Novelist and historian Katy Simpson Smith, the first Eudora Welty Chair of Southern Literature at Millsaps College, will deliver the inaugural Welty Chair lecture on Wednesday, October 30, at 6:30 p.m. in the James and Madeleine McMullan Lecture Hall, Room 122 of the Selby and Richard McRae Christian Center at Millsaps. Entitled “Twinning with Welty,” the lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
Smith has published two novels, The Story of Land and Sea and Free Men, as well as We Have Raised All of You: Motherhood in the South, 1750-1835, a historical overview of white, black, and Native American mothering practices. HarperCollins will bring out her third novel, The Everlasting, in spring 2020.
Her work has appeared in The Oxford American, Granta, Literary Hub, Garden & Gun, and Lenny and other publications. Among other honors and awards, she received a fellowship to the prestigious MacDowell Colony in summer 2019.
A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Smith holds a B.A. in History and Film Studies from Mt. Holyoke College and received a Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, followed by an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Bennington College.
The Lecture is sponsored by Millsaps College and the Eudora Welty Foundation.