The theme for this year’s Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration is The Great River Road, and the event honors the cultural and literary heritage of Mississippi and Louisiana.

The free event will be held Thursday through Saturday at the Natchez Convention Center with Thursday night being Cinema Night beginning at 5:30 p.m; Friday and Saturday’s events begin at 8:30 a.m. both days.

All programming at the Natchez Convention Center is free of charge and open to the public.  We are extremely grateful to the individuals who generously donate their time and money to help make the NLCC so successful. Without them and the annual support of our city, county, and state funding organizations, we would not be able to bring such quality programming to the public, free of charge.

The celebration kicks off Thursday evening with the Cinema Event at 6 p.m. with Mark Brockway and Tim Givens presenting their award-winning documentary “Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson.”

Mark and Tim will take audience questions at the film’s conclusion.

This year, we wanted the cinema component to focus on local filmmakers doing documentary work on topics of state and local history.

We all believe that it is important that our local documentary filmmakers have a venue where their voices can be heard.

At 7:30 p.m. Beverly Adams, Darrel White, Robert Morgan and G. Mark LaFrancis will present footage of their upcoming film “Women of the Struggle: Facing Fear in the Civil Rights Era” and we will open the floor to discussion and questions about their work. 

These events are free and open to the public.

The Celebration will continue Friday with presentations on the history and culture of the region, at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. 

After lunch, Gene Dattel will address the Jewish experience of the River Road. The last two presentations of the day will be an often overlooked aspect of River Road history — Pamela Arceneaux of the Historic New Orleans Collection will speak about her new book on Storyville New Orleans, home to that city’s brothels and Mark Brockway and Tim Givens will appear at 3:50 p.m. to discuss the making of their film, “Mississippi Madam” for the final session of the day. These events are free and open to the public.

Ticketed events for Friday include the annual reception for the NAPAC Museum at 5 p.m. (suggested $5 donation) and attendees are also invited to tour Concord Quarters conducted by the owner, Deborah Cosey. (Ticket required: $15). Tickets for the tours are available through the NLCC.

Saturday features some of the South’s most talented writers and cultural historians. The NLCC will reconvene at 8:30 a.m. at the Natchez Convention Center for a day featuring Beth Ann Fennelly, Poet Laureate of Mississippi at 9 a.m., followed by the Richard Wright Awards honoring Jack Elliott (journalist, Associated Press), and award-winning novelist Howard Bahr.  After lunch, Tom Franklin, New York Times best-selling author will present on Southern fiction, followed by James Beard Award Winner Michael Twitty on African influence in cuisine and his book, “The Cooking Gene.” The last session, by Dr. Karen Cox, will focus on the Rhythm Nightclub Fire. These events are free and open to the public. There are two ticketed events available for Saturday — the luncheon 11:30 a.m., at the Hotel Vue (tickets, $30), and the Gala Benefit Cocktail Buffett at Magnolia Hall ($60). All proceeds from ticket sales go to benefit future NLCC conferences. Contact the NLCC at 601-446-1208 for more information or to purchase tickets.

The event is sponsored by Copiah Lincoln Community College, The Natchez Convention and Promotions Commission, and by generous contributions of individuals throughout the Miss-Lou.

Brett Brinegar is co-chairman of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.