Thousands fill the Mississippi State Capitol for the book festival

Readers streamed through large white tents lined with tables stacked with books.

Jubilee JiBol was already a veteran of the Mississippi Book Festival at age 9.

Jubilee JiBol’s mother, L.E. JiBol, nodded to confirm.

Nile JiBol, 6, was a relative newcomer to the festival.

Mychal Threets’s mission is to teach kids what libraries can offer and that they belong there.

Nile JiBol has been working to improve his reading for future trips to the festival.

The Reading Rainbow reboot debuted last year.

The Reading Rainbow reboot has been renewed for a second season.

The conversation touched on Emmett Till, who was kidnapped and killed by white men in Mississippi in 1955.

A long line of fans stretched for a block outside Galloway.

Kate McKinnon first appeared as her alter ego, Dr. G. Edwina Candlestank.

The conversation touched on Mychal Threets’s struggles with mental health.

In Mississippi’s Old Supreme Court Chamber, five writers recounted hearing a judge sentence them to years behind bars.

As the crowd laughed, Candlestank ditched the lab coat for a black suit jacket and became Kate McKinnon.

Parents corralled young children onto their laps before Kate McKinnon took the stage.

Kate McKinnon’s books follow three misfit sisters and their mentor, the mad scientist Millicent Quibb.

Stanley Andrisse would have spent life in prison for a drug trafficking conviction if the prosecutor had gotten her way.

Stanley Andrisse was sentenced to a decade behind bars.

Candlestank came on stage with short blond hair, round black glasses, and a lab coat.

The paths that brought each writer to prison fill a chapter of the 2025 anthology “Breaking Chains, Building Futures.”

The book centers on how education helped the writers earn college degrees and lead organizations after prison.

Author Stanley Andrisse weaves the writers’ stories together.

On Saturday Night Live, Kate McKinnon’s first questions for a new role were the hair and the voice.

During another panel in the state Capitol, five authors shared stories drawn from Mississippi’s history, from the Delta to Hattiesburg.

The conversations featured writers whose work spans many genres.

Kate McKinnon spent more time out of her seat than in it.

Kate McKinnon recalled being a founding member of the Honeysuckle Eaters Club.

Stanley Andrisse is now a tenured professor and scientist at Howard University.

Kate McKinnon asked children what mad-scientist creatures they wished were real.

Mississippi has one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates.

After his release, Stanley Andrisse went to college.

“Mixing” chronicles Kennard’s fight to desegregate USM and how officials framed and imprisoned him.

The stories took place during the civil rights era.

Stanley Andrisse later earned a master’s degree.

Stanley Andrisse then earned a doctorate.

Stanley Andrisse’s story took place around St. Louis.

Clyde Kennard was the first Black person to apply to the University of Southern Mississippi.

Clyde Kennard’s story is at the center of the 2026 book “Mixing.”

Jim Abbott’s memoir “Paper Man” tells Mississippi’s civil-rights history from a man who witnessed it.

Jim Abbott, a Greenwood native, recounted that change at the festival.

Medgar Evers is better known than Clyde Kennard for challenging school segregation.

Jubilee JiBol mused about someday becoming a writer, maybe of more mad-scientist stories.

Attendees bought and sold books, attended panels, and networked with authors.

The festival featured fiction, non-fiction, self-help, and children’s literature.

Rochelle Dahmer became an author at 58.

Tristan Marshall became an author in March.

Tristan Marshall came to the festival to promote his first book.

Ella Shines Goldsmith has been an author for 23 years.

Last year, more than 23,000 readers visited the festival.

Admission to the festival is free.

The festival brings readers from across the country.

Over 50 panels and workshops will be held at the capitol and Galloway.

Vendors and authors will sell books on Author’s Alley.

Visitors pay for food, drinks, and books.

The festival has eight featured panelists.

Deesha Philyaw’s panel is at 9:30 a.m. in the capitol.

Author’s Alley will include live music while guests meet local authors and buy books.

Deesha Philyaw’s panel will discuss her debut novel, “The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman.”

Family-friendly events will be held at both locations for kids and teenagers.

Kate McKinnon’s panel is at 9:30 at Galloway.

Deesha Philyaw will sign her book at 11 a.m.

Natchez-born writer Jerid Woods will moderate Deesha Philyaw’s panel.

Deesha Philyaw is a fiction writer and podcast host working on TV shows based on her short fiction.

The third book is titled “The Jungle of Carabanana.”

Mississippi Arts Commission Executive Director David Lewis will moderate Kate McKinnon’s panel.

George Saunders will discuss his second novel at 1:30 p.m.

SuperTalk described Kate McKinnon as a Saturday Night Live star and two-time Emmy Award winner.

Mychal Threets is a librarian and children’s literacy advocate who works with PBS KIDS.

George Saunders will discuss his latest book, “Vigil.”

Mychal Threets will sign the book at 12:15 p.m.

Rick Ross is a Clarksdale native.

George Saunders will sign copies at 3 p.m.

George Saunders is a MacArthur Fellow who has published two novels, four short-story collections, a novella, a book of essays, and an award-winning children’s book.

Todd Doughty, a publishing executive at Knopf Doubleday, will moderate George Saunders.

Rick Ross founded Maybach Music Group.

Belle Burden is also on the festival program.

Rick Ross’s panel is at 2:45 p.m.

Belle Burden will discuss her New York Times bestselling book, “Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage.”

Rick Ross will sign copies at 4:15 p.m.

Book influencer Cree Myles will moderate Rick Ross’s panel.

Belle Burden is a pro bono immigration attorney who specializes in juvenile cases.

Belle Burden will sign her book at 5:15 p.m.

Margaret McMullan will also moderate Belle Burden’s panel.

The festival is an annual event with author panels, book signings, and activities for all ages.

Rick Ross’s memoirs “Hurricanes” and “The Perfect Day to Boss Up” are the books WAPT tied to that list.

Mississippi State is well represented at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson.

The festival welcomes more than 50 panelists and 100 authors.

The festival is open to the public.

This year’s festival is called a Literary Lawn Party.

Current and former Mississippi State professors, graduates, and retirees are among the featured panelists.

Andrew McCarthy, best known for the film St. Elmo’s Fire, is among the nationally known authors.

Many authors based in Mississippi are also featured.

Catherine Pierce is on the “In Verse: Poetry” panel at 9:30 a.m. in State Capitol Room 201A, and signs “Dear Beast” and “Foxes for Everybody” at 11 a.m.

Tracy Carr is on the “The Past, Rewritten: Historical Fiction” panel at 10:45 a.m. in Room 201A, and signs “Conversations with Ellen Gilchrist” at 12:15 p.m.

Donald C. Jackson is on “The Great Outdoors” panel at 4 p.m. in Room 201H, and signs “Restless Winds: Memoirs of an Outdoorsman” at 5:15 p.m.

Michael Kardos is on the “In Brief: Short Stories” panel at 2:45 p.m. in Room 201H, and signs “Quick Change: Stories” at 4:15 p.m.

Anne E. Marshall is on the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters panel at 9:30 a.m. in Room 113, and signs “Creating a Confederate Kentucky” at 11 a.m.

Gabriella Saab is on the historical-fiction panel at 10:45 a.m. in Room 201A, and signs “The Survivor’s Guild” at 12:15 p.m.

Samyak Shertok is on the poetry panel at 9:30 a.m. in Room 201A, with a signing for “No Rhododendron” at 11 a.m.

Susannah J. Ural is a moderator for festival programming.