Harrison Scott Key, a Thurber Award winner who loves to get everyone laughing, is Faulkner Literary Luncheon speaker.

Harrison Scott Key is the guest speaker for the Faulkner Literary Luncheon on Thursday, September 22, 2022, 12 noon at the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Tickets are now on sale.

Key’s first book is The World’s Largest Man, a hilarious memoir of Southern fatherhood and, in his words, a true story about what it’s like to be related to insane people from Mississippi. When Key later recounted the stories of his life’s screw-ups, though, he found he could get everyone laughing. “That felt good,” he says. “I got a lot of attention for being funny, and I think it turned me into a monster. I just kept doing it.”

The World’s Largest Man won the Thurber Award, one of the highest recognitions of the art of humor writing in the U. S. When he became a finalist for the Thurber Prize, Key was thrilled that a “hillbilly” could be among a small group of writers that in the past included humorists such as Dave Barry and David Sedaris. He splurged on bringing his whole family to New York for the ceremony, and it was during a reading—even before he was announced as the winner—that Key remembered why he’d done all of this in the first place.

A memoir that inspires hope for those with a dream.

“It was such a culmination of my desire to bring joy,” he says. “When you’re writing and making yourself laugh or doing a reading and making other people laugh, that’s as good as it gets,” from an earlier interview with the writer.

His second book, Congratulations, Who Are You Again, is an honest and wise memoir that will inspire laughter and hope for anyone possessed with a dream. His dream of course was to be a writer and successful professor, but it applies to any dreamer. “Hilarious and illuminating.” is how it is described by Booklist.

His newest book, How to Stay Married, will be out in 2023.

Harrison was reared in rural Mississippi. Among other things he attended Belhaven College and taught at Mississippi State. He has an MFA in creative nonfiction and PhD in playwriting.

Harrison is a featured Ted Talk speaker on TED.com. Some of his presentations have gone viral. It is a great laugh with a very strong message. His humor and nonfiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications, including The Best American Travel Writing, The New York Times, Oxford American, Town & Country, Reader’s Digest, Southern Living, and more.

He now lives with his family in Savannah, Georgia, where he works at Savannah College of Art and Design.

The annual Literary Luncheon is the culmination of the 2022 William Faulkner Literary Competition and annual Literary Fest where writers from around the world enter to win money for their work. Awards are presented in the categories of novel, short story, poetry and one act plays. Awards will also be presented to Mississippi high school students for winning short stories. Presentations of the annual Literary Fest events are supported by the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cost of a ticket to the luncheon is $15. Food is served at 11:30, and the program begins at 12 noon. The location is 207 East Bankhead Street, fellowship hall of the First United Methodist Church in New Albany. To get your tickets call the museum at 662-538-0014 or stop by at 114 Cleveland Street, New Albany, or go by UCDA on Bankhead Street in New Albany.

Jill Smith, Director
Union County Heritage Museum
114 Cleveland Street
New Albany,

MS 38652
662-538-0014