The Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library welcomes Pulitzer-prize-winning photojournalist Alysia Burton Steele to its Wednesday, April 8 Table Talk program. Steele, currently an assistant professor at the Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media at Ole Miss, will introduce her just-published book “Delta Jewels.”
Before coming to Ole Miss in 2012, Steele worked at newspapers for 15 years as a journalist. While at The Dallas Morning News, she was a member of the team which won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
Dedicated to and inspired by her paternal grandmother, Steele’s “Delta Jewels” chronicles in photos and interviews the lives of over 50 Delta “church mothers,” women who have earned that title of respect and admiration from their communities of faith.
“These church elders shared poignant highlights of their lives during the Jim Crow era,” Steele noted. “The stories are empowering and enlightening and break barriers across age, race and gender.”
In pulling this book together, Steele related that she “drove over 6,000 miles and collected oral histories from women all across the Mississippi Delta. I’ve spent countless hours … talking to these strong, beautiful women,” she concluded.
Susan Puckett, author of “Eat Drink Delta,” praises Steele’s book as “one to be treasured, re-read, and shared for years to come,” and Reena Evers, executive director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, says it is “a captivating journey for those who want to relive the essence of our loved ones who we can no longer touch.”
“We are honored to have the opportunity to host Alysia,” said Friends member Jo Shumake. “Her official book launch is April 7 in Oxford, and our Table Talk program is the first step of her national book tour.”
Table Talks run every Wednesday in April at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, 314 Seventh St. N. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. for those wishing to bring their lunch and socialize before the program begins at noon. The Friends will serve iced tea.
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