Meet the Visiting Writers
Alongside our faculty, multiple writers give craft talks and readings throughout the week of the McMullan Writers Workshops
The McMullan Writers Workshops are just two weeks away! We were thrilled to introduce you to our star-studded team of writing faculty, who spend the week in small class groups with our high school, middle school, and adult writers, and are so excited to host our keynote speaker, Casey Parks. For today’s post, we’re highlighting the talented writers who visit the workshops throughout the week to spend time sharing their insights, answering questions, leading writing exercises, and otherwise in conversation with workshop participants.
Keynote Speaker: Casey Parks
On Monday, June 24, at 6pm, the public is invited to join us at the McMullan Lecture Hall in the Christian Center at Millsaps College for remarks and a reading from our Keynote Speaker Casey Parks. Mark your calendars and join us for this free event! Lemuria Books will be on hand with Casey’s books for sale and an author signing will follow Casey’s talk. Contact us at myww@millsaps.edu for questions about this event. We can’t wait to see you there!
Visiting Writers
We couldn’t be more thrilled to have these incredible scholars and writers of fiction, poetry, and essays join us for craft talks, workshops, and readings throughout the week!
Sean Ennis is the author of Chase Us: Stories (Little A), Cunning, Baffling, Powerful (Thirty West), and Hope and Wild Panic (forthcoming from Malarkey Books). His work has appeared in Diagram, Wigleaf, Passages North, New World Writing, and the Best Microfiction 2023 anthology, among others. He holds an MFA from the University of Mississippi, and works as the Director of Base Camp Coding Academy, a nonprofit program training high school graduates to be software developers.
C. Liegh McInnis is a poet, short story writer, Prince scholar, retired instructor of English at Jackson State University, the former publisher and editor of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and the author of eight books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction (Scripts: Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi), one work of literary criticism (The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher, and Storyteller), and one co-authored work, Brother Hollis: The Sankofa of a Movement Man, which discusses the life of a legendary Mississippi Civil Rights icon. His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Obsidian, Black Fire--This Time Vols 1 and 2, The Southern Quarterly, Konch Magazine, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Down to the Dark River: An Anthology of Poems on the Mississippi River, Black Hollywood Unchained: Essays about Hollywood’s Portrayal of African Americans, Asymptote, The Pierian, Black Gold: An Anthology of Black Poetry, Sable, New Delta Review, The Black World Today, In Motion Magazine, MultiCultural Review, A Deeper Shade, New Laurel Review, ChickenBones, Oxford American, Journal of Popular Music and Society, Journal of Ethnic American Literature, B. K. Nation, Red Ochre Lit, and Brick Street Press Anthology.
Alison Turner grew up in the mountains of Colorado, where she learned to endure large amounts of time in inclement weather waiting for buses. After completing degrees at CU Boulder, the University of Alberta, Bennington College, and the University of Denver (comparative literature, comparative literature again, creative writing, and literary studies), she has confirmed that, yep, she loves reading and writing. Her work has appeared in Western American Literature, Archivaria, American Archivist, and Community Literacy Journal, among others. In 2023, her first collection of short stories, Defensible Spaces, was published with Torrey House Press. Alison also digs community literacy and community writing. She has collaborated with colleagues, staff, and residents/guests in shelters throughout Denver to co-publish a podcast, two zines, and an oral history project to celebrate and record the knowledge and creativity of people experiencing homelessness. She is currently a 2022-2024 ACLS Leading Edge Postdoctoral Fellow with Operation Shoestring in Jackson, Mississippi.
Dean Julius, poet and literary magazine editor, is founding editor of Juke Joint, an online magazine that publishes unconventional Southern (and non-Southern) poetry. Juke Joint “aims to select the slickest, jelly rollin', work we receive.” As noted in their listing in Poets & Writers, “The juke joint has always been a place beyond the margin, somewhere along the line. Barrelhouses of the South, juke joints served as a place for sharecroppers & slaves to socialize & celebrate counterculture in a society marred by slavery and Jim Crow. Today, there are hardly any left, most of them in the Mississippi Delta. We aim to uphold this spirit of defiance, striving to find unconventional Southern (and non-Southern) voices in poetry.”
Alison Turner and Dean Julius recently teamed up to publish a print issue of Juke Joint penned by writers incarcerated at Parchman penitentiary.
Katrina Byrd, writer and playwright living in Jackson, MS, received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mississippi University for Women. An emerging writer published in several magazines, Byrd and Dora, her partner of 23 years, created the Boa Flouncer alter ego in 2010. The Boa Flouncer is a social media influencer who encourages followers to be themselves. “If who I am offends you, then, honey, prepare yo’self!” With attitude, flair, and feather boas, she delivers messages of hope. “Honey, keep struttin’ yo’ strut. Don’t give up.” Shortly after Dora’s death, Byrd began advocating with I AM ALS where she serves on several teams including the Veteran Affairs team, Thank You Squad, Legislative Affairs team, the Write Stuff team, and the Many Shades of ALS team which focuses on people of color living with and impacted by ALS. Byrd also advocates with several ALS organizations including ALS Problem Solvers, ALS/TDI, NEALS, R1 Team, and Live Like Lou. Byrd testified before the FDA in support of AMX0035, presented at the 2022 STAT Summit in Boston and she’s presented at I AM ALS’s Flag event held on the National Mall. Byrd serves as a Tim Lowrey Panelist, has received four Mississippi Arts Commission grants, and in 2023, she was selected as an ALS/MND Patient Fellow. Byrd also uses her alter ego to recognize community members who advocate, educate, and create awareness.
Join us!
It’s not too late to join these incredible writers at the McMullan Writers Workshops! We’re so grateful to them for their investment in our writers of all ages and welcome you to be part of the McMullan family, too. Check us out at mcmullanwritersworkshops.com or email myww@millsaps.edu with your questions.
For more information about the Casey Parks keynote address, free and open to the public Monday June 24 at 6pm, check out our Facebook event. Follow us on Instagram to stay in the know and spot your favorite writers throughout the week!