In the immediate aftermath of the first Possumtown Book Fest in 2024, one question was left unanswered: Would the book festival return for a second year?

Its founder, Friendly City Books owner Emily Liner, couldn’t say for sure.

Now, after the second Possumtown Book Fest, held Saturday, primarily at the Columbus Arts Council’s Omnova Theatre, the event seems firmly established as an annual event, this year featuring more than 50 authors, many of them best-sellers from a variety of genres. The one-day event (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) has attracted more than 1,000 book lovers in the small theater both years, about 1,200 this year.

It’s rare that any event can so quickly become an established part of a community, but it’s clear that Columbus in particular – and the Golden Triangle in general – has an uncommon appetite for books that it now boasts two of the premier book festivals in the state.

In October, Mississippi University for Women will hold its 37th Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium, a three-day event at Poindexter Hall of the MUW campus. Over the years, the Welty Series has brought hundreds of respected authors to our doorstep where we can listen and interact.

By contrast, the Possumtown Book Fest is held on a single day, which allows people to spend as much of their day at the event as they like. What we are learning is that many who intended to catch one particular session stick around for others. That happens with a lineup as good as what Possumtown Book Fest has offered these last two years. The standard has been set, and it’s a high one.

Aside from the massive Mississippi Book Fest in Jackson and, perhaps, the Oxford Conference for the Book, no Mississippi city offers a better-known book festival than Columbus, and we can say without a doubt that no Mississippi city – not even Jackson – offers two festivals of the caliber we are blessed with in Columbus.

Neither event could succeed without the support of their community, whether they are corporate sponsors, volunteers or  audience members. The city that is the birthplace of Tennessee Williams and the college home of Eudora Welty has two extraordinary events that celebrate books, honor its literary legacy and promote its literary future.

The Possumtown Book Fest is a perfect complement to the Welty Series.

We simply can’t get enough.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.