2008
Delta Literary Tour

March 31
through
April 3

The Delta tour was $475 per person for all program activities, eight meals, and local transportation (the fee did not include lodging).  Group accommodations were arranged at the Alluvian in downtown Greenwood, the Greenwood Best Western, and the Hampton Inn.

Details about the conference and tour are posted on the conference website: LINK.  

Hillary Jordan
author of
Mudbound
ALGONQUIN

It's 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband's Mississippi Delta farm—a foreign, harsh and frightening place. In the midst of the family's struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land.

Jamie McAllan, Laura's brother-in-law, is everything her husband is haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero.

The unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms is the primary force driving this powerful novel.

Authors Jordan & Barnwell with tour guest at McCormick Book Inn.
 

2008
Mississippi Delta Literary Tour:
March 31 - April 3

The place, the people, the food, and the music that inspired Mississippi writers

The legendary locale that historian James Cobb calls "the most southern place on earth" —the Mississippi Delta—is the site of an annual spring tour organized by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture (University of Mississippi, "Ole Miss").

Focusing on the area’s legendary blues, writers, and food—along with its tumultuous history, the 2008 Delta Literary Tour visited Greenville Tuesday, April 1.

The spotlight was on city native David Cohn (1894-1960), a prolific national journalist, speech writer for national Democrats and author of ten nonfiction books noted for keen social observation and commentary. His best known work may be Where I Was Born and Raised, a meditation on the Mississippi Delta and the relationship between its blacks and whites during the 1930s and ’40s.

Tuesday's tour began at Hebrew Union Temple with a welcome by Greenville photographer/writer Franke Keating and Temple congregation president Benjy Nelken & vice president Richard Dattel.

Greenvillians joined out-of-towners from as far away as California and Massachusetts for W. Kenneth Holditch's presentation, “Where I Was Born and Raised & Other Writings of David Cohn.” Audience questions and comments were lively.

Guests toured the temple and congregation's museum rooms with their hosts before lunch in the assembly hall. Mary Dayle McCormick of Greenville's McCormick Book Inn delivered a bit of town history "a la Cohn."

Following lunch, it was back on the bus for a ride along the streets Cohn knew "Where Main Street Meets the River," or in this case, the levee.  Guests saw Lake Ferguson, a cut-off  from the Mississippi River. It was just days before the projected 2008 crest at possibly 6 feet above flood level.

An unscheduled afternoon stop at E. E. Bass Cultural Center offered two treats: the Greenville Arts Council exhibit "Franke & John Keating" and a view of the Delta Children's Museum's 1901 Armitage Herschell Carousel.

Chilly spring mist didn't daunt a short walk into Greenville Cemetery. The highlight was viewing the Percy family gravesite monument created by sculptor Malvina Hoffman (The Knight, rt, photo by C. Blanks). Mary Dayle read excerpts from Will Percy's Lanterns on the Levee at the site, as well as words by David Cohn on mortality.

Hot coffee and sweets awaited the tour group at McCormick Book Inn, just up the street. There, Mary Dayle and Hugh displayed their book store's Greenville Writers' Display, as well as a special David Cohn collection. After their "Cohn Quotes & Comments" Mississippi artist Bill Dunlap spoke about the Delta's visual art history. Marion Barnwell, co-author of Touring Literary Mississippi, offered her perspective on Greenville's writers.

Debut novelist Hillary Jordan's reading from her Mudbound was a special treat, since the setting is in and just outside post-WWII Greenville. 

All the tour authors signed their books for tour and local guests. Then it was time for cocktails at the home of Greenville Arts Council co-founder, Leila Wynn.

Conversations continued at Doe’s Eat Place. The tables were piled with the steak house's world-famous food.

Sated with information, ideas, conversation and fine food, the 2008 Delta Book Tour participants managed to climb on the bus that night for the trip to their Greenwood hotel rooms.

2008

(RIGHT) Bill Dunlap, Franke Keating, Marion Barnwell & guests listen to Hugh & Mary Dayle (ABOVE) discuss David Cohn and Greenville's literary history.