Write On, Mississippi!

Pour yourself a sweet tea, pull up a lawn chair, and turn the page with us. You're listening to Write on, Mississippi. A podcast taking you inside the minds of America’s most treasured wordsmiths. Brought to you through a partnership of the Mississippi Book Festival — the South’s literary lawn party — and Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Ebony Lumumba, Ph.D.

Ebony Olivia Lumumba is an assistant professor of English at Tougaloo College where she chairs the department and teaches courses in global and American literatures. is an active scholar with publications that include a chapter in From Uncle Tom’s Cabin to The Help: Critical Perspectives on White-Authored Texts of Black Life titled “Must the Novelist Ask Permission?: Authority and Authenticity of the Black Voice in the works of Eudora Welty. She recently published “The Matter of Black Lives in American Literature: Eudora Welty’s Non-Fiction and Photography.”

Ellen Rodgers

Ellen Rodgers opens the next chapter in her forays into the heart of Mississippi culture. This Rolling Fork native brings a curious mind and a keen eye to the task, honed from her dozen years as a bookseller at Lemuria, her work as a gallery assistant at Fischer Galleries and her fine art photography, which has been shown in galleries throughout the Southeast.

Sarah Ulmer

Sarah Ulmer continues her role as Project Coordinator with the festival, parlaying the skill set of her journalism background into a key information hub for the festival. She assists with the selection of exhibitors and recruitment and oversight of volunteers, as well as coordination of the Friday event for public school students held at Galloway.

Katie Blount

Katie Blount became director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History February 1, 2015. Blount began her career at MDAH in 1994 in the public information section. She went on to serve as deputy director for communication, overseeing the department’s strategic planning process and working with the team that planned the new Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.