Oxford, Oprah, Otha and Onward.

A Southaven resident who graduated Mississippi State and University of Mississippi law school, John Grisham began his writing career modestly enough, with A Time to Kill in 1988, but his second novel The Firm rocketed his name to the top of best seller charts where it has stayed year after year since then.

Kosciusko native Oprah Winfrey also found her voice in 1980s, first as a local talk show host, and then as the host of her own nationally syndicated show. In 1985, she was cast in the movie The Color Purple, based on the novel she would later champion in her world-famous book club.

The eighties also saw Oxford and the University of Mississippi come into their own as centers of literary and artistic endeavors. The Center for Southern Culture took the lead on the academic front, and with noted Mississippi writers Barry Hannah and Willie Morris taking positions on the Ole Miss staff, mentoring writers like Grisham and Donna Tartt, whose debut Secret History earned critical kudos as well as best-seller status. Oxford fireman Larry Brown traded his firehose for prose, and soon other writers were flocking to the area, some of them as part of the John and Renee Grisham writers-in-residence program.

Rock stars like members of U2 and the Rolling Stones also began making pilgrimages to the Mississippi Hills to hear the blues at Junior Kimbrough’s Holly Springs juke joint, where Kimbrough and Burnside and their multitude of children came to jam. A record label was formed in Oxford for the express purpose of recording these country blues legends, and Otha Turner finally got his movie debut when filmmaker and music aficionado Martin Scorsese tapped him for the soundtrack of the film Gangs of New York, and also included the musician in the film documentary “The Blues.”

Today, while Kimbrough, Burnside and Turner have all passed away, their children and grandchildren carry on their traditions, including Duwayne Burnside, R.L. Burnside’s son and a former member of the North Mississippi Allstars. This award-winning blues-rock/jam band was formed in 1996 in Hernando by brothers Luther and Cody Dickenson and Chris Chew and seems a continuation of the great DeSoto County guitar tradition.   Recently, Oprah selected William Faulkner’s works for her Book Club selection, a choice that in an elemental way summed up genius of the Mississippi Hills: The circle will be unbroken, our stars will continue to shine.