Exploring Eudora Welty’s Yalobusha County Connection

COFFEEVILLE – The Yalobusha County Historical Society will meet Thursday, Sept. 17, at 14656 Depot St. in Coffeeville, with Chris Goodwin presenting a program on Mississippi author Eudora Welty and her connections to Yalobusha County.

Welty (1909-2001) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and award-winning photographer from Jackson. Best known for her short stories, she also wrote several novels, including “Delta Wedding” and “The Optimist’s Daughter.” Her other works include the children’s book “The Shoe Bird,” the memoir “One Writer’s Beginnings” and collections of her photography.

Welty’s longtime Jackson home is now state-operated and considered one of the nation’s best-preserved homes of a prominent American writer.

“We often think of Eudora Welty as a Jackson writer, but she also had connections to Yalobusha County,” Goodwin said. “Her brother married Mittie Creekmore of Water Valley, and Welty became close friends with Mittie’s brother, author Hubert Creekmore.”

Goodwin will share more about Welty’s ties to North Mississippi, and those attending will have an opportunity to hear a 1956 recording of Welty reading one of her short stories.

Goodwin is executive director of Water Valley Main Street and serves on the Mississippi Book Festival board. He retired from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 2025.

Everyone is invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.