Beth Ann Fennelly, MFA
Beth Ann Fennelly, Distinguished Professor of English, has a mission to get more Mississippians reading and writing Mississippi stories. As a 2026 Faculty Laureate, she will teach a free weekly Mississippi Literature class for the LOU community, each week focusing on different Mississippi authors, in order to shine a light on Mississippi’s out-sized contribution to our nation’s literary output. As her term progresses, she will conduct classes around the state, each site-specific and focused on a single Mississippi author, equipping more Mississippians with the skills to appreciate and celebrate our state’s best export: our stories.
Poet Laureate of Mississippi from 2016-2021, Fennelly teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Mississippi where she is a four-time teaching award winner. She’s received grants from the N.E.A., the United States Artists, the Academy of American Poets, and a Fulbright to Brazil. Her work has won a Pushcart Prize and three times been included in The Best American Poetry Series. Fennelly has published three poetry books: Open House, Tender Hooks, and Unmentionables, and a book of nonfiction, Great with Child, all published with W. W. Norton. A novel she co-authored with her husband, Tom Franklin, called The Tilted World, was published by HarperCollins. Her sixth book, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs (W. W. Norton), was named an Atlanta Journal Constitution Best Book, a Goodreaders Favorite for 2017, and the winner of the Housatonic Book Prize. Her new book is The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs.
News & Events
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Luca Bombelli, Beth Ann Fennelly to bring expertise to the public through laureate program
May 1, 2026 by Clara Turnage [Ole Miss News]
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Faculty Laureate program is bringing science and arts education to the state with a novel approach: a poet, a physicist and a portable planetarium.
The Mississippi Lab, a project of the Office of the Provost, selects two faculty members every other year as the university's faculty laureates. The program's goal is to bring the expertise, knowledge and passion for education from the Ole Miss campus to Mississippi communities.
This cycle's laureates are Luca Bombelli, professor of physics and astronomy, and Beth Ann Fennelly, distinguished professor of English.
Read the full story here.