wide range of publications. Upholt has just published “The Great River,” a book on the history of man’s attempts to control Mississippi River. The book includes looks at the mound builder civilizations who built along the river, through the steamboat era and to today. Upholt examines the damage to the Mis...

Maria Zeringue revisits a conversation from 2022 with two traditional artists – quilter Janice Mitchell and tatter and jewelry maker, Alan Kolodny. Janice and Alan were both part of the exhibit, Mississippi Traditions: An Exhibit Celebrating Featured Artists of the Mississippi Folklife Directory. Janice recently passed away and we are sharing this episode in her memory. If you enjoyed listening to...

Maria Zeringue talks with musician Eden Brent. A native of Greenville, MS, Eden has spent her life playing tribute to the music of the region that raised her. As a talented piano player and songwriter, she carries on the tradition of Mississippi blues and boogie-woogie through her energetic performances and recording output. Eden is also a MAC Folk Arts Fellowship awardee and has been given numero...

Leslie Barker speaks to Jason Bouldin. Jason is a portraitist who works out of his Oxford-based studio. He is also the son of portrait painter Marshall Bouldin, whose career of more than 50 years as a professional painter is being celebrated by dual art exhibitions at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs. If you enjoyed listening to this...

Lauren Rhoades talks with filmmaker and FY24 MAC fellowship recipient Carys Glynne Snyder. After attending high school in Starkville, Carys graduated from Columbia University in 2019, where she studied screenwriting, acting, and art. Her short independent film “Io’s Lament,” which she wrote, produced, and starred in, won Best Homegrown Movie from this year’s Magnolia Film Festival. Carys is also a...

Larry Morrisey talks with singer/songwriter (and Jackson native) Dent May. He first came to prominence as a musician while living in Oxford, but he’s currently based in Los Angeles. His new album, “What’s for Breakfast?” features collaborations with other musicians, including the singer Jordana and the group Pearl and the Oysters. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider cont...