Ralph Eubanks spent nearly a decade after returning to Mississippi in 2016 working through what it means to be from the Delta.
Throughout the course of researching, photographing and writing his book “Darkness on the Delta: How America’s Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land,” Eubanks said he gained a new appreciation and outlook for the region.
And when he discusses the culmination of the project, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday as the keynote speaker for the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium, Eubanks hopes others will take home a similar lesson when looking at the Columbus area.
“What I’m trying to do with that book is change people’s way of seeing the Mississippi Delta, and I hope that my speech has some impact on people who may not have visited the Delta,” Eubanks told The Dispatch. “… I think maybe seeing the Delta through a different lens is what I hope will happen. … (And) also to have that same impact on the person who reads the book to kind of alter their way of seeing (different parts of Mississippi) as well.”
The 38th annual symposium, which is set for Thursday through Saturday, will feature 12 authors, including Eubanks, presenting their works during various sessions, art displays and the return of The Welty Gala.
This year’s theme is “‘Like a Visitor from Nowhere’: Encounters in the Uncanny South,” which is inspired by Eudora Welty’s story “Moon Lake.”
Kendall Dunkelberg, director of the symposium, said organizers intentionally selected authors for this year’s symposium to ensure they fit with the theme, including Eubanks, who was also the keynote speaker for the 2021 symposium.
“He’s always a great speaker,” Dunkelberg said of Eubanks. “He’s steeped in the Delta, grew up there, and some of the time, and has been back many times. … He’s done really excellent work in telling about his personal story, while also looking at the economics of the Delta … ways that people in the Delta have tried to bring things (like) the economy up a bit, and the headwinds that people have faced.”
The symposium will kick off with the Welty Series art exhibit, which opens with a reception at 4 p.m. Thursday in Summer Hall. The exhibit will be on display for the entire weekend of events.
Eubanks’ reading is set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, after which there will be a reception and book signing in the lobby with all 12 symposium authors.
Events Friday will begin at 9:30 a.m. with presentations from Sarah Gilbreath Ford, professor of English at Baylor University; poets Marcus Wicker, professor of English at the University of Memphis, Kwoya Fagin Maples, professor of English at the University of Alabama; and author Amelia Franz.
Ford is also being recognized at the symposium for her novel “Of Women and Water: Submersion Stories in Eudora Welty’s Fiction,” with the Eudora Welty Prize, which honors a significant work published by the University Press of Mississippi. Her novel explores the use of water and immersion as symbols for women’s coming of age in Welty’s works.
Those authors will be joined by five Mississippi high-school Ephemera Prize Winners, whose poems, essays and stories were selected by MUW judges from 45 applicants to receive a $200 award and are published to The W’s online anthology, Dunkelberg said. Each student will also be given the chance to read their entry at the symposium.
At 1:30 p.m., Meghana Mysore, an assistant professor of English at the University of Virginia, will be reading from her debut short collection “Let All Our Ghosts Depart,” which focuses on women in the South Asian diaspora as they navigate their new lives. Poet Justin Wymer will read from his most recent novel “Let the Forest Go.”
Later that evening the Welty Gala, the annual fundraiser for MUW Scholarship Fund, will kick off at 7 p.m. in the Trotter Convention Center.
This year’s speaker is bestselling author, child abduction survivor and advocate Elizabeth Smart. Her presentation will take place at 8:15 p.m. and will be followed by a book signing.
Saturday events will pick up at 9:30 a.m. at Poindexter Hall with a reading by Ellen Morris Prewitt from her novel “When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women,” which is a fantasy novel exploring intergenerational relationships in the South.
Angela Ball, a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, will read from her collection “Steeplechase.”
John T. Edge, founder of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a contributing writer to Garden and Gun, will read from his memoir “House of Smoke,” which focuses on Edge’s childhood in Georgia and how his experiences led him to founding the nonprofit at Ole Miss.
David Armand will close out the symposium with a reading of his novel “Walk the Night,” which is a Southern Gothic horror novel. Armand will also talk about his memoir “The Roads We Travel,” which details stories of his difficult childhood and how he learned the art of writing throughout his life.
All symposium sessions and art exhibits are free and open to the public. The Welty Gala requires reservations; attendees can go to muw.edu/welty/gala/ or contact the MUW Foundation for tickets.
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