NATCHEZ — Perhaps more than any other culture in America, Southern culture stands apart.

One of the major aspects of Southern culture is the Civil War. And in honor of the 150th anniversary of the war, the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration is highlighting the Civil War’s mark on Southern Culture at its annual event this weekend.

“We’re not a history conference, but we looked at what we could do to celebrate this history,” NLCC Founder and Co-Chairman Carolyn Vance Smith said. “Look at the thousands of songs written about the Civil War, and the hundreds, maybe thousands, of films and books and works of art.”

Events for NLCC’s “Fiction, Fact, and Film: The Civil War’s Imprint on Southern Culture” celebration include:

Today

44-5:30 p.m.: 90th birthday reception honoring former Mississippi governor and annual NLCC Director of Proceedings William F. Winter at The Briars and Briarvue.

47:30 p.m.: Natchez Convention Center, official opening by Co-Lin President Ronald Nettles II and introduction of special guests. Author and LSU history professor William Cooper will give the keynote address titled “1863: Year of Crucial Decisions.”

Friday

410:30 a.m.: Presentation of the Thad Cochran Humanities Achievement Award to Cora Norman of Crossville, Tenn., Director Emerita of the Mississippi Humanities Council, by Sen. Thad Cochran.

Saturday

49 a.m.: “Art of Commemoration: Vicksburg National Military Park” by author J. Parker Hills of Clinton.

42 p.m.: “Now Occupied for Public Use: The Houses of Natchez Behind Enemy Lines” by Jefferson G. Mansell, historian at the Natchez National Historical Park.

47:30 p.m.: “From Division to Unity: Music in America from 1840-1870,” a concert presented by Natchez Festival of Music, the University of Southern Mississippi and the NLCC at Zion Chapel A. M.E. Church, 228 N. Martin Luther King Jr. St.

Sunday

41-5 p.m.: “The Federal Occupation of Natchez, 1863,” a tour of the Forks of the Road, The Burn and the Natchez City and National cemeteries.

Tickets are $25 and available at the convention center until Saturday and the Natchez Visitors Reception Center Sunday.

All of the NLCC events are at the convention center and are free, unless otherwise noted.

For a complete list of events, visit colin.edu/nlcc.

NLCC is sponsored by Copiah-Lincoln Community College, the Natchez National Historical Park and the Mississippi Department of Archives.

The event receives funding from the Mississippi Library Commission and Mississippi Humanities Council, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary and hosting its winter meeting in Natchez in order for its members to attend the NLCC, Smith said.