Saturday, August 29, 2026 at the Columbus Arts Council

Downtown in the Rosenzweig Arts Center located at 501 Main Street, Columbus, MS 39701

Free & Open To The Public!

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Free & Open To The Public! 〰️

With 50 authors coming from across the South for panel discussions, book signings, storytime, and a writing workshop, the third annual Possumtown Book Fest has something for everyone all day long — plus the biggest book fair in Northeast Mississippi!

Festival Schedule

CAC Underground

9:00-11:00 AM | Children’s Storytime

CAC Gallery

CAC Theater

CAC Underground

2:30-4:00 PM | Writing Workshop (registration closed)

Book signings follow every session!

Take our survey!

Children’s Storytime

9:00 to 11:00 AM in the CAC Underground

Book Giveaway

Kids will receive a free copy of Murry Burgess’ book Sparrow Loves Birds while supplies last!

Murry L. Burgess, PhD, leads the Burgess Lab of Urban Ecology at Mississippi State University. Her passion for animals led her to pursue a career in wildlife biology. As both a naturalist and conservationist, Murry encourages kids to connect with nature and the wildlife all around us.
Featured Books: Sparrow Loves Birds and Sparrow Loves Reptiles
Laurel Snyder started writing stories when she was eight years old. Today is the award-winning author of over two dozen children’s books, including Endlessly Ever After, Orphan Island, and Charlie & Mouse. She lives with her family in Atlanta, GA.
Featured Book: Shrinking Violet
Meet Pete! Everyone’s favorite feline will greet families when the doors open.

Local Author Showcase

9:00 to 11:00 AM in the CAC Gallery

Meet Mississippi authors writing memoirs, novels, poetry, and more!

CJ Andrews

Melony Beard

Andy Bui

Maggie Bushway

Lindsey Franks

Justin Grifford

Brett Hanley

K.P. Haven

Beverly Keaton

Cory Lee

John Mylroie

Todd Osborne

Weez Phillips

Samantha Potts

Emilee Robbins

Samyak Shertok

Rye Sobo

Leslie Tally

AnJanece Tatum

Taylor Treece

Lollie Wheat

Julie Liddell Whitehead

Kathy Wile

Community Read Kickoff

12:00-12:30 PM in the CAC Gallery

“I almost cannot imagine a future where teachers assign The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn without also assigning James alongside it.” — The Chicago Tribune
When Jim overhears that he will sold to New Orleans, separated from his family forever, he runs away to make a plan and meets Huck, who faked his own death to escape his violent father. James builds on Mark Twain’s odyssey with a new take on the American classic.

Book Giveaway

Get a free copy while supplies last! Learn about the Community Read at muw.edu/read.

Poetry Interlude

Featuring Nadia Wright, Youth Poet Laureate of Mississippi

Nonfiction Keynote Speakers

12:30-1:30 PM in the CAC Gallery

Two of Oxford, Mississippi’s finest, both beloved poets-slash-essayists known for writing across genres, will discuss the subjects that inspire them to write and how they approach nonfiction versus fiction.

Beth Ann Fennelly is an award-winning poet, author, and former Mississippi Poet Laureate. She is the author of multiple acclaimed poetry collections, memoirs, and the bestselling novel The Tilted World, co-written with her husband, Tom Franklin. Fennelly teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Mississippi, where she has received four teaching awards and continues to inspire the next generation of writers.
Featured book: The Irish Goodbye

Registration is now closed for Beth Ann Fennelly’s writing workshop.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a New York Times bestselling author renowned for blending poetry, nature, and personal storytelling in ways that captivate readers around the world. A longtime professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi, her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The Paris Review.
Featured book: Night Owl

Cookbooks & Culture

2:00-3:00 PM in the CAC Gallery

Cooking is a form of cultural expression, especially in the South. In this conversation, two culinary ambassadors will share their experiences, family lore, and the history of foodways in New Orleans and Mississippi.

Drawing inspiration from the earliest known cookbook by a Black woman, Malinda Russell's A Domestic Cook Book from 1866, Toya Boudy reimagines simple, soul-satisfying dishes designed to bring people together. A New Orleans native, she has appeared on Today, TLC, CBS, and the Food Network.
Featured Book: Cooking from Scratch
Susan Puckett is a James Beard-nominated food journalist and editor who has authored or collaborated on more than a dozen books. She got her start as a rookie reporter for her hometown newspaper, The Clarion-Ledger, in Jackson, Mississippi, and served as the food editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for nearly 19 years.
Featured Book: When Southern Women Cook

Fiction Keynote Speakers

3:30-4:30 PM in the CAC Gallery

Horror books are more popular, thought-provoking, and genre-bending than ever. A legend of the horrorverse and a rising literary star will discuss writing about universal themes such as belonging, grief, and love through this unique lens.

Clay McLeod Chapman is a Bram Stoker Award-winning author whose bestselling horror novels include Ghost Eaters, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, Whisper Down the Lane, and What Kind of Mother. His work has expanded into film, comics, and podcasts, including collaborations with Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions and Marvel Comics. Chapman also teaches writing at Pace University and is widely recognized as one of today's leading voices in contemporary horror fiction.
Featured book: Devil Inside

Jen Julian is the author of the novels Red Rabbit Ghost and The Winter Folk, as well as the award-winning short story collection Earthly Delights and Other Apocalypses. Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals and has been recognized with multiple awards. Julian teaches creative writing at Young Harris College in Georgia and serves as fiction editor for storySouth, where she continues to write acclaimed works of horror and speculative fiction.
Featured book: The Winter Folk

Southern Fiction Panel

9:30-10:30 AM in the CAC Theater

Travel through the South from the 1960s back to the 1940s and 1920s with these three novels in a conversation about time and place moderated by author and podcaster Eliot Parker.

Deborah Johnson

Eliot Parker

Poets Laureate Panel

11:00-12:00 PM in the CAC Theater

Three sitting Poets Laureate representing Mississippi, Alabama, and Hattiesburg discuss the importance of poetry as a literary art form and commentary on history and current events, in a panel moderated by Ashley M. Jones, the previous Poet Laureate of Alabama – featuring a reading by Mississippi Youth Poet Laureate Nadia Wright.

Ann Fisher-Wirth, Mississippi Poet Laureate (2025-2029)

Jacqueline Allen Trimble, Alabama Poet Laureate (2026-2029)

Jennifer Polson Peterson, Hattiesburg Poet Laureate (2024-2028)

Ashley M. Jones, Alabama Poet Laureate (2022-2026)

Nadia Wright, Mississippi Youth Poet Laureate (2026)

All Things Genre Panel

1:00-2:00 PM in the CAC Theater

Authors from a variety of genres – literary Role-Playing Games, speculative short stories, and dark mafia romance, respectively – will talk about developing worlds, characters, and stories in their specialties, in a panel moderated by MUW librarian Rachael Damms, who co-hosts a weekly book club at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library and a monthly book club at Friendly City Books.

Rachael Damms

Rooted Magazine Panel

2:30-3:30 PM in the CAC Theater

What does it mean to be a Mississippian? Following a reading by Mississippi Youth Poet Laureate Nadia Wright, Rooted Magazine founder Lauren Rhoades will speak with a returning Mississippian from Water Valley, a transplant from Pontotoc to Miami to Memphis, and a native Jacksonian, about their perspectives.