June is known as the most popular month for weddings, but for local literary lovers, it will also be a busy month with five book signings scheduled in downtown Vicksburg.
Randy Pierce, a current sitting justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court is scheduled to sign his newest book, “Magnolia Mud” from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Peterson’s Art & Antiques.
“Magnolia Mud” is described as a story filled with insight, humor and sadness and with a cast of characters sure to get under your skin, it promises that after reading, one will never follow politics the same way again
“We haven’t done a book signing in a while,” said Bobbie Marascalco, but the co-owner of the gift shop said she was excited to have Pierce come in and sign his latest novel.
Pierce lives in Greene County and is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Mississippi School of Law and previously served in the Mississippi Legislature.
“I read his first book, “Pain Unforgiven” and it was good,” Marascalco said.
Refreshments will be served, said Marascalco and added that Sassafras and the Wine House will be getting in on the action.
Sassafras will offer extended shopping hours during the book signing and the Wine House, 1408 Washington St., will offer a 10 percent discount with the purchase of a signed copy of the Pierce’s novel.
Laura Weeks, owner of Lorelei Books said she has scheduled four book signings for June and the first one of the month is scheduled for Saturday.
“I usually have two to three book signings a month,” said Weeks.
The independent bookseller said publishers contact her regularly about hosting book signings, but she said she tries to only have signings she thinks will be of interest to locals.
“I like to feature books that would draw a community interest, “she said.
Fordice Construction Company, a local family owned business is one of 70 business featured in Vicksburg native Polly Dement’s book, which she will begin signing at 2 p.m.
Featuring 70 short stories, “Mississippi Entrepreneurs” draws attention to the journeys of Mississippi men and women who risk fortune and futures to create successful enterprises. Dement’s book also tells each entrepreneur’s story, either in their own words or by family members and colleagues.
Dement now lives in Santa Fe. She was a graduate of Millsaps College and worked for the Senate Watergate Committee, writing profiles of the witnesses who testified.
Known as “the Garden Mama” to her radio audiences, Nellie Neal is scheduled to sign her latest book, “Deep South Month by Month Gardening: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year” from 1 to 3 p.m. June 14.
The book includes the specifics on growing annual and perennial flowers, bulbs, grasses (both lawn and ornamental), edibles, roses, groundcovers, shrubs, trees, and vines throughout the year and includes a section on water garden.
As a Jackson-based author, radio personality and blogger, Neal says she writes and speaks from an educational background coupled with a lifetime of gardening successes.
Neal blogs weekly at her website, www.gardenmama.com; twice a month about tropicals for www.nationalgardening.com; and occasionally for Diggin’ It, the online gardening section of the Christian Science Monitor, www.gardenmama.com.
Dennis Mitchell will sign his book “A New History of Mississippi” beginning at 4 p.m. June 17. The book is described as a comprehensive narrative of Mississippi, since the bicentennial history was published in 1976.
Mitchell lives in Lauderdale and is head of the division of arts and sciences and professor of history at Mississippi State University at Meridian.
For the book, Mitchell condensed massive scholarships produced since that time into the narrative, which also incorporates people missing from many previous histories. “A New History of Mississippi” also recounts the vibrant and turbulent history of a Deep South state.
Week’s final book signing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. June 28 and will feature photographer, Maude Schuyler Clay.
For the past fifteen years, Clay has been photographing the Delta and her latest project is “Delta Dogs,” photographs depicting deserted buildings and landscapes of the Delta brought to life by the dogs that roam the fields and swamps.
Photographs include lone dogs dwarfed by kudzu-choked trees and dogs traveling in packs.
Clay, who was born in Greenwood now lives in Sumner. Her photographic work includes appearances in Vanity Fair, Esquire, the New York Times Magazine and The London Observer Magazine. Some of her works are also housed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, D.C.