~~~ LMRD 726 ~~~ May 23, 2019 ~~~
Lower Mississippi River Dispatch
~Voice of the Lower Mississippi River~



I'm awed & humbled to be included in this group of talented Mississippians in receiving this award in a couple of weeks in Meridian... All credit goes to my family, my river rat friends, the Mighty Quapaws, and my queen, the Lower Mississippi River -- who has inspired all of my work and in whose service I have been dedicated for many decades...

Sat June 8th readings, performances and more at the Meridian Museum of Art, the award banquet at Meridian's MAX. Tickets on sale through tomorrow, May 24th. Call 662-523-0899 or click here: See below for more info.

~MIAL 2019 Category Winners~

Visual Arts
Coulter Fussell, Water Valley - New Work - Textiles

Photography
Rory Doyle, Cleveland - Delta Hill Riders

Poetry
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Oxford - Oceanic

Music Composition (Classical)
Steve Rouse, Louisville, Kentucky - This Dream

Fiction
Tiffany Quay Tyson, Denver, Colorado - The Past Is Never

Nonfiction
Julian Rankin, Ocean Springs - Catfish Dream: Ed Scott's Fight for His Family Farm and Racial Justice in the Mississippi Delta

Music Composition (Contemporary)
John Milham, Laurel - Arden's Garden

Citation of Merit:
Square Books, Oxford, Mississippi

In recognition and appreciation for their 40 years of contributing to the literary life of Mississippi, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters is pleased to present a Citation of Merit Award to Square Books, Oxford, Mississippi

Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement Award
John Ruskey
Clarksdale, Mississippi

The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters is pleased to announce the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient:
John Ruskey, Clarksdale, Mississippi. Mr. Ruskey is a musician, writer, diarist, watercolorist, canoe maker, river guide, cook, and—as Southern Living described him in its 2017 Famous Southerners issue—environmental evangelist for the wonders of the Mississippi River.

For more details about John Ruskey visit these web sites:
Quapaw Canoe Company www.island63.com
Rivergator, an online canoeing guide of the river from St. Louis to New Orleans, www.rivergator.org
http://www.island63.com/dispatch/index.cfm?id=409

For more information and tickets, go to:
https://www.ms-arts-letters.org

Or contact:
Margaret S. Robbins
Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters
662-523-0899

For tickets, go here:
https://www.ms-arts-letters.org/awards-weekend.html