Mary Miller to Share Insights at Inaugural Writers' Workshop

The University of Mississippi Department of Writing and Rhetoric is hosting the free event, which begins at 4 p.m.

Miller, a former John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at Ole Miss, will talk about how she repurposes the strange details of daily life for her writing.

"The other day, I saw a man biking down the road in Pontotoc with a Chucky doll strapped to his handlebars, propped there like a wild-haired toddler," Miller said. "This is the kind of detail I live for and hoard for my stories.

"I'd like to pass on my joy for the strange details you encounter in daily life – the oddball, the whimsical, the little-bit-scary – the Chucky dolls on handlebars in Pontotoc, if you will."

A Jackson native, Miller is the author of two short story collections, "Big World" and "Always Happy Hour," as well as the novels "The Last Days of California" and "Biloxi." Her stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Oxford American and New Stories from the South.

Miller, who was a James A. Michener fellow in fiction at the University of Texas, teaches in the low-residency master's program in creative writing at Mississippi University for Women.

"Faculty and staff in our department – and across the university – write and publish in many different genres," said Stephen Monroe, chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. "This is wonderful, and the department wants to support such writers though the 'Craft of Writing' workshop."

Top: Mary Miller, a former John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence, will lead the inaugural 'Craft at the Brewery' discussion session on Aug. 21 at the Circle and Square microbrewery in Oxford. Submitted photo