Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967 presents the first comprehensive view of authors who have published books in the one hundred and fifty years since Mississippi achieved statehood. The writers included in this biographical dictionary range from William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, and Richard Wright to persons who have published only one book and about whom it may be difficult to obtain information.

Here is found anyone born in the state of Mississippi or who spent a significant portion of his or her life there and who wrote and published a work of at least thirty pages in length. On occasion, in order to complete an author's canon, the editor has included a work published before 1817.

Works published after 1967 are not listed in the bibliography, but wherever possible they are mentioned in the accompanying biographical sketch. Though the cutoff date for the bibliographical information is 1967, the biographies of the approximately fifteen hundred authors are as current as possible. An attempt has been made to provide inclusive dates for all authors, the specifics of their education, and a brief outline of their careers. The scope of each entry is determined by the author's productivity and influence, and there are critical essays on approximately one hundred and twenty authors, each written by a recognized scholar.

Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967 is a basic reference guide to the writing of the state. It can be used in a variety of important ways by scholars, teachers, students, and other readers. It gives recognition, long overdue, to many of the authors included, and it will lead to renewed reading and further scholarly study of many others. This first comprehensive compilation of Mississippi authors and their books will be an invaluable resource for all those seeking to trace and understand the state's culture and great literary heritage.