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percy-l - Re: [percy-l] Announcement: 2025 Walker Percy Weekend to be held (Sept. 19-20, St. Francisville, La)

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  • From: "jp AT jlarsp.com" <jp AT jlarsp.com>
  • To: percy list <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] Announcement: 2025 Walker Percy Weekend to be held (Sept. 19-20, St. Francisville, La)
  • Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2025 10:49:09 -0500

Henry,
As I live near Chicago, it has never worked out for me to make it to the Walker Percy Weekend, and I have enjoyed reading about it every year. It sounds like a wonderful event. I’m sorry this will be the last year, and ten years is a good run and it sounds like they have a great finale planned. 

Cheers,

John Pearson

On Aug 8, 2025, at 7:05 PM, Henry P. Mills III <wppdirector AT gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Percy-L:

For those interested, please find an announcement about the upcoming 10th annual Walker Percy Weekend to be held this September 19-20. Two of our loyal Percy-L community members will be speakers, Rhonda McDonnell and Karey Perkins (see details below).

The festival announces this year as likely its last, so be sure and get your tickets soon to enjoy this wonderful Percy event of so many years!

Cheers,
Henry Mills

------------------------

The Walker Percy Weekend
A LITERARY FESTIVAL CELEBRATING THE ACCLAIMED NOVELIST’S LIFE AND WORK
ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA, SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2025

 

"The Last Laugh: Wit, Wisdom, and Ten Years of the Walker Percy Weekend"

 


OVERVIEW
Good food, craft beer and bourbon, live music, and a great time talking about books and Southern culture under the live oaks: That's what the tenth annual Walker Percy Weekend has to offer.

Intellectually serious but delivered with a glass of bourbon and a grin, the annual festival invites fans of Southern literature to pursue appreciation of Percy’s thought and writing while attending presentations by renowned scholars, panel discussions, participatory book clubs, and spirited social and culinary events inspired by the author’s most famous works. 

Events take place at locations around St. Francisville’s historic district. During this tenth (and likely final) festival, participating authors, academics, and comics will explore the theme "The Last Laugh: Wit, Wisdom, and Ten Years of the Walker Percy Weekend".

From conversations around faith, humor and philosophy in Walker Percy's South, to the comic wisdom of Southern writers past and present, the tenth annual Walker Percy Weekend considers how Percy and the Southern writers who followed him use humor and satire to find meaning in our absurd moment.

FESTIVAL WEBSITE
(website info also found below)

SPEAKERS
(full bios also listed below)
  • Rhonda McDonnell - "Walker Percy and the Scientists of NIMH -- Psychiatry as the Central Element of Percy's Character Development"
  • Karey Lea Perkins - "Walker Percy’s Existential Endings and the Meaning of Life"
  • (Rhonda and Karey will also give a lunchtime discussion on Symbol and Existence.)
  • Sean Ennis
  • H. Collin Messer
  • Michael Strecker
  • M.O. Walsh
SCHEDULE
(full listing of events also listed below)

TICKETS

ADDITIONAL INFO
Proceeds:
Festival proceeds support the Julius Freyhan Foundation -- an organization dedicated to restoring the historic Freyhan School building to serve as a community and cultural center for West Feliciana Parish. The festival is overjoyed to report that restoration work on the Freyhan School building will be completed this summer in plenty of time for the building to host the 2025 Walker Percy Weekend. (Julius Freyhan Foundation, PO Box 1636, St.Francisville, LA) https://www.freyhanfoundation.org/

Other Details: 
Sponsorship Packages, FAQs, and Major Festival Sponsors are listed below.



THE WALKER PERCY WEEKEND
------------------------------------ 2025 Schedule of Events ----------------------------------

Friday , Sept 19, 2025

Registration: 2 – 4:30 PM – The Conundrum Bookstore – 11917 Ferdinand Street, St Francisville 

5 – 6:30 PM – Grand Opening Reception for The Freyhan Center  - 4727 Fidelity Street, St Francisville 

7 – 10 PM – Red Dragon Listening Room concert with Sonny Landreth (separate ticket required)

 

Saturday , Sept 20, 2025

Registration8 AM – 5 PM – The Conundrum Bookstore – 11917 Ferdinand Street

 8:30 – 5 PM : Lectures and Panels - The Freyhan Center - 4727 Fidelity Street, St Francisville

8:30 – 10 AM : H. Collin Messer - From Scotch and Stoicism to Bourbon and Sackcloth:  The Redemptive Arc of Percy’s Humor

10:15 – 11:45 AM : Karey Perkins - Walker Percy’s Existential Endings and the Meaning of Life

12 pm – 1:30 PM: Book Club Lunches

Collin Messer: “The Moviegoer”

Michael Strecker: “Love in the Ruins”

Rhonda McDonnell and Karey Perkins: A lunchtime discussion on Symbol and Existence 

1:45 – 3:15 PM: Rhonda McDonnell: Walker Percy and the Scientists of NIMH—Psychiatry as the Central Element of Percy's Character Development

3:30 – 5 PM: Panel Discussion: Writing Funny: Wit & Wisdom in Contemporary Southern Fiction” with M.O. Walsh, Michael Strecker, and Sean Ennis


 Progressive Front Porch Bourbon Stroll 

5 – 7 PM – Porches in the Historic District, see map on back of brochure


 A Taste of Louisiana Supper 

7 – 9:30 PM : The Taste of Louisiana Southern Supper, presented with a selection of local craft beers, served at the Freyhan School

9:45 – 'til : Late Night Pub Trivia with the Padre: Close down the 10th annual Walker Percy Weekend with some late night Southern lit trivia with Father Brad Doyle at the Oyster Bar -11101 Ferdinand St. (Cash bar)


Registration & Tickets

Registration begins at 2 pm Friday at the Conundrum Bookstore, located at 11917 Ferdinand Street. Come to the bookstore to register, receive tickets and wristbands, and gather information on area dining, accommodation, and attractions.


Access All Events

Lectures • Bourbon Stroll • Taste of Louisiana • Trivia with the Padre: $275*

Separate ticket required for Red Dragon Concert featuring Sonny Landreth Trio


Parties & Social Events Only

Progressive Front Porch Bourbon Stroll. $85. No panels included

Taste of Louisiana Supper. $75. No panels included


*The Republic and Red Dragon presents Grammy-nominated Louisiana native Sonny Landreth Trio

$70 VIP • $50 General Admission


Saturday Lectures & Panels only

$125** after September 1 (**if space remains)

  • Space at lectures is limited. Arrive early to secure a seat.


THE WALKER PERCY WEEKEND
--------------------------------- 2025 Speakers & Panelists  ----------------------------------

Sean Ennis  
Sean Ennis is the author of the story collections Chase Us: Stories (Little A), Cunning, Baffling, Powerful (Thirty West) and Hope and Wild Panic (Malarkey Books). He is a two-time recipient of a Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Grant, and a graduate of the University of Mississippi MFA program in fiction. He is now the director of a software development bootcamp in Water Valley, MS. 

H. Collin Messer 

H. Collin Messer is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Prior to joining the leadership team at Covenant in 2022, he taught American literature at Grove City College for 16 years. Messer earned his PhD in American Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill and has published articles and book chapters on William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Raymond Carver, and Walker Percy. He is currently working on a book-length study of Walker Percy, in which he traces Augustinian influences and echoes in Percy’s work with particular interest in the Christian existentialism of both St. Augustine and Percy.  He and wife, Elizabeth, have three children, Camille, Grace, and Mac.


Rhonda McDonnell

Rhonda McDonnell, PhD, is a member of the Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism at Texas Tech University, where she conducts research on Walker Percy's radical anthropology. She teaches creative writing, American Literature, and composition at Guilford Technical Community College in Greensboro, NC. She might be a transplant to the South, but she calls it her true home.


Karey Lea Perkins
Karey Lea Perkins has taught literature, writing, and philosophy at the university level for over 30 years.  An author and editor of several books, essays, and articles, her research interests lie at the intersection of literature and philosophy, with specialties in author and philosopher Walker Percy, contemporary American literature, southern literature, existentialism, semiotic, and ethics.  A member of Texas Tech University’s Charles Sanders Peirce Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism, she explores the influence of Peirce in Percy’s writings.  As part of the ISP team, she found, co-edited, and published Percy’s original unpublished book, Symbol and Existence: A Study in Meaning (2019).   She presently serves as Associate Professor of English at South Carolina State University.  

Michael Strecker 
Michael Strecker is the author of the comedic New Orleans-based novel The Knights of Wade, which has garnered rave reviews from Vanity Fair to The Times-Picayune. His short fiction has been selected twice as a Tennessee Williams Festival finalist and has appeared in leading literary journals. He is also an award-winning stand-up comedian and author of several acclaimed children’s books. He lives in the New Orleans area with his wife and two children.

M. O. Walsh

M.O. Walsh is the author the short story collection The Prospect of Magic and the novels My Sunshine Away and The Big Door Prize. His work has been a New York Times bestseller, won the Pat Conroy Prize for Southern Fiction and was a finalist for the Thurber Award for American Humor. His most recent novel, The Big Door Prize, was recently adapted for television and is currently streaming on Apple TV as a comedy series. Walsh directs the Creative Writing Workshop MFA Program at the University of New Orleans and The Yokshop in Oxford, MS.



THE WALKER PERCY WEEKEND
---------------------------- Sponsorship Packages Available  -------------------------



$1500 "The Moviegoer" package. 2 all-inclusive tickets to WPW events including lectures and social events, plus 2 additional tickets to the Saturday night Bourbon Stroll and “Taste of Louisiana Dinner’ to share with friends • Recognition on all printed material, website and social media.

$3000 The "Message in a Bottle" package. 4 all-inclusive tickets to WPW events including lectures and social events, plus 4 additional tickets to the Saturday night Bourbon Stroll and “Taste of Louisiana Dinner’ to share with friends • Recognition on all printed material, website and social media • Your logo on digital billboards in Baton Rouge two weeks prior to weekend.

$5000 The "Lost in the Cosmos" package. 6 all-inclusive tickets to WPW events including lectures and social events, plus 4 additional tickets to the Saturday night Bourbon Stroll and “Taste of Louisiana Dinner’ to share with friends • Recognition on all printed material, website and social media • Your logo on digital billboards in Baton Rouge two weeks prior to weekend.

$10,000 "The Last Gentleman" package. 10 all-inclusive tickets to WPW events including lectures and social events, plus 6 additional tickets to the Saturday night Bourbon Stroll and “Taste of Louisiana Dinner’ to share with friends • Recognition on all printed material, website and social media. Your logo on digital billboards in Baton Rouge two weeks prior to weekend.



THE WALKER PERCY WEEKEND
---------------------------------------- FAQs & More Info  --------------------------------------

• For local accommodation options and to make reservations, look to www.visitstfrancisvillela.com/stay

• The closest airport, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (BTR), is approximately 30 minutes drive from St. Francisville. New Orleans International Airport (MSY) is about 90 minutes drive.

• Getting around: For getting to and from the airport, renting a car is your best bet. Car rental is available from BTR or MSY airports. In St. Francisville, most festival activities take place within the (walkable) historic district. The town has a 15-passenger trolley providing free shuttle transport between stops around town. The trolley runs 10 am–10 pm. Fridays and Saturdays, and noon–5 pm Sundays. To schedule pickup, call or text (225) 721-7060. Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are not reliably available in St. Francisville, although a few drivers do operate during festival weekends.

• Cancellations & Refunds: Funds raised from sponsorship and ticket sales for the Walker Percy Weekend benefit the Julius Freyhan Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to restoring the historic Freyhan School building to serve as a community and cultural center for West Feliciana Parish. As such, all ticket purchases are considered donations to the foundation. No refunds are available.

• Kids. We love 'em! We have 'em! But since the Walker Percy Weekend program consists of seated lectures and social events amply supplied with adult beverages, it really isn't designed with young children in mind. If you do need to bring your kids, please know that we cannot make special accommodations for them, or provide exceptions from the ticketing fees. We do hope you understand.



THE WALKER PERCY WEEKEND
------------- The 2025 Walker Percy Weekend is generously sponsored by ----------------

Ms. Nancy Vinci
Sherrill and Brett Bellcase
John Turner & Jerry Fischer
Polly & Conville Lemoine
Betsy & Christophe Levasseur
Krista and Mike Dumas
Angele Parlange
Country Roads Magazine
Bank of St. Francisville
The Conundrum Bookstore
Sullivan Dental Center


<WPW-2025-Homepage-All-Images-Copyrighted.jpg>
Website poster is copyright Walker Percy Weekend
Individual pictures are copyright their respective owners


__
Henry P. Mills III
Director, The Walker Percy Project
----------------------------------
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