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Mississippi Arts Hour
The Mississippi Arts Hour| Kendra Allen and Becky Hagenston
Sarah Story interviews two authors, Kendra Allen and Becky Hagenston, who will be appearing at the upcoming MS Book Festival on August 20 in Jackson, MS, at the Mississippi Capitol.
Kendra Allen was born and raised in Dallas, TX. She is the recipient of the 2018 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction for her essay collection When You Learn the Alphabet, awarded by Kiese Laymon. Her work has been taught by New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds alongside that of Jamaica Kincaid and Eve Ewing. She is the author of The Collection Plate.
Becky Hagenston is the author of four award-winning story collections, as well as the recipient of two O. Henry Awards and a Pushcart Prize. Her latest collection, The Age of Discovery and Other Stories, won the 2022 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in fiction. She's a professor of English at Mississippi State University.
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In the photo, Allen is on the left and Hagenston is on the right.
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