Reflections on the MS Book Festival

Welcome to Episode 17 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! Today’s episode is extra special because we’re taking you through our experiences at the one, the only Mississippi Book Festival. This is the annual event where we kicked our writing careers into high gear back in 2016. We’ve grown alongside this event, and we could not be more proud to be part of such an incredible program. Because so many people come together to make this festival such a success and we have so many great things to say about the day, we have quite a few links to share with you all and our episode is a little longer than our usual.

We want to hear how the QWERTY Challenge goes for you, too; so please drop us a line. Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

We mentioned a bunch of incredible people and places and want to share as many as we can with you, so here goes!

• Mississippi Book Festival: http://msbookfestival.com/
• Lorelei Books and owner Kelle Barfield, Vicksburg, MS: http://loreleibooks.com/
• Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants and Dogman: https://pilkey.com
• Janet W. Ferguson, author of the Southern Hearts series and the Coastal Hearts series: https://www.janetfergusonauthor.com
• Coffee Prose: https://coffeeprose.com
• Big House Books: https://bighousebooksms.org
• Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners (not mentioned by name because Joy couldn’t remember it!): https://lab2p.org
• P.J. Devere, author of Pour House and Pour Choices: http://pjdevere.com
• Michael B. Hewes and Sarah Hewes, author/illustrator (and son/mother) duo of The Tempestuous Trial of Maybelline Meriweather: http://riverroadpress.com/store/p44/Maybelline.html
• Lyn Roberts from Square Books, Oxford, MS: https://www.squarebooks.com/
• Mamta Chaudhry, author of Haunting Paris: https://mamtachaudhry.com/
• Lisa Patton, author of Rush: https://www.lisapatton.com/
• Deb Spera, author of Call Your Daughter Home: https://debspera.com/
• Katy Simpson Smith, author: https://www.katysimpsonsmith.com/
• Juliet Grames, author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna: https://www.julietgrames.com/
• Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth: https://www.juliaphillipswrites.com/
• Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of We Cast a Shadow: https://loweramericanson.com/
• Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto, Commonwealth and more and co-owner of Parnassus Books, Nashville: http://www.annpatchett.com and http://www.parnassusbooks.net
• Natasha Trethewey, two-time U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner: http://www.blueflowerarts.com/natasha-trethewey
• Beth Ann Fennelly, Mississippi Poet Laureate: https://www.bethannfennelly.com
• Poetry Out Loud: https://www.poetryoutloud.org
• Holly Lange, founder and executive director of the Mississippi Book Festival: http://msbookfestival.com/about/staff-board

For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.