On This Day in Mississippi Literary History:
August

1902: Orthopedic surgeon Beckett Howorth was born in West Point, Mississippi.

1948: Novelist Patrick D. Smith married Iris Doty.

1976: Journalist, historian, and fiction writer George W. Lee died.

1998: Educator James C. Atherton died in Senatobia, Mississippi.

1911: Photographer, composer, and writer John Seymour Erwin was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1925: William Faulkner arrived in Genoa, Italy. He would travel through Italy and Switzerland before eventually settling in Paris until his return home in December.

1939: Novelist Charles Wilson was born in Kennett, Missouri.

1950: William Faulkner’s Collected Stories was published by Random House.

1954: A Fable, a novel by William Faulkner, was published by Random House.

1997: Frank E. Smith, a former U.S. Congressman, newspaper editor, TVA administrator, and educator, died from complications of a stroke in Jackson, Mississippi.

1999: Journalist and fiction writer Willie Morris died of a heart attack in Jackson, Mississippi.

1946: Novelist Howard Bahr was born in Meridian, Mississippi.

1850: Southwestern humorist Henry Clay Lewis drowned while crossing a swamp on a medical journey.

1917: Educator and playwright Thomas D. Pawley, III, was born in Jackson, Mississippi.

1937: Poet James McShan was born in Mississippi.

1978: Novelist Charlaine Harris married Hal Schulz.

1995: Sociologist and writer Lisa Lekis died in Redmond, Washington.

1916: Historian Alfred Turney was born in Mississippi.

1919: William Faulkner published his first poem, “L’Apres-midi d’un faune,” in the New Republic.

1931: Religion writer June S. Wood was born in New Albany, Mississippi.

1932: William Faulkner’s father, Murry Falkner, died.

1950: Poet T. R. Hummer was born in Noxubee County, Mississippi.

1934: Writer Norma Williamson was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

1938: Eudora Welty’s short story “The Whistle” was accepted for publication by Prairie Schooner.

1864: The town square in Oxford, Mississippi, is burned by Union Gen. Andrew J. Smith.

1936: English teacher Ann A. Laster was born in Water Valley, Mississippi.

1914: English professor Nora Calhoun Graves was born in Lake, Mississippi.

1920: English professor Helen Harrold Naugle was born in West Point, Mississippi.

1926: Spanish professor Carl W. Cobb was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

1929: Journalist Turner Catledge began his career with the New York Times.

1939: Southern Review accepted Eudora Welty’s story “The Hitch-Hiker” for publication.

1986: Outdoorsman and newspaper columnist Orville B. Eustis died of a heart attack.

1925: Journalist and ad copywriter David McCarthy was born in Saltillo, Mississippi.

1934: Methodist minister Maxie D. Dunnam was born in Demer, Mississippi.

1936: Journalist Mary Lynn Kotz was born in Mathiston, Mississippi.

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1934: Theologian Mozella G. Mitchell was born in Starkville, Mississippi.

1915: Psychologist Ray F. Koonce was born in Grenada, Mississippi.

1970: Writer Patrick Creevy married Susan O’Connor.

2003: Poet James Whitehead died in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

1974: Novelist Larry Brown married Mary Annie Coleman.

1934: English professor Calvin S. Brown married Irene M. Hughes.

1949: The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty was published by Harcourt, Brace.

1923: Fiction writer Martha Lacy Hall was born in Magnolia, Mississippi.

1951: English professor Donald R. Dickson was born in Biloxi, Mississippi.

1873: Katherine McDowell, best known for works published under the name Sherwood Bonner, left her husband Edward to earn her own way after it became clear he could not support her or her daughter, Lilian.

1904: Economist Rudolph Coper was born in Berlin, Germany.

1935: Playwright and screenwriter Mart Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1951: Writer and photographer Birney Imes was born in Columbus, Mississippi.

1954: William Faulkner’s daughter Jill married Paul D. Summers, Jr., in Oxford, Mississippi.

1928: Columnist and teacher Ewilda Fancher was born in Houston, Mississippi.

1944: Medical writer Donald M. Vickery was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

1973: Flags in the Dust, an uncut version of the novel Sartoris by William Faulkner, was published for the first time by Random House, more than 40 years after the original novel was published.

1930: Theologian Harmon L. Smith was born in Ellisville, Mississippi.

1939: Fiction writer Lewis Nordan was born in Jackson, Mississippi.

1942: Medical doctor and writer John M. Smith was born in Laurel, Mississippi.

1982: Historian George C. Osborn died.

1931: Baptist minister and broadcaster Nelson Lynn Price was born in Osyka, Mississippi.

1944: Murry Falkner, brother of William and John Faulkner, married Suzanne Coqterre.

1998: Country comedian Jerry Clower died in Jackson, Mississippi, five days after undergoing heart bypass surgery.

1935: Educator Anne H. Adams was born in Hamilton, Mississippi.

1939: Political scientist Harold R. Rodgers, Jr., was born in Columbus, Mississippi.

1960: William Faulkner accepted an appointment to the University of Virginia faculty.

1989: The opera Pamelia, libretto by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith, was first performed in Billings, Montana.

1949: Historian Thomas D. Cockrell was born in Mississippi.

1977: Singer and writer Jimmy Buffett married his second wife, Jane Slagsvol.

1992: Spanish professor Reginald C. Reindorp died in Purvis, Mississippi.

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1921: Eudora Welty, age 12, won $25 in “Jackie Mackie Jingles Contest.”

1982: Music composer and writer Lehman Engel died of cancer in New York City.

2005: Hurricane Katrina landed along the Gulf Coast near Waveland, Miss., killing thousands of people and causing billions of dollars in property damage in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

1927: Business writer and professor Thomas H. Jerdee was born in Minneapolis, Mississippi.

1948: Journalist and writer Joseph Bosco was born in Biloxi, Mississippi.

1951: English professor W. Lawrence Hogue was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

1958: Writer and journalist Willie Morris married Celia Ann Buchan.