WordShops registration is open! Learn about the festival's master-class writing workshops and reserve your seat here.

This website has a .gov link

The .gov means it’s official.

Louisiana government websites often end in .gov. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a Louisiana government site.

HTTPS Connection

The site is secure.

The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Tracy Carr

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2026 Tracy Carr

Tracy Carr is a researcher, editor, and writer in Jackson, Mississippi. A former English instructor and librarian, she has a BA in English from the University of North Texas, an MA in English from Mississippi State University, and an MLIS from the University of Alabama. She serves on the board of the Mississippi Book Festival, manages the Mississippi Books page in the Clarion Ledger and Hattiesburg American newspapers, and is also the editor of Conversations with Brad Watson, forthcoming in 2027 by the University Press of Mississippi.

 

Schedule

Will be posted when available.

Conversations with Ellen Gilchrist

Known for her short stories populated by a recurring cast of headstrong, honest, and sometimes outrageous Southern women characters, Ellen Gilchrist’s (1935–2024) four decades of writing and twenty-six works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry solidly place her among the South’s most enduring authors.

After winning a National Book Award in 1984 for the short story collection Victory Over Japan, she was a weekly commentator on NPR’s then-new Morning Edition. While she wrote six critically acclaimed novels, short stories were where she was truly at home, especially those featuring Rhoda Manning, her most famous and most autobiographical character. Of Rhoda, Gilchrist said, “I can feel Rhoda. Of all my women characters or female characters, Rhoda’s the one that I can feel and smell and touch. I can see things through her eyes.”

The eighteen interviews featured in this collection reveal Gilchrist to be just as honest, and sometimes outrageous, as her characters. Whether she is discussing her work or her life, Gilchrist’s excitement and zest for life comes through in every word..