One of Mississippi's best-known contemporary authors, WILLIE MORRIS was born in 1934 and grew up in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas, where he was named a Rhodes Scholar. Morris spent the next three years reading modern history at New College, Oxford University in England. In 1960, Morris was hired as editor of the Texas Observer. However, he resigned from this position in 1962 because he disliked the fast pace of the work and the lack of a support staff. After a short time in graduate school at Stanford University, he moved to New York City, where, at the age of 32, he landed a job as editor of Harper's Magazine, its youngest editor ever. While there, he built the magazine’s reputation for literary excellence and helped foster the careers of many significant American writers, including Gay Talese, William Styron and Norman Mailer. More recently he helped boost the careers of John Grisham and Donna Tartt. In March, 1971, Morris resigned from Harper's and began his own career as a writer. In 1980 he became Writer-In-Residence at the University of Mississippi. His books include North Toward Home, Yazoo: Integration in a Deep-Southern Town, A Southern Album: Recollections of Some People and Places and Times Gone By, James Jones: A Friendship, The Courting of Marcus Dupree, Faulkner's Mississippi, New York Days, My Dog Skip, The Ghosts of Medgar Evers: A Tale of Race, Murder, Mississippi, and Hollywood. He also wrote numerous essays and works of literary criticism. Three of his books have been made into movies: My Dog Skip, The Ghosts of Medgar Evers and Good Old Boy. Among his many literary awards is the Richard Wright Medal for Literary Excellence, which Morris received in 1996. Morris died of heart failure August 2, 1999.