Find Literary History on the Mississippi Writers Trail

The Mississippi Writers Trail

Mississippi’s rich literary history makes the state an ideal destination for bookworms and aspiring writers. The Mississippi Writers Trail offers the opportunity to dive into our state’s past and learn how some of Mississippi’s most famous writers have influenced – and continue to influence – readers and writers of all ages, from all walks of life. Our state has always been known for its art scene and culture, but the literary contributions of our many homegrown writers and authors truly shine the spotlight on our creative culture. Our mission and vision are “to be a catalyst for the arts and creativity in Mississippi” and “to support and celebrate Mississippi’s creative spirit,” respectively.

The Mississippi Writers Trail honors writers and authors with book-shaped, cast-aluminum markers, which are placed in locations the individuals found meaningful and influential throughout their lives. These locations may include their gravesite, birthplace, museum, or home, among other places.

For more information about the Mississippi Writers Trail, request a tour guide, use our trip planner, check out some of the places to stop, or contact us today to start planning your trip.

Mississippi Writers Trail – Anne Moody

Centreville

A heroine of the Civil Rights Movement, Anne Moody was born in 1940 in Wilkinson County near Centreville. In her classic 1968 memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she articulates what it was like to grow up in poverty, to […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Julia Reed

Greenville

Julia Reed, a native of Greenville, is known for her irreverent take on politics and for finding humor in the human condition, particularly in the South. She was a longtime editor and writer for Vogue and has authored numerous books […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Natasha Trethewey

Gulfport

Gulfport native, Natasha Trethewey, is a two-term U.S. Poet Laureate, Mississippi Poet Laureate, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning Native Guard, Trethewey’s poems elegize, document, and provide testaments of personal and public histories that […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Endesha Ida Mae Holland

Greenwood

Holland joined the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, volunteering for SNCC. Her efforts in helping black people register to vote landed her in jail multiple times. Her play, Dr. Holland’s Second Doctor Lady, became the source material for her […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Mary Garrard

Greenville

Indianola native, Mary Garrard, is an art historian who is recognized as one of the founders of feminist art theory. She is particularly known for her work on the Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Stark Young

Como

Throughout Stark Young’s fifty-year career, the author produced works of poetry, drama, literature, criticism, and painting. His most popular work of fiction, So Red the Rose, was published in 1934 and later adapted as a movie. […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Willie Morris

Yazoo City

Willie Morris was editor for the Texas Observer and later became editor-in-chief of Harper’s Magazine in New York. In 1980, Morris returned to Mississippi to become writer-in-residence at Ole Miss. Notable among his twenty-three award-winning books are North Toward Home, […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Richard Ford

Clarksdale

Richard Ford won critical acclaim with his first two novels, A Piece of My Heart (1976), and The Ultimate Good Luck (1981). Ford is the author of The Sportswriter, a book that brought him international acclaim and was named one […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Dorothy Shawhan

Cleveland

Enlivened by a sense of humor and wild imagination, Dorothy Shawhan’s stories could conjure up Faulkner’s ghost or depict contemporary pilgrims telling tales on a trip to Memphis. In three carefully researched biographies, she retrieves the lives of lesser-known Mississippi […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Eudora Welty

Jackson

One of Mississippi’s most acclaimed writers, Eudora Welty was honored with a Pulitzer Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the French Legion of Honor. Eudora Welty typically drew inspiration from her home state for her fictional stories. […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Richard Wright

Natchez

Wright published his first story at sixteen, and in 1940 he achieved national fame with his best-selling novel, Native Son. Arguably one of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, the novel was adapted for film and stage. […]

Mississippi Writers Trail – Tennessee Williams