Extra Mile Podcast: Mississippi Book Festival Executive Director Ellen Daniels

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[Music and Intro]

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents The Extra Mile Podcast

(Paul Katool) Welcome in to another edition of The Extra Mile Podcast presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I'm Paul Katool, and as always, I'm joined by my co-host Will Craft, and we are very excited about today's on location podcast. We are gonna speak with Mississippi Book Festival Executive Director Ellen Daniels. Ellen, thank you so much. It's a very, very busy time for you. Thank you for making time for us.

(Ellen Daniels) Thank y'all for having me. I really appreciate y'all asking me to be on.

(Paul) Absolutely. So, let’s get to it right off the bat. Where exactly are we right now?

(Ellen) We are in Ms. Welty's house, Ms. Eudora Welty. Um, Ms. Welty is a, uh, National Book Award winner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and she was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. And this is where she lived until she died.

(Paul) Amazing.

(Will Craft) Sorry, I gotta remember to keep the microphone close to the mouth. That does help when doing podcasts.

(Paul) Sure.

(Will) As Paul said, thank you so much for having us over and for joining the show. Without further ado, you know, Paul just mentioned it's a busy time for you. What you got going on?

(Ellen) Well, we are having the 10th anniversary of the Mississippi Book Festival–

(Will) That’s right.

(Ellen) next Saturday starting at 9 a.m. on the State Capitol lawn, in the State Capitol and at Galloway United Methodist Church, and for the first time ever in the First Baptist Church Sanctuary.

(Paul) Oh, wow.

(Will) Oh, OK. So, it’s getting bigger?

(Ellen) It, it, it, it got bigger this year.

(Will) OK.

(Ellen) Yeah.

(Will) That seems to be a good thing, though, right? Yeah?

(Ellen) Yes, it feels a little unwieldy right now, but yeah, we're going to get it done. And, uh, yeah, so it's a big year. We've got a lot to celebrate. Um, you know, it's hard to believe, well, it’s easy and hard to believe this has been going on for 10 years, but yeah, this is it. So, we're having a big literary lawn party.

(Paul) The Literary Lawn Party.

(Will) That’s awesome. What, what, what are some of the things that you've done in your past that sort of led you into this career? What kind of background did you have?

(Ellen) Well, uh, I have, you know, over a decade of history at Lemuria Bookstore as a bookseller.

(Will) OK.

(Ellen) And, um, you know, that is, you know, you know, one of my, I love to read, and I love to connect people with books that I think that they will like. Um, and so I always say that, you know, being the Executive Director of the Book Festival is like book selling on a grand scale.

(Will) OK.

(Paul) Nice.

(Ellen) So, um, but I also worked at Fischer Galleries for a long time as a gallery assistant. I'm a photographer. I like to say I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. So, but yeah, I do a couple, I've done a couple things in my past.

(Will) That's right. I've got to finish that quote, though. Jack of all trades, master of none is better than, what is it, an expert in one, I think is the full quote.

(Ellen) Oh, I've never –

(Will) Yeah!

(Ellen) I did not know that.

(Paul) Me neither.

(Will) Gotta look that one up right there. Uh, cause I have often referred to myself as a jack of all trades, master of none.

(Ellen) Yeah.

(Will) Somebody told me that that was a good thing at some point. Um, well that's really cool. I'm glad to hear it's growing and uh, taking off. What are, uh, is, is the book festival itself kind of the linchpin of the, of the entire year for you guys?

(Ellen) Yes, you know, it's really funny sometimes after the, well not sometimes, every time after the book festival someone invariably asks me, “So, what do y'all do for the rest of the year?” We're planning the next book festival.

(Will) That’s right.

(Ellen) It's uh, you know, it's pretty psychotic. We plan all year long and bet it on one day. So, you know, there's a lot of weather watching about this time of year. So, yeah, it's all year long. There's about, uh, 300 different facets to it. We've got About 190 authors coming to the festival –

(Will) Wow.

(Ellen) this year that are gonna sit on official panels. Those are the actual events that happen all day long where it's, you know, a group of authors that relate in some way. Uh, we can, I think we have 52 panels this year that happen from 9:30 in the morning till 5:00 in the afternoon. So yeah, it's a jam-packed day and one of the main complaints that we always get is that there's too much to choose from, which is a pretty good problem to have. But a wonderful thing that we do is we videotape all of the panels that they live in perpetuity on our website. So, if you didn't get to see something you want to see on festival day, you can go to our website, and you can view that panel.

(Will) Go check that out. Drop the, uh, if, if, if you can rattle off the website for us.

(Ellen) It is www.msbookfestival.com, and our schedule is up, so go check it out. You can see the signing schedule and all of the things that we have planned during the day, not just panels. We have, you know, family friendly activities. We've got tons of booksellers, food trucks –

(Will) There we go.

(Ellen) Capitol tours happening all day long, so there's a lot to see and a lot to do.

(Paul) It's an amazing experience. Love going to it every year. I've got a lot of friends that love to go to it. It's a truly like one of the big Jackson events. So, question, if you're, if you're going to the book fest for the first time, um, who would you recommend going to see? Like what are the major, some of the big names with the panels? All of them are important, but who are some of the headliners?

(Ellen) Of course. So, you know, Galloway Sanctuary is our largest festival venue, and that seats up to 750 audience members. So, we're kicking off the day with Kate DiCamillo. Kate DiCamillo is a two-time, uh, Library of Congress National Children's Literature Ambassador. She is a huge deal. Um, you know, as a former bookseller, I'm ashamed to say this, but I finally read some of Kate DiCamillo's books this past December, and I was like, okay, I get it. This is why these are such incredible books, why all children love them. She's just a masterful storyteller. So, she's kicking off the day in Galloway Sanctuary at 9:30 a.m.

And then we have got Richard Grant who wrote Dispatches from Pluto. He's got his new book coming out. Uh, that changed this morning. That panel time was going to be at noon. It is now at 10:45. Um, and then we've got former safety for the, um, New Orleans Saints Steve Gleason with his book A Life Impossible.

(Will) What?

(Ellen) He's been living with ALS for 13 years. And he communicates with predictive technology with his retinas. He just won the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Really incredible story like what he is doing for other people living with that disease. That is going to be an incredibly moving session. And then at 1:30, we have LeVar Burton and Jesmyn Ward.

(Will) Pretty cool.

(Paul) Whoa.

(Ellen) Yeah.

(Paul) That’s crazy.

(Ellen) So, very excited about that. And then at 2:45, we have got, um, Erik Larson in conversation with our wonderful friend and author, Margaret McMullen. You know, Erik Larson wrote The Devil in the White City, The Splendid and the Vile, and In the Garden of Beasts. I mean, he is like a superstar nonfiction author. It's all very readable, but one that I have to mention, and since we are in Ms. Welty's house. Starting at 2:45 in the Galloway Fellowship Center, we have the panel in celebration of Ms. Welty. Um, there's been a book released on Ms. Welty this week, uh, by Anthony Thaxton and Robert St. John, that is absolutely, and Amy Thaxton, that is absolutely incredible, but it also has an accompanying documentary, and it is the world premiere of this documentary. So, it's gonna be a wonderful session. It's two hours long. Cannot be missed.

(Will) Very cool.

(Paul) Amazing.

(Will) Two thoughts. I definitely just got to add. One, I'm still learning how to read, but you got me with Steve Gleason and food trucks. So, I'm very much looking forward to this.

(Ellen) There you go!

(Will) Just killed it with those two right there. The other question, and if you already said this, I apologize. It’s been a long week. Is there any costs associated with attendance?

(Ellen) The Mississippi Book Festival is free and open to the public. And, you know, we've had pushback on that from You know the publishing overlords for years and that is just something that we are not willing to bow down on. We believe at the festival that reading and the love of authors and being able to see the authors that you love needs to be open to everybody no matter of your background.
So, it is free and open to the public.

(Paul) That’s awesome.

(Will) Very cool. And you know naming something else you can go do with that kind of the extent of things that y'all have to do and learn and –

(Ellen) Literally nothing.

(Will) Yeah and pay nothing. That's right. Not much of that out there. So, go check it out, y’all.

(Paul) Yeah, go check it out. And not sure about this, but are there any other events kind of like leading up to the book fest like during the week that are open to the public or?

(Ellen) So, we don't. There's nothing open to the public, but I will tell you on Thursday and Friday before the festival, we have what we do every year, which is called our KidNote event. And that is when we get like superstar children's authors in front of a lot of areas, public school students. And, um, they all walk away with a copy of the book that they've just heard about.

But we all learned a lot during COVID. And one of the main things we learned about is Zoom, and we learned that we could get into classrooms all across the state with those events. So, we've got Angie Thomas on Thursday. We've got Kate DiCamillo on Friday. And something we haven't mentioned is the new date that we have for the festival this year.

(Paul) Yes, very important.

(Ellen) Very important. And because of that date change, we are going to reach more students than ever because the date used to be the third Saturday in August. And that is when, you know, grade schools have been back in for like maybe two weeks and they're all just trying to survive. We've already got over 23,000 students signed up for that event.

(Will) Wow.

(Paul) Fantastic.

(Will) That’s incredible. And the date, um, just so we don't mistake the date for this year –

(Ellen) September 14.

(Will) September 14. Don’t forget it.

(Paul) Was there any weather considerations I feel like, or no?

(Ellen) For the date change?

(Paul) For the date change.

(Ellen) Yes.

(Paul) That’s what I was thinking, right?

(Ellen) So, after the festival last year, when the temperature topped out at 104 degrees –

(Paul) Yep.

(Will) Wow.

(Ellen) and I looked at the board president and I said, “If you weren't paying me to be here, I wouldn't have been here.” I was like, this is crazy. You know, when the book festival started, we were an unknown entity. People, there's incredible book culture in Mississippi, and people love to read, and we revere authors, but we also love football –

(Paul) Sure.

(Ellen) and hunting. We cannot compete, you know, nothing's ever going to be that big. So, we didn't want to compete with football season or like dove season or something. I think it'd be dove season. But, so, I did a lot of historical weather data research after the festival last year, and historically, um, the second Saturday in September, which September 14th is, is a historically 10 degrees cooler than the third Saturday in August. And on the second Saturday of September, there are no SEC conference games or SWAC games.

(Will) That’s impressive.

(Ellen) So, I learned a new term. Those are called the Cupcake Games.

(Paul) Yeah. Yep.

(Ellen) And if you want to go to the Cupcake Games, please, by all means. We’ll be having a book festival, not in a hundred-degree sweltering heat.

(Will) There we go. That's pretty intense though. That's a lot that goes into it, you know, uh, I've, I've heard, you know, folks say, don't get married in the, you know, fall because football is going to trump those that are attending.

(Ellen) Or you better have a TV and a tent.

(Will) That’s right, that’s right.

(Paul) There you go.

(Will) So, impressive. Lots of research going into that. Like you said, a year-round, that type of deal. Uh, before we kind of move a little bit out of the box and into kind of our fun questions, anything we're missing, uh, as far as the book fest and, and, and talking it up?

(Ellen) Uh, I'm sure, I'm sure a gazillion things, but, um, uh, there's a lot that goes on with it. But this year I would like to point out, um, it is our 10th anniversary, uh, one more time. Um, and also, we've made some improvements, um, um, you know. Festival goer improvements, user experience enhancements.

(Will) OK.

(Ellen) We have a full parking map this year. We have identified, I think it's 12 parking lots around the State Capitol where there will be available parking, and those will be, um, they will have security attendants in all those parking lots.

(Will) Oh, nice.

(Ellen) We're actually using a DOT parking lot for some of our funders actually.

(Paul) Oh, awesome. Okay.

(Ellen) So, um, you know, we're just trying to streamline it for people because, you know, we all work downtown, but if you don't work downtown, or you're not from Jackson, you don't understand downtown. So, and we're also gonna have a lot more signage, like coming on to High Street, or going to Pearl Street, like those exits that point towards the book festival. So, all that is on our website, like the parking map, the interactive Google Map that has everything that goes along with the festival, so you can, you know, map how you get there.

Um, there's a ton of resources on our, on our website. So please just check those out and come out and enjoy it. I mean, it's free. Um, and it's, what's really special about it is, you know, during this kind of really weird time in our country, it's where a bunch of different people come together over a shared love. And that is something that's truly rare today. And it's, makes you feel good about the world. You're like, we're going to be okay.

(Paul) Definitely. No doubt. Well, we’re gonna get into some like non-literary questions. Fun questions, but let's ask you some personal questions when it comes to reading. So, and this is probably impossible, What's your favorite book of all time? Do you have one? Is that possible to?

(Ellen) Um, let me, yes, you know, I can tell you which book I've read the most in my entire life.

(Paul) Perfect. We’ll take it, we’ll take it.

(Ellen) And actually this is the first year in a very long time I haven't read it. Uh, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(Ellen) I usually read it once every year. Um, but you know, I think one of my favorite books of all time, and it is by a Mississippi author, is The Secret History, um, by Donna Tartt. I love that book. It's a great book. She was originally from Grenada. Um, and yeah, she was a student up at Ole Miss. Barry Hanna was her creative writing professor –

(Will) Wow.

(Ellen And he was like, you are, you are, you are very good. You need to go somewhere off and do this. And so, she went to Bennington, and she was there with like Brad Easton Ellis and Jonathan Lethem, and they were all friends, you know, they were kind of like the cool writer kids of that time. So yeah, read a lot of books, but that's one of my favorites.

(Paul) Amazing.

(Will) Yeah, awesome.

(Paul) Good stuff.

(Will) I will selfishly add, you didn't ask me this question, but, uh, we were talking before the show, what's the last book that we finished? I do have a confession. It was Dispatches from Pluto.

(Ellen) Well, there you go. You need to come see Richard with his new one.

(Will) I absolutely will. I've got, so the, my copy is a, it was a wedding gift from the folks that own the Pluto Plantation. And so, my, my copy is, I got a signed copy for the book. So yeah, Dispatches from Pluto. I mean, I haven't finished a whole lot of books in my life, so I would say that's my favorite.

(Ellen) I'm married to a man that does not read at all.

(Paul) Whoa.

(Ellen) He's read one book in his entire life. But that is by design.

(Will) We’re out there.

(Ellen) Because all of the book space is my space. I believe that. I don't have to share it.

(Paul) There you go. One more, uh, literary question. So, what are you reading right now? Like, what, what, if you have any time to read.

(Ellen) Well, I’m reading several things, but I can't say I have a whole lot of capacity to, uh –

(Will) Parking maps?

(Ellen) Parking maps! Lot of Excel spreadsheets. It's real sexy. I mean, you know, so, um, actually I'll tell you something I just finished. It's called The God of the Woods, and it's by Liz Moore and it was really an incredible book. That's the last book I finished, um, having a little hard time, uh, being quiet and focusing, uh, for real long periods of time. So, that was very, very enjoyable.

(Paul) Excellent.

(Will) The God of the Woods.

(Paul) Love it.

(Will) Excellent recommendation. I mean, I'm certain these are all wonderful recommendations. I just can't speak to them. You know, I'm getting there, y'all. I'm getting there.

(Paul) We're teaching them how to read.

(Will) That's right. It's a long road. Okay. Uh, well, hey, with that, let's move into, uh, the two oddball questions that we'd like to ask all of our, uh, guests that come on the show. Um, as a people, as a podcast, Mississippians, MDOT, we like to eat, and we love to listen to music. So, uh, two questions for you. I'll take the, I'll take the food side. Um, you know, certainly you're in the Jackson Metro here. Do you have a favorite spot that you like to go get a bite or get to eat? And then maybe if you're, is there somewhere maybe around the state that you don't get to visit very often, but anytime you're in the area, you got to stop in.

(Ellen) I got you.

(Will) Perfect.

(Ellen) This is going to give you an idea of the type of food that I like.

(Will) All right.

(Ellen) I like Bully's Soul Food on Livingston Road in Jackson. That is one of my favorites. Um, it's, you know, if I'm going to eat fried chicken, I'm going to eat fried chicken for Mr. Bully and Ms. Greta.

(Will) Okay. I'm going to have to go check that out.

(Ellen) Yes, it's delicious. And the place that I always wish that I could just drive to and eat whenever I want. And that's probably God doing for me what I can't do for myself. I like Ajax in Oxford.

(Will) Ah, another Oxford recommendation.

(Paul) We get that, that might be one of the most common ones.

(Will) Yeah.

(Paul) We were just there!

(Will) We did. And it did not disappoint!

(Ellen) You were at Ajax?

(Paul) Not today, but the last time we had a little –

(Will) Probably a week or two ago.

(Paul) Yeah.

(Ellen) What’d y’all eat?

(Will) Everything. So much food.

(Ellen) I need specifics.

(Will) Golly. Whatever special they had that day. I think I, I think I got fried chicken.

(Ellen) OK.

(Paul) Pot roast.

(Ellen) Yum.

(Paul) It’s good.

(Will) Maybe it’s –

(Paul) It’s real good.

(Ellen) I get the country fried steak every time.

(Paul) Country fried steak?

(Ellen) Mm hmm. With black eyed peas.

(Will) Mama says I’m a good eater. But I don’t remember what I had.

(Ellen) Ah, the blackberry cobbler is really good. You need to get that –

(Will) OK.

(Ellen) the next time you go.

(Will) Ajax.

(Paul) Love it.

(Will) Love that, and then Bully’s. Yeah, sorry if I told on myself. Haven’t been to Bully’s. Uh, we got some complaints from the crowd back here on that, but Roy’s gonna take us.

(Ellen) You need to rectify that immediately.

(Will) We can do that.

(Paul) Yeah, we can take a little office Friday lunch to Bully’s, for sure. Well, that’s, those are some good answers right there. And then, Ellen, I know we've talked a little music, uh, you know, away from the podcast before. But, uh, what about like a favorite concert that you've ever been to?

(Ellen) You know, I have really been thinking about this. And, you know, I like all kinds of music, but I think, well, I'm gonna have to say, I did see Beyonce in New Orleans.

(Paul) Whoa.

(Ellen) New Orleans last year after the book festival.

(Will) The Beyhive!

(Ellen) We did a little book fest, book festival team building trip. We all –

(Paul) Nice.

(Ellen) went to see Beyonce. But I saw Muse in Nashville, probably. God, 15 years ago and that was like truly incredible. But I will say my favorite band of all-time is The Kills, and I've seen them so many times, and now they're coming to Jackson on October 8th. Got that little bit of news the other day, so I'm super excited about it. Um, yeah. You know, I've seen Neil Young. I mean, that's amazing.

(Will) Oh, wow. Yeah.

(Ellen) Yeah. Allman Brothers. The Dead.

(Paul) Whoa. Yeah. I was going to mention. The Grateful Dead. Love them.

(Will) Have you been out to the, uh, the Sphere?

(Ellen) No, but I mean, I saw Paul’s like Instagram stories, and I was like –

(Will) Living vicariously.

(Ellen) I mean, truly. And then I saw him like the next day, and I was like, what are you doing here?

(Will) Quick traveler.

(Ellen) Weren’t you just in Vegas?

(Paul) The spirit of Jerry Garcia transported me.

(Ellen) Truly!

(Paul) Love it.

(Will) Yeah, he just morphed right on back to Jackson.

(Ellen) Yeah, that really did. I walked outside of somebody’s house, and here comes Paul, and I just said, “What are you doing here?”

(Will) Sometimes he moves quick, you know.

(Paul) Absolutely.

(Will) Well, he always moves quick. That’s excellent, excellent recommendations. I haven’t heard the name Muse in so long.

(Ellen) Well, I mean I haven’t listened to them in so long –

(Will) I kind of forgot they existed.

(Ellen) but that was a time when it was like real hot, and it was, it was pretty amazing.

(Will) That’s incredible. Yeah. And Neil Young, too.

(Paul) Oh, yeah.

(Will) That’s definitely a pretty cool thing.

(Ellen) That old man could get down.

(Will) A pretty cool thing. Awesome. Excellent answers. Thank you so much for those.

(Paul) Great answers.

(Will) Before we forget and move any further, hit us with the website one more time.

(Ellen) Yeah, uh, of course, www.msbookfestival.com.

(Will) msbookfestival.com. OK, I’m going to try and remember that.

(Paul) There we go.

(Ellen) Are you like the, are you like the, um, the village idiot for the podcast?

(Will) Yes.

(Ellen) OK.

(Will) There’s a village somewhere looking for their idiot. Cause I am out of the office.

(Ellen) I like this persona that you do on here. This is great.

(Paul) No way, no way. He is sandbagging everybody.
(Will) Just authentic character, folks.

(Paul) Way. Well, Ellen, thank you so much for making time for us. Everybody, by the time this episode airs, it'll be book fest week. So, come out on Saturday. Hang out all day.

(Ellen) Hang out all day. There's, all the panels are inside with lots of air conditioning. We're giving away free waters. There's cooling stations on the lawn with these really weird, like air condensers that blow out cool air with Adirondack chairs. It's a great day. Yeah, come out.

(Paul) Perfect, perfect.

(Ellen) Oh, I do need to mention this.

(Paul) Sure.

(Ellen) We have the Hot Fest Cool Down at Hal and Mal’s that night, starting at seven after the festival. So, it's our after party.

(Paul) Ah.

(Ellen) So that's, everybody needs to come to that. That's going to be a great time.

(Will) And these are all free entry.

(Ellen) That one’s not, unfortunately.

(Will) That’s OK. I take that back.

(Ellen) Yeah, so.

(Will) Clip that. But hey, the, the, the book festival itself, again, I feel like that is a –

(Ellen) But it’s not us collecting money.

(Will) OK.

(Ellen) It’s Hal and Mal’s.

(Paul) Hal and Mal’s.

(Ellen) They’re running a business.

(Paul) Eat local.

(Will) The book festival is free, though. Free to get in. Love that, love that.

(Paul) Amazing. Well, Ellen, thank you so much. And I will, uh, talk about some MDOT travel resources. Look, there's people from all over the state, really all over the country. But if you're in Mississippi and you're trying to get to the book fest, check MDOTtraffic.com. Download the MDOT traffic app and check traffic conditions. Know before you go, before you head down to Jackson Saturday. So, all right, we'll just wrap things up right there. Thank you to our listeners, our viewers for tuning into the extra mile podcast. You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/TheExtraMile. Follow us on social media; @MississippiDOT is the handle. We want to thank our producer Drew Hall, and Roy Atkins came along for, to help us out today. And remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

(Barrett Wilson) Hey, y’all. Football season is finally here. To avoid delays on the Road to Game Day, be sure to download the MDOT Traffic mobile app or visit MDOTtraffic.com, where you can get real-time updates on crashes, closures and construction. To reach the end zone, MDOT encourages safe driving. That means buckle up, obey the speed limit and avoid distracted driving, especially in work zones. For more information, follow @MississippiDOT on Facebook, X and Instagram.

(Will) Thank you for subscribing to The Extra Mile podcast. Help us out by leaving a review and a five-star rating wherever you download the show. After leaving a review, slide on into our DMs over on social media @MississippiDOT and let us know. As a thank you, we have compiled a Google Map list of all of our guests’ favorite spots to eat on Mississippi Highways. It is our gift to you. Seriously, you guys are the best. We could not do the show without you, and we greatly appreciate the support. Remember, drive smart out there on Mississippi Highways.

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