What can we say about the closing event of our first Mississippi Delta Lay-By Literature & Music Festival? You had to be there. The biggest complaint of the evening was that none of it was captured, whether on video or audio, to share with the rest of the book-loving world. (Although you can view photos from the entire two days here.)
Fashioned after the scholarly panel discussions prevalent at other, larger literary conferences, this was a more casual and intimate conversation among two of the summer's most popular novelists, Andre Dubus III and David Wroblewski, and one of the cleverest readers we know, Joey Lauren Adams, the actress and filmmaker who recently moved to Mississippi. The three of them got along famously, and their mutual respect and curiosity made for a very lively discussion, which lasted nearly two hours without a dull moment.
Joey moderated the panel, introducing the authors by relating her personal response to both books. Her eloquent admiration humbled and inspired them both to deliver terrific readings — David, who is currently coming to grips with skyrocketing national popularity, read a lovely selection from his stellar debut novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and Andre read a subdued and no less lovely selection from his wonderful novel The Garden of Last Days — followed by a thoughtful, inspiring discussion on the process of writing and art in general.
In certain settings, and with the wrong mix of personalities, these panel discussions can be devastatingly boring or squirmingly awkward, but the crowd was just small enough to ditch the microphones and the three writers were so in tune that the conversation was like an improvisational jazz performance of 
ideas. Andre's bombastic, brilliant solos were the perfect contrast to David's quiet, intense runs, and Joey's upbeat, driving rhythm drove the performance at the ideal speed. And just like a good musical performance, the crowd, a mix of locals and book event veterans from all over the state, erupted into cheers and applause after particularly illuminating remarks and rants, and when the whole thing came to a close, many in attendance proclaimed it to be one of (if not the) best literary readings/discussions they'd ever seen, and we were inclined to agree.
The discussion, in fact, continued into the stock room as Andre and David signed piles of books, then everyone settled in upstairs to hear Dent May close down the whole shebang with his unique music, which really must be heard to be best appreciated. His deadpan satire and melodic ukulele captured everyone's attention and kept them hollering for champagne. Dent's finishing up his first album now, and we believe he won't be a Mississippi secret for long.
Comments