Note: Soul Sessions is produced as a podcast first and designed to be listened to. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes the emotion and inflection meant to be conveyed by human voice. Our transcripts are created using AI and human transcribers, but may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting.

PAUL:

Some people say you can't judge a book by its cover, but when it comes to the Mississippi Book Festival, absolutely should judge it by its incredible lineup of literary rock stars. Hey, it's Paul Wolfe for the front row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places, and events that make the city with soul shine.

On today's show, we're talking with Dr. Tonja Murphy, the Community Engagement Director for the Mississippi Book Festival, about what she calls their Super Bowl, the annual literary lawn party happening September 13th at the Mississippi State Capitol. From debut novelists to cookbook characters like Swamp Dogg, from writing workshops to children's poetry sessions, Tonja is helping to orchestrate a day that can help anyone fall back in love with reading.

We have an author of many genres here with us today. You have written a ton of books, haven't you?

TONJA:

I have, yeah.

PAUL:

Tell me about some of those.

TONJA:

Let's see. So I've done some short story collections. I've done two novels. Let's see some journals, one children's book. I've actually did something really cool. Two couples that got married did videos and interviews of them. And I wrote a collection of short stories of their love story for their wedding.

PAUL:

That's the coolest. I love that.

TONJA:

Yeah.

PAUL:

A lot of your books are available at Lemuria bookstore, right?

TONJA:

Two of them are available at Lemuria. The others you can order, you know, online, Amazon or, you know, my website or something like that. But yeah, yeah. So I love reading and writing too. I really believe this is like a dream job. What I get to do now with children and books and reading and writing.

PAUL:

Because your role with the Mississippi Book Festival is primarily an educational one, right?

TONJA:

It's like an educational one. I do community engagement. But one of the biggest parts of my job here is the Turn the Page program. And with Turn the Page, we take authors to schools around the state and the children get to experience an author, get to know them a little bit up close. The author shares their work, but they also do some creative writing while there because you know, Mississippi is full of just wonderful writers and authors. And so what better place to meet our next generation of authors is right in their classrooms, in their schools around the state. I have a wonderful time just traveling all over the state, meeting students and principals and teachers and librarians with Turn The Page.

PAUL:

I've heard Mississippi Book Festival executive director, Daniels call these authors her rock stars. And so I guess I can use another analogy to talk about your Superbowl is about to be upon us. The Mississippi book festival is Saturday, September 13th at the Mississippi State Capitol. You've got to be excited. This day is about to, is about to be upon us.

TONJA:

We are all so excited. It's, you know, the planning starts pretty much the day after the last festival. People have such a great time. I have authors that are already reaching out like right after the festival saying, know, “Hey, I have a book coming out next year. I would love to be a part of this.” And then we have so many people who reach out and say, you know, this is, if not the best book festival they've attended, this is like right at the top of their list. And it's because of, you know, how we do Mississippi. Mississippi does Mississippi well. And with the book festival, you know, people really get to experience so many things and so many parts of Mississippi there. So yeah, this is our, this is our Super Bowl.

PAUL:

One of the things I've always loved about the Mississippi Book Festival is you can get up close and personal with your favorite authors, whether you hear them in a panel or presentation or whether you visit them at the tables to get your book signed. This is a really special event for a lot of lit lovers.

TONJA:

It really is. And one of the things, too is with that up close and personal, you hear their conversations about their work. You hear, you know, why they decided to write what they're writing, why they decided to share it, and, you know, even share it now. So that's really, really important. And then also, like you said, you can get your book signed. You can support local booksellers in getting their books and then getting their book signed. You know, I talking to someone recently about, you know, people saying, you know what, I was always in love with reading and I fell out of love with reading, but I need to get back to it. And I tell them, come to the Book Festival. We will help you find your love again. So whatever your book is, whatever kind of book you like, whatever genre you can fall in love with reading again, by coming to the Mississippi Book Festival.

PAUL:

And I tell everyone too, even if you're not a big reader, come to the festival. The topics of the presentations are just fascinating and they're from all walks of life. All walks of life. We have children's books, we have middle grade books, we have fiction, nonfiction, Christian contemporary. One of the things that's new, this one not necessarily new this year is there'll be a lot of opportunities to actually write. So we have different workshops where if you want to write and be guided in writing exercises, not just for adults, we have those things for, we have a children's poetry writing workshop. We have a tweens and up creative writing workshop. We have something for adults in writing. We also have a screenplay where you can do some script writing and screenplay writing this year. So not just reading, you'll have an opportunity to write as well.

PAUL:

That portion of the festival seems to grow every year. Doesn't it?

TONJA:

It does. It does grow. And we have to grow in those ways because of course we're going to have more authors and what better place to get some hands on with the experts on writing. What better place to do it than at the Mississippi Book Festival? So yeah, so we're excited about that. And then, know, also we have a lot of stuff going on on the community lawn. We have things going on for children on the community lawn. We have bead making. We'll have, it's one author that'll be here. The book is about the Rubik's Cube. So children will be able to design and color their own Rubik's Cube.

In the children's tent, they'll be able to make bracelets in the children's tent. It'll be a story time in that children's tent. Right outside of there, we'll have live music going on throughout the day. And then also because it's the community lawn, we'll have organizations that people can go by, check out those tables, get information about what's going on in the community, not just in Jackson, but across the state.

PAUL:

And food trucks too, with some grab and go options as well.

TONJA:

Of course, if you're going to be out there all day, we have got to feed you. So we have all kinds of food trucks, beverages, places that you can sit on the lawn if you want to sit under a big fan, cool out, start reading that book that you just bought from a local bookseller. Got to throw that in. So there's so many opportunities to do that. I really want to encourage people, make it a day. Don't just look at the panel grid and say, you know, “I think I want to go to this panel. I think I want to go to that panel. No, look at the day. Look at all you can do in a day. Park your car, get out, plan what panels you want to go to plan, what writing workshops you want to go to playing your lunch break, playing it. Just sit down and chill out on the lawn. So it is a day is just playing to spend the day with us.

PAUL:

What are some of the big highlights you're looking forward to from the authors and presenters at this year's festival? It is just so, it's so many. One of the authors I'm looking forward to seeing is Eddie Kitchens. Chitchens, I think her last name is Chitchens. I want to make sure I pronounce it correctly. She was born in Clarksdale. She resides in Louisiana now. And she's a graduate of Jackson State. And this is her debut novel, Dominion. So I'm looking forward to seeing her, meeting her. I actually finished her book recently. And I tell you, it's good.

One book that caught my attention because we were looking at it a lot in the office because of the design and how it was done, it's called Swamp Dogg. Well, the book isn't Swamp Dogg, that's the author. If you can Kill It, I Can Cook It. It's just, but the way the book is designed and laid out, was just so, so amazing. They put in so much work into making this, just a beautiful book with recipes and stories and the photography and all of that.

PAUL:

Can I just say that I saw a documentary about Swamp Dogg back in April. This guy is a character. I mean, you can't miss if nothing else come to the Book Festival for Swamp Dogg.

TONJA:

Yeah. When I was looking at the book and we were opening and it's just, it just keeps opening. I mean, it's just flaps and all of the things. And I was like, my goodness. This is, this is amazing. And so much work and so much detail was put into this book. And I'm sure that that panel, and it's a cookbook panel, and it's up to other authors on that panel as well. It's going to be really colorful. And local chef, Enrika Williams is actually moderating that panel. So it's going to be a very colorful panel. yeah. Yeah. So looking forward to that.

PAUL:

Anybody else that's standing out to you on the schedule?

TONJA:

Of course, Jason Reynolds and he has been here before. So Jason Reynolds, Tracy with the Stacks podcast and Kiese Laymon. I would have a conversation among friends and Kiese and Jason are exceptional writers. They know their audience. They write for their audience and to be able to talk to Tracy and them have that conversation. Looking forward to that because they write for young readers. And they also write for, you know, middle grade adults, but the way they write is so, it's so special. It's so, it lands where it needs to land. And I just encourage anyone, especially with Jason, anyone that has a young person in their life and they want to share something that is powerful and special in a book that really gets to it and the emotion to read something by Jason Reynolds. But the Kiese is the same way. And the first book I was introduced to with Kiese was Heavy. And Kiese would say this line in that book. And I'm telling you, it was almost as if I would have to put my hand literally on my chest to read that line because he was saying so much in so few words, but I could feel every word. And to have them to have that conversation with someone who is their friend, just to even be in their room is going to be, it's going to be special.

PAUL:

It's a powerful day for children and adults. It's Mississippi's literary lawn party, and it is absolutely free at the state Capitol and on the grounds. I would hate for you to miss it, but if you do. You capture so much and put it on your website and there's podcasts and C-SPAN will be there. But if you don't get there for the actual day of the festival, there are other ways to participate, right?

TONJA:

Leading up to the festival, we have other events that go on. We have our free pre-fest party. It's a community party that's happening on that Thursday evening at The Plany. We'll have that. we'll have some school visits that will be going on that week. But one the things is, because we want to reach as many students as possible, we actually have a keynote and we have some students that come in and are here in person, but that is available to any school that wants to log in across the state. And after the event, we actually send a few copies to each one of those schools so they can have the book available at the library at the school. So we want to make sure that we are reaching as many people as we can reach. And of course we want to reach the children too.

We'll put all that information in our show notes so that folks can link in and sync up with what's going on with the Mississippi Book Festival. Tonja, I really do appreciate you taking time to tell us more about it. And we look forward to seeing you on Saturday, September 13, downtown.

TONJA:

Thank you so much. And I look forward to seeing you, Paul!

PAUL:

My thanks to Tonja Murphy with the Mississippi Book Festival. It's pretty clear this isn't just an event. It's a celebration of the written word that brings together writers, readers, dreamers, and the community from across our state and beyond. Whether you're looking to discover your next favorite author, participate in a hands-on writing workshop, or simply spend the day on the beautiful Capitol grounds surrounded by fellow book lovers, the Mississippi Book Festival represents exactly the kind of cultural treasure that makes Jackson so special. We'll have links in our show notes at visitjackson.com/soulsessions.

This podcast is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Ricky Thigpen. I'm our managing editor. You can learn more about us and all the great work we're doing to help shine a spotlight on Jackson at VisitJackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

Listen to previous episodes of Soul Sessions