Hailed by one contemporary newspaper as the manifestation of a Southern “literary renaissance,” the premier Southern Literary Festival (SLF) took place at Blue Mountain College on 23-24 April 1937. Sponsored by the Blue Mountain Scribblers, the event featured a keynote by Robert Penn Warren, as well as presentations from several regional scholars. These auspicious beginnings signaled a sea-change in the appreciation of Southern literature, somewhat under-explored in the area before this time. Academic institutions from Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee have been counted as members during various times of the SLF’s history.

Materials in this case include selected programs, newspaper articles, and ephemeral items from the Festival’s collection, now a part of the University’s Department of Archives & Special Collections. Of particular note is a facsimile note written by William Faulkner, declining an invitation to speak at the 1960 festival held at Baylor University. The author wryly stated to the organizers that he was not a “public speaker” and the “2 or 3 speeches … made in my life were of crises when I had to.” The original note, penned on the back of the telegrammed invitation, was presented to Special Collections during the 1965 SLF conference, hosted by the University of Mississippi. This event was of particular historical significance as the Festival, with Robert Penn Warren again as the keynote, narrowly avoided cancellation after students from Mississippi’s Tougaloo College were admitted, causing a near-riot on the campus due to segregationist policies and racial prejudice.

In the display case:

• Conference brochures for April 1966 (University of Alabama) and April 1959 ("Mississippi Southern College," now University of Southern Mississippi)
• Newspaper photo of "Literary Festival at Blue Mountain College" from The Booneville Independent (date unspecified)
• Name tag for "Dr. Charles D. Johnson, Baylor University" for SLF 1941 ("Southwestern at Memphis," now University of Memphis)
• Newspaper article, "Literary Awakening Predicted for South", a "special to The Commercial Appeal" during the first SLF, April 24, 1937
• Program for "Fine Arts Festival" at Baylor University, April 21-30 (year unspecified)
• Program Schedule for April 18, 1952 ("Mississippi State College for Women," now Mississippi University for Women)

• Program for First Southern Literary Festival at Blue Mountain College, April 23 and 24, 1937, "Sponsored by the Blue Mountain Scribblers"

• Telegram from SLF president inviting William Faulkner to speak at the 1960 SLF and Faulkner's handwritten response declining the invitation
• Program from SLF 1965 held at the University of Mississippi, "A Tribute to William Faulkner"
• Newspaper article, dated April 24, 1965, a "special to the Commercial Appeal", "Demonstration at Ole Miss Brings Call to End Festival"
• Program from production of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying at Baylor University, April 22-May 14, 1960
• Newspaper photo and article, a "special to the Commercial Appeal", "Faulkner's 'Intensity of Life' Flames Brightly at Festival", [April 23, 1965]

The Southern Literary Festival’s Prize-Winning Student Essay Program

In the early 1980s a University of Mississippi graduate student conducted a survey of former Southern Literary Festival student prize winners. One of the primary questions concerned the long-term effect the festival had upon the lives of these former students. Responses poured in from the country -- some more illuminating than others. Displayed here is one such letter, from a former prize winner who reflected that, “the SLF is of tremendous value to any student…I have continued to write…I suspect it [the conference] had a huge influence.”

• Collections of "prize winning manuscripts" are published each year.