TIMELINE

A Mississippi Writer Timeline

A Compendium of Births, Deaths, Publications, Awards, and Other Events in Mississippi’s Literary History

Note: In most cases, timeline entries are added as articles on individual authors are added to this web site. The hyperlinks listed below connect to biographical and critical articles about that author. Articles on individual writers will continue to be added in the coming months. If an author’s name does not appear on this timeline or if it appears but is not a hyperlink, the article for that author has not yet been added to the database. Please try again later.

1930	Publications: As I Lay Dying, a novel by William Faulkner (Cape and Smith). Selected Poems, by William Alexander Percy (Yale University Press). July 6: Baptist minister and theologian Clayton Sullivan was born in Jackson, Mississippi.
1931	Publications: Idyll in the Desert, a story by William Faulkner (Random House). Sanctuary, a novel by William Faulkner (Cape and Smith). These 13, short stories by William Faulkner (Cape and Smith). Winthrop Jordan born. April 19: Etheridge Knight born in Corinth, Mississippi. November 11: Winthrop Jordan born in Worcester, Massachusetts. March 25: Ida B. Wells-Barnett died of uremic poisoning in Chicago, Illinois.
1932	Publications: Light in August, a novel by William Faulkner (Harrison Smith and Robert Haas). Miss Zilphia Gant, a story by William Faulkner (Book Club of Texas). November 19: Ben E. Bailey born in Durant, Mississippi.
1933	. Publications: A Green Bough, a book of poems by William Faulkner (Smith and Haas). March 8: James A. Autry born in Memphis, Tennessee. March 17: Myrlie Evers born Myrlie Van Dyke in Vicksburg, Mississippi. June 25: James Meredith born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Premiere of the film Today We Live, screenplay by William Faulkner (and based on his short story “Turn About”). Premiere of the film The Story of Temple Drake, based on the novel Sanctuary by William Faulkner.
1934	Publications: Doctor Martino and Other Stories, short stories by William Faulkner (Smith and Haas). So Red the Rose, a novel by Stark Young (C. Scribner's Sons) November 29: Willie Morris born in Jackson, Mississippi; within half a year, the family moves to Yazoo City, Mississippi.
1935	Publications: Pylon, a novel by William Faulkner (Smith and Haas). Death Follows a Formula, by "Newton Gale" (Maurice Guiness and Muna Lee) (Scribner's) The Sentry Box Murder, by "Newton Gale" (Maurice Guiness and Muna Lee) (Scribner's) Feliciana, stories by Stark Young (C. Scribner's Sons) Heaven Trees, a novel by Stark Young (C. Scribner's Sons) Anne Carsley born. February 20: Ellen Gilchrist born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. June 17: William Mills born in Hattiesburg. October 12: William Raspberry born in Okolona, Mississippi. Tennessee Williams's play Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay produced in Memphis.
1936	Publications: Absalom, Absalom!, a novel by William Faulkner (Random House). Murder at 28:10, by “Newton Gale” (Maurice Guiness and Muna Lee) (Scribner’s) January 10: Stephen E. Ambrose born in Decatur, Illinois. February 7: John Stone born in Jackson, Mississippi. March 15: James Whitehead born in St. Louis, Missouri. September 24: Jim Henson born in Greenville, Mississippi. Premiere of the film The Road to Glory, screenplay by William Faulkner and Joel Sayre.
1937	Publications: Art in Review: Reprints of Material Dealing with Art Exhibitions Directed by Walt Dehner and Acquisitions in the University of Puerto Rico, 1929-1938, by Muna Lee (University of Puerto Rico). Southern Treasury of Life and Literature Selected by Stark Young, edited by Stark Young (C. Scribner's Sons) Death in the Glass, by "Newton Gale" (Maurice Guiness and Muna Lee) (Scribner's) Gloria Norris born in Holcomb, Mississippi. July 16: Jay Higginbotham was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Tennessee Williams's plays Candles to the Sun and The Fugitive Kind are produced in St. Louis. Premiere of the film Slave Ship, screenplay by William Faulkner, Sam Hellman, Lamar Trotti, and Gladys Lehman.
1938	Publications: The Unvanquished, a novel by William Faulkner (Random House). Sinister Crag, by "Newton Gale" (Maurice Guiness and Muna Lee) (Scribner's) Uncle Tom's Children: Four Novellas, by Richard Wright; expanded edition published that same year as Uncle Tom's Children: Five Novellas (Harper). Bright and Morning Star, a story by Richard Wright (International Publishers). November 5: Robert W. Hamblin born in Jericho (Union County), Mississippi. December 17: L. C. Dorsey was born in Tribbett, Mississippi.
1939	Publications: The Wild Palms, a novel by William Faulkner (Random House). The Street of the Islands, stories by Stark Young (C. Scribner's Sons) January 1: James Seay born in Panola County, Mississippi. July 5: Historian John F. Marszalek was born in Buffalo, New York. August 2: Charles Wilson born in Kennett, Missouri. August 23: Lewis Nordan born in Jackson, Mississippi. Premiere of the film Gunga Din, screenplay by Freg Guiol with story by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, and William Faulkner. William Faulkner receives an O. Henry Award and is elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.