Eudora Welty Foundation

The Eudora Welty Foundation enjoyed a vigorous year of inspiring, entertaining, and educational events and activities since those reported in the 2018 Eudora Welty Review. With its many co-sponsors and partners, the Foundation is pleased to support the Welty House and Garden, the Welty Collection at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), and other resources for scholars, writers, students, and the general public.

Noted Author Richard Ford Delivers Third Annual Eudora Welty Lecture

Mississippi's own Richard Ford delivered the 2018 Eudora Welty Lecture at the Folger Shakespeare Library Theatre in Washington, DC, on October 9. He was introduced by Rea S. Hederman, publisher of the New York Review of Books and Ford's classmate at Murrah High School in Jackson, Mississippi.

Ford spoke about his creative origins, the lecture's theme, in keeping with Welty's Harvard lectures that were published as One Writer's Beginnings. He discussed growing up on Congress Street across from Welty's birthplace and childhood home and mentioned having had his mother point out Welty to him in the "Jitney" grocery. He also noted that he was at one time Eudora's paperboy. Later in life, Ford and Welty became friends and correspondents. He was the co-editor with Michael Kreyling of the two volumes of Welty's complete works for the Library of America series.

Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel Independence Day in 1996, Ford was a finalist for the Pulitzer in 2015 for Let Me Be Frank with You. His most recent work, Between Them: Remembering My Parents (2017), is a memoir. His other works include the New York Times bestselling Canada, other novels, and the short story collections Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins.

The Eudora Welty Lecture was made possible by generous endowment gifts from Martha Dowd Dalrymple in memory of her mother, Adine Wallace Dalrymple, and her grandmother, Adine Lampton Wallace, and the family of Eudora Welty in her memory. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities helped to sponsor the 2018 Lecture in cooperation with the Folger.

Jesmyn Ward, another native Mississippian and a two-time National Book Award winner, will deliver the fourth Eudora Welty Lecture on Wednesday, October 16, 2019, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Three Welty Stories on the Great Depression Offered Teachers on Website

A new Teacher Resource Unit based on three Welty stories about the Great Depression—"Death of a Traveling Salesman," "Flowers for Marjorie," and "The Whistle"—has been completed by the Foundation and is available through a secure portal on the Welty Foundation website eudorawelty.org. Teachers may register on the website to access the unit by selecting "Teacher Resources" on the home page.

The unit includes downloadable copies of the stories themselves, photographs by Welty and other historic images, manuscripts, correspondence, essays, and other background information about the stories. Questions for classroom discussion are also provided. "The Whistle" feature contains the original song "Pleasant Dreams," inspired by the story and written and performed by singer/songwriter Claire Holley.

"Where Is the Voice Coming From?"—Welty's story about the murder of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers, told from the point of view of the assassin—is also the subject of a very thorough educational unit in the Teacher Resources section of the Welty Foundation website.

Dedication of First Mississippi Writing Trail Marker Features NEH Chair Jon Peede

The first marker on the Mississippi Writers Trail honored Eudora Welty and was dedicated on September 10 in front of the Eudora Welty House on Pinehurst Street in Jackson. Jon Peede, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, was the keynote speaker for the dedication. Over 100 guests gathered to celebrate the event and enjoy a reception and tours of the Welty House and Garden.

Other speakers for the celebration included Governor Phil Bryant, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, MDAH Director Katie Blount, Jackson First Lady Ebony Lumumba (a former Welty Foundation/MDAH Graduate Research Fellow), Visit Mississippi Director Craig Ray, Visit Jackson Director Rickey Thigpen, Welty niece Mary Alice Welty White, and Welty...