The first comprehensive listing of Mississippi's African-American authors will soon be available on the Internet.
Reference librarians at Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library are developing a web site of the state's well known and lesser known African-American writers.
"With support from the university's Office of Research, we're trying to develop and enhance the African-American collection at Mississippi State," said Dean of Libraries Frances Coleman. "This will be an important resource reflecting the contributions of many writers in Mississippi."
Reference librarians Gail Peyton and Lynne Mueller have used a wide range of library resources to identify writers. They also will poll local public libraries and the libraries of the state's historically black colleges and universities to expand the list.
Published writers in fiction, poetry, journalism, and other genres will be included in the web site under development. Currently, the project has identified more than 80 Mississippi writers whose biographies and lists of works will be represented.
"We don't know of another project quite like this," said Peyton. "Our goal is to make the list as complete as possible."
Peyton said that she and Mueller also will produce a printed version of the list.
For more information about the project, contact Peyton at (601) 325-7671.
