The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration will host Mississippi: A Literary Journey, Feb. 23-25 at the Natchez Convention Center, 211 Main St.

This is our 28th annual conference, and this year we honor the State’s bicentennial. Dr. Bill Ferris, Richard Grant, Sally Jenkins and more will be talking about the people, places and pivotal events that shaped the history and culture of Mississippi from statehood, to Civil War, to civil rights and beyond.

Only three events require tickets. Music of the People will be at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 at the First Presbyterian Church. This concert, featuring Alvin Shelby and the Holy Family Catholic Choir, is a “coming together concert” symbolizing our community united through the arts. This event will include a lecture on the history and significance of both congregations at the state level. All proceeds from this concert will go toward preservation efforts at both historic churches. Tickets are $15.

At 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, NLCC will host benefit luncheons at two venues — one at the Carriage House and one at Rolling River Bistro. Two talented young ladies will provide music at both luncheons — Taylor Spring at Rolling River and Jordan Nettles at the Carriage House. Tickets to your choice of luncheon are $30.

As always we will wrap up this year’s celebration with a benefit cocktail buffet honoring our speakers and award winners at historic Glen Auburn at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Randy Tillman.  Tickets are $60. We hope that you will join us, along with Richard Grant and all of our authors and award-winners, at this one-of-a-kind gala celebration. To purchase tickets to any of these three events, email nlcc@colin.edu or call 601-446-1208.

All events at the Natchez Convention Center are free and open to the public. We start things off with two documentary filmmaking teams on Friday, Feb. 23. At 4:30 p.m. there will be a screening of “The Parchman Ordeal: The Untold Story.” At 7 p.m. “Mississippi Madame: The Life of Nellie Jackson” will premier.  Filmmakers will conduct question-and-answer sessions following each film.

Friday’s speakers will explore the history and culture of Mississippi, beginning at 8 a.m. and feature Dr. Chester Morgan from the University of Southern Mississippi, followed by Dr. William Ferris of the Center for the Study of the American South. Ferris will present “The South in Color: A Visual Journal.” Denise Gee will speak on the culture of food and entertaining in Mississippi and Martha Rossignol will round out Friday’s presentations with “My Triumph,” the story of her pivotal role in integration and her deeply personal story of coming of age in the Civil Rights Era.

Saturday’s agenda begins at 9 a.m. with “A Conversation with Richard Grant.” Grant is the author of “Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta.” Afterward, we will honor investigative journalist Stanley Nelson and literary scholar Dr. Peggy Prenshaw with two Richard Wright Literary Excellence Awards. At 1 p.m., we will feature “A Conversation with Sally Jenkins.” Jenkins is the co-author of “State of Jones.” This interview-format presentation will center around Jenkin’s popular book on Newt Knight and the open defiance of Jones County to the state’s secession from the union and the Civil War.

We will conclude the festival with two dynamic speakers on contemporary Mississippi topics: Alysia Burton Steele of the Meek School of Journalism at the University of Mississippi and NancyKay Sullivan Wessman. Steele will speak on her on her book “Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom” and Wessman will give a multi-media presentation based on her book “Katrina, Mississippi: Voices from Ground Zero,” a riveting account of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”

All programming at the Natchez Convention Center is free of charge and open to the public thanks to the generous support of Copiah-Lincoln Community College, the Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration Commission, the Mississippi Humanities Council, the City of Natchez, Adams County Mississippi, the Natchez Convention and Promotion Commission, Mississippi Development Authority, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History  and the generous contributions of individuals throughout the state.
Brett Brinegar is the co-chair of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.