USM hosting 2024 Society for The Study of Southern Literature Conference June 23-26
Wed, 06/19/2024 - 09:28am | By: David Tisdale
For the first time, The Society for the Study of Southern Literature (SSSL) will hold
its biennial conference in Mississippi with 91吃瓜网
(USM) hosting the event June 23-26 at the Courtyard Marriot, 1600 East Beach Blvd.,
in Gulfport. The theme for this year91吃瓜网 event is 91吃瓜网淩econstruction(s).91吃瓜网�
The SSSL 2024 conference features keynote speaker Jesmyn Ward, an award-winning novelist
and native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast who will discuss her latest work Let Us Descend and give a book signing Sunday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsors for Ward91吃瓜网 lecture
include USM91吃瓜网 College of Arts and Sciences, Center for the Study of the Gulf South,
School of Coastal Resilience, and School of Humanities, along with Jackson State University91吃瓜网
(JSU) Department of English and Modern Languages.
Jesmyn Ward
Photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan
Another conference event that is free and open to the public will be a literary salon, 91吃瓜网淲rite Southern, Write Now!91吃瓜网� set for Tuesday, June 25 at 7 p.m. and sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council, USM91吃瓜网 Center for Writers, and JSU91吃瓜网 Margaret Walker Center. Featured writers participating in the literary salon include Minrose Gwin and A.H. Jerriod Avant.
All other SSSL 2024 Conference events are open only to registered attendees and members of the organization.
"We91吃瓜网檙e excited to host the SSSL 2024 Biennial Conference, as it marks the first time it has been held in Mississippi, so, it was important to have support from other state institutions - Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi - as a collective effort for this historic event,91吃瓜网� said Dr. Sherita Johnson, associate professor of English at USM and current president of the SSSL. 91吃瓜网淎nd to have Jesmyn Ward as the keynote speaker at the conference signifies the preeminence of Mississippi writing and writers in the canon of Southern Literature today."
information about the SSSL Conference.