Aimee Nezhukumatathil, professor of English and creative writing at the University of Mississippi and a celebrated author, sets up her desk on the site of the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency. Support for the initiative has exceeded $4 million. Photo by Ethan Payne/courtesy of Greenfield Farm Writers Residency
Donors, state Legislature provide resources for University of Mississippi writers residency program
Support for the University of Mississippi Greenfield Farm Writers Residency – the state’s first significant infrastructure investment in contemporary writers – has topped $4 million, thanks to two new private gifts and the Mississippi Legislature.
The Gertrude C. Ford Foundation, of Jackson, has committed $500,000 to the project, and Ouida and Wayne Drinkwater, of Oxford, have made a $250,000 gift. The Legislature has appropriated $750,000 for the retreat-style writers’ compound.
“This is a creative way to continue sharing our long literary history with the rest of the world and cultivate new authors who will carry on this Mississippi tradition,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said. “I cannot think of a more perfect setting for a writers’ residency than on land formerly owned by William Faulkner.
“We are proud to support this important project and expand the opportunities and reputation of the university.”
Stephen Sims, president of the Ford Foundation, also spoke to the environment the writer’s compound offers.
“The Greenfield Farm Writers Residency appealed to the Ford Foundation because Gertrude Ford had a strong interest in many literary works and was an author herself,” he said. “This writers residency will provide potential authors and writers the focus to pursue their literary interests and projects in an inspirational environment.”
Greenfield Farm will be built on a 20.4-acre site between Oxford and New Albany once owned by the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author.
“We think of Ole Miss as humanities-focused, with particular strengths in literature and Southern history,” said Wayne Drinkwater, a retired trial lawyer. “We also see Mississippi as America’s most fertile breeding ground for great writers.
“This is not an assessment based solely on giants of the past – Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Wright. The current crop of Mississippi writers shines just as brightly. Jesmyn Ward, Donna Tartt, John Grisham, Angie Thomas, Kiese Laymon, Richard Ford, Natasha Trethewey, Wright Thompson, Steve Yarbrough, Ace Atkins, Greg Iles, Ralph Eubanks, Curtis Wilke, and Michael Farris Smith all come to mind.
“We want our literary tradition to continue, and Greenfield Farm Writers Residency is an exciting vehicle to nurture our next generation of writers.”
Each year, Greenfield Farm is projected to cultivate 50-60 writers who work in Mississippi or are inspired by the state. Writers will stay an average of two to three weeks at no charge, and stipends of $1,000 per week will be awarded to those using the overnight studios.
“What can we expect this program to achieve?” Drinkwater said. “Well, maybe one of the participants will write the next generation’s ‘Absalom, Absalom,’ ‘The Moviegoer,’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ or ‘Native Son.’
“Being able to encourage great writing is reason enough to support it.”
The Greenfield Farm campus will include four studios and a gathering pavilion. It will also feature a restored farm shed and a relocated cabin once owned by the late Rev. Will D. Campbell, also a writer.
Walking trails and communal spaces will connect writers to the natural world. Exhibits will tell the story of this land and the people who worked it, beginning with the Chickasaws, including the McJunkins family who worked the land and concluding with Faulkner.
“The Gertrude C. Ford Foundation continues to have a transformational impact on our university,” said John T. Edge, developer of the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency and director of the Mississippi Lab. “The foundation’s leadership has provided amazing support to significant projects across our campus, and we are deeply grateful for this very generous gift.
“The Drinkwaters’ gift gets us far closer to our goal of building Greenfield Farm Writers Residency, where the University of Mississippi will serve writers who live or work in Mississippi or draw inspiration from our state.”
The Ford Foundation contributed $25 million for the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts and $25 million for the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Science and Technology Innovation. It also helped fund several other projects on the Oxford campus, and the Ole Miss Student Union was named for Ford in 2022, following its renovation and expansion.
Wayne Drinkwater earned his bachelor’s and Juris Doctor from Ole Miss in 1971 and 1974, and Ouida Creekmore Drinkwater received a master’s degree in journalism from Ole Miss in 1978.
To support the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency, send a check, with the fund’s name written in the memo line, to the UM Foundation, at 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655, or give online here.
For more information about supporting the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency, contact John T. Edge, developer and director, at johnt@olemiss.edu or 662-715-9046.
By Tina H. Hahn
