Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the New York Times bestseller, World of Wonders – In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (milkweed editions). The essay collection was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and was named Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year.

It was also named a Book of the Year by the New York Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, Lit Hub, Indie Next, Esquire, Garden and Gun and New York Public Library

Nezhukumatathil is the author of four books of poetry, most recently, Oceanic, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award. Awards for her writing include Guggenheim and NEA fellowships.

She is the first-ever poetry editor of The Sierra Club’s SIERRA magazine and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi. She lives in Oxford with her husband Dustin Parsons who also teaches at University of Mississippi, and their two sons.

Taylor Brown’s latest novel is Wingwalkers (St. Martin’s Press), an epic historical novel about a female wingwalker and her husband, a former World War I ace pilot, and their journey across Depression-era America performing acts of aerial daring, while a young William Faulkner attempts to take creative flight.

In 1934, during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, William Faulkner had a brief but memorable encounter with two aviator-motorcyclists (a man and a woman), whom he joined in drinking, carousing, and flying. Upon learning this little-known fact, Taylor Brown wondered about this mysterious duo. Who were they and how did their lives intersect with Faulkner’s?

In Wingwalkers, Brown takes this tantalizing tidbit from Faulkner’s real life and sets it aloft by imagining the lives of this adventurous couple and how their paths came to cross with his.

Many scenes and chapters are set in Oxford. Brown gives voice to Faulkner, his brothers Johncy and Dean, their beloved Mammie Callie and even skeptical Oxford townsfolk who scoffed at the fancified Faulkner as “Count No Count.”

“Vivid writing…  A wondrous tale, mixing fact and fiction, with colorful details of the Depression-era United States as backdrop.”

—Library Journal, starred review

Taylor Brown grew up on the Georgia coast. He has lived in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and the mountains of western North Carolina.

He is the recipient of the Montana Prize in Fiction and a three-time finalist for the Southern Book Prize. His novels include Fallen Land, The River of Kings, Gods of Howl Mountain, and Pride of Eden. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Singer-songwriter Kate Teague’s releases include the EP, Kate Teague, and the singles, The Temporary and Play For Time. A new album is forthcoming.

Teague lives in Memphis, TN.

Madrik is an electronica fusion band from Oxford, Mississippi. Members include Austin Smith, Bradley Gordon, Chris Steiner, Eric Carlton, Jonny Lott, Nathan Robbins, and Preston Boutot.