Jeanne Luckett (communications consultant for the Eudora Welty Foundation) said that Bettye would be overwhelmed. She was a very literary person herself. Natasha, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who is also a beautiful person, would be delighted to give this lecture. It would be an honor to her.” The annual lecture is cosponsored by the Visiting Writers Series of Millsaps College. This lecture was founded originally by a book group that grew from a Millsaps Topics seminar taught by Suzanne Marrs. The Welty Foundation was the partner of the book club in honoring Jolly, “one our very faithful volunteers” who died from cancer in 2015. Luckett stated that they raised funds together to make it possible. Trethewey is a nationally recognized writer who “really stands out.” She is also the 19th PoetLaureate of the United States. She has five poetry collections and a memoir. She was also the 2012-2016 PoetLaureate for Mississippi. She was inducted into American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. She was awarded the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities four years later. Monument, her latest book, was nominated to the 2018 National Book Award. The poet traveled the country that year for PBS NewsHour’s series “Where Poetry Lives”. Trethewey, a Board of Trustees Professor of English, is a faculty member at Northwestern University in Evanston. Trethewey’s Friday lecture will reflect her foreword to the new issue of Eudora Welty, Photographs. The event will take place at the Welty House on April 13th, Welty’s birthday as well as the 30th anniversary the book’s first publication. Luckett stated that while we wished she would have been able to be here in April, she is very busy. We are still excited about Friday’s (Bettye Jolly Lecture). Trethewey will be speaking about her book work, how it affected her and what she gained from it. The lecture begins at 4:30 pm Friday._x000D