Join us along with a panel of writers, colleagues, and friends of the late Mississippi writer Brad Watson as we celebrate the posthumous publication of There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories, with brief readings and a discussion on Watson’s life and work. As always, this event is free, and all are welcome, but please RSVP here. Brad Watson (1955–2020) was the National Book Award–shortlisted author of Last Days of the Dog Men, The Heaven of Mercury, Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, and Miss Jane. Originally from Mississippi, at the time of his death he was a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Wyoming. Alyson Hagy worked alongside Brad Watson at the University of Wyoming. She is the author of eight works of fiction, including the novel Scribe and the story collection Ghosts of Wyoming. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Wyoming Institute of Humanities Research, and the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, her fiction has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Nelson Algren Award, and has appeared in Best American Short Stories. She is a Professor of English at the University of Wyoming. Caleb Johnson was one of Brad Watson’s graduate students at the University of Wyoming. He is the author of the novel Treeborne (Picador), which received an honorable mention for the Southern Book Prize. His nonfiction has been cited in Best American Essays, and appears in Garden & Gun, Southern Living, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. Currently, Caleb teaches creative writing at the University of South Alabama. Don Noble, PhD Chapel Hill, Prof of English, Emeritus, taught Brad Watson at The University of Alabama. He has been the host of the APTV literary interview show “Bookmark” since 1988 and has broadcast a weekly book review for APR since November of 2001, so far about 850 reviews. Noble is the editor of four anthologies of Alabama fiction and the winner of the Alabama state prizes for literary scholarship, service to the humanities and the Governor’s Arts Award.