This coming weekend is the annual Mississippi Poetry Society conference, delayed from spring 2020 due to the pandemic. One of the oldest literary societies in Mississippi, dating back to the 1930s, the MPS maintains chapters across the state, and I’m honored to serve as their keynote speaker this year. The conference runs from Friday evening to Sunday midday at Lake Tiak O’Khata in Louisville, with readings, workshops, discussions, and the awarding of prizes to students and other category winners — for lovers of poetry in the state, there’s simply no better place to be.

For more information and registration, visit the MPS website at www.misspoetry.net.

Next Monday, I’m delighted to be speaking at the Pass Christian Historical Society on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, giving a lecture on the recent history of poetry in the state. The program starts at noon; attendance is open to the public for a small fee, and if the rumors are any indication, lunch is excellent.

Through the auspices of the Mississippi Humanities Council Speakers Bureau, I’m honored to be giving a lecture on recent trends in Mississippi poetry to two separate audiences in the coming month. This lecture takes a sustained look at the last decade of work by Mississippi poets, a term which is tricky to define but whose trickiness lends much of the joy of the topic.

On Monday, April 25, I’ll be speaking to the Pass Christian Historical Society at the Pass Christian Public Library. And on Saturday, April 30, I’ll be giving the same lecture (and a reading) to the Mississippi Poetry Society at their annual conference at Lake Tiak O’Khata.

If anyone is in the area and would like to join, please do contact the organizers of each event — I’ll post more details as they become available.

Our team at Crime Capsule, hosted by Evergreen Podcasts and Arcadia Publishing, have just learned that we’ve been named as a Platinum Winner in the 2022 Muse Awards, the highest tier of award offered. We’re thrilled, but above all humbled, and further inspired to bring the best of true crime authorship to our audiences in the months to come.

More information about Crime Capsule (and all previous and current episodes) can be found at our show page.

Peauxdunque Review #6, featuring the works of all the prize-winning entries in this year’s Words and Music Festival, including my poem “The Dream of Light,” is now available for order.