The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing winners, honored for writing that 'evokes the South,' will be honored at this year's Oxford Conference for the Book. Learn more about Devreaux Baker, Jamie Quatro, and Boyce Upholt at bit.ly/4bAoQA0

Get ready for the world premiere of "After Songs: An Evening of Poetry and Music" at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 3 as part of the Oxford Conference for the Book in partnership with the University of Mississippi department of music. For more details, go to bit.ly/4ikUp3r.

What an amazing day at the Ford Center for the Children's Book Festival! More than 1,200 area first-graders and fifth-graders from schools in Lafayette County and Oxford had the opportunity to see authors William Joyce and James Ponti.

Authors Hanif Abdurraqib and El Norte Recuerda will be in conversation with @sundarsheila April 3 for the National Book Foundation Presents: Memorializing Memory OCB session. Read more at bit.ly/4j116HU

The former state poet laureate of Mississippi & the 19th U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey will be in conversation w/ W. Ralph Eubanks UM Southern Studies April 3. The Gulfport native will talk about why she writes and other topics. Read more at bit.ly/4j8a1Y5

This year's OxConfBook is dedicated to co-founder Ann Abadie, who loved books and authors. Some of her favorite things also appear in the artwork "Books Pollinate Our Brain Gardens" created by Oxford artist Blair Hobbs. Read more at bit.ly/3XBl1Vv.

"I've been a musician for a lot longer than I've been a writer," says Elijah Wald. He plays a FREE SHOW Proud Larry's 9 p.m. April 2. On Thursday, he'll talk about his book "Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs and Hidden Histories" at 9:30 a.m. & play Thacker Mtn. Radio at 6.

It's an OxConfBook prologue at 5:30 p.m. w/ a release party & readings for 'Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology,' a collection of contemporary poems urging reflection on our carbon footprint 🐝🌎 Off Square Books bit.ly/3FCNBQ0

"I've been a musician for a lot longer than I've been a writer," says Elijah Wald. He plays a FREE SHOW Proud Larry's 9 p.m. April 2. On Thursday, he'll talk about his book "Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs and Hidden Histories" at 9:30 a.m. & play Thacker Mtn. Radio at 6.

Today is the day! Panels kick off for the OxConfBook at 9:30 with Elijah Wald in a bawdy session about censored songs and hidden histories in the Overby Center. 🎉 📚 📖 📕 🎶 🎸 🎤

Join Hanif Abdurraqib as he talks basketball and El Norte Recuerda shares about magical realism in the National Book Foundation session at 11:30 in the Baxter Room of University of Mississippi Libraries. 🏀 📚 📖 📕

NEW TIME! Uncertainty and tension come together in “The Suspense of Writing” panel coming up at 1 p.m. with Lilliam Rivera, Rachel Lyon & Zach Williams in conversation with Melissa Ginsburg Overby Center 📕 📖 📚

NEW TIME! The former state poet laureate of MS & the 19th U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey will be in conversation w/ W. Ralph Eubanks UM Southern Studies at 2:30 p.m. Overby Center. NEW TIME! More at bit.ly/4j8a1Y5

April is National Poetry Month, with 30 days of celebrating the joy, expressiveness & pure delight of poetry. Join poets Philip Metres فيليب أبورجيلي Dr. Mama (aka Julia Kolchinsky) and Rose McLarney with Beth Ann Fennelly for “Poetry in the Gallery” at 4 p.m. at SouthsideArtGallery

Put your hands on the radio! Author Preston Lauterbach talks Elvis inspiration, poet Devreaux Baker shares poetry & Elijah Wald & Jontavious Willis give us a beat on Thacker Mountain at the Powerhouse at 6 p.m. Authors from Thursday’s sessions will sign books. 📻 🎶 🎤 📚

Next up: “A Legacy of Love, Survival, and Storytelling” with Bernice McFadden Bernice L. McFadden reading from "Firstborn Girls" at 1:30 at Off Square Books, 129 Courthouse Square.

"Philippe left right after the Nazis came. He understood how the fabric of the country would rot faster than old silk," Alice Austen writes in "33 Place Brugmann," a tour de force about the power of love, courage & art in times of great threat. 3 p.m. at Off Square Books

We are so excited to partner with the Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing to announce winners Jamie Quatro (fiction),Boyce Upholt (nonfiction) & Devreaux Baker (poetry) at 4:30 p.m. at Off Square Books. Stick around for the party & book signing after their reading! 🥂 🎉 🎊 📚 🥳