Pappyland author and ESPN senior writer Wright Thompson will read from and talk about his shocking and revelatory account of the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi.  “The Barn is the most brutal, layered and absolutely beautiful book about Mississippi, and really how the world conspired with the best and worst parts of Mississippi, I will ever read…Reporting and reckoning can get no better, or more important, than this.” —Kiese Laymon

The horrific murder of 14-year Emmett, along with the crimes’ immediate and continuing coverup, took place within 23 miles of the family farm where Wright Thompson grew up. Thompson had to move away for college before he ever heard about it. To this day, fundamental truths about the crime are widely unknown, including where it took place and how many people were involved. In The Barn, Thompson brings to life the small group of dedicated people who have been engaged in the hard, fearful business of bringing the truth to light. Putting the killing floor of the barn on the map of Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, and the Delta, and America, is a way of mapping the road this country must travel if we are to heal our oldest, deepest wound.  Ultimately this is a story about property, and money, and power, and white supremacy.  It implicates all of us.

“An incredible history of a crime that changed America.” —John Grisham

Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN whose writing on Iowa Basketball’s Caitlin Clark has been widely praised. He is the bestselling author of Pappyland and The Cost of These Dreams. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family.

Kaveh Akbar is the author of the NYT Bestselling novel, Martyr, the poetry collections Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, as well as the chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic.  He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 110 Poets on the Divine and co-editor with Paige Lewis of the anthology Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance. He lives in Iowa City