Mississippi Expat: Minrose Gwin

"Mississippi has been an endless source for me."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Though she now lives in New Mexico, author Minrose Gwin remains deeply connected to her home state through her writing. All four of Minrose’s novels are set in Mississippi, including her latest, Beautiful Dreamers, out this month. Like Eudora Welty who wrote, “Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories,” Minrose grew up loving to listen to the stories of the adults around her. “[T]he appreciation of the beauty of southern language and the vexing contradictions and complexities of Mississippi history and culture created my life’s path…” Today, Minrose Gwin reveals what keeps her connected to Mississippi—past and present—and what it would take to get her to move back.

Photo of Minrose Gwin by Alma Lopez.

Where are you from?

Tupelo, Mississippi, home of Elvis!

When and why did you move away from Mississippi?

I went to college for two years in Mississippi, then transferred to the University of Tennessee, coming home on holidays and during the summers. After college, where I majored in English and minored in journalism, my first job was in Mobile, Alabama, as the first woman news reporter with the Mobile Press-Register. After that I was a rolling stone pretty much the rest of my career. I’m now retired and living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I taught for eleven years at the University of New Mexico before retiring from the University of North Carolina after thirteen years in Chapel Hill.

What does “home” mean to you? How does Mississippi fit into that definition? I carry home with me wherever I go.

Home means family and friends and my crazy four-leggeds. For me, Mississippi is the memory of home: my blood family, my old friends—many of whom I’ve stayed in touch with. There’s the intimacy of a small town—which Tupelo was when I was coming along, my grandparents’ fig tree and crape myrtles and iris beds. The smells, the food. Right now, as I prepare to visit Mississippi as part of a book tour for my new novel, Beautiful Dreamers, I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and family. I also have many new friends in Mississippi through shared interests in reading and writing. We keep up on social media. They are generous, lovely people.

What do you miss most about Mississippi?

That’s a hard one. I’m very nostalgic. I miss the squeaky swing on my grandparents’ front porch, the scent of honeysuckle and mimosas, the people I have lost.

How have you cultivated community where you live now? Do you still feel rooted to Mississippi?

I’ll always be rooted in Mississippi; each of my four novels is set in Mississippi. I’ve written about and studied the South, especially my home state, in all my scholarly work as well. My fourth scholarly book was about the assassinated Mississippi Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers. Back to the first question: I’ve lived in the southeast, southwest, midwest, and northeast. I love my friends in all of those places, and yes, certainly in New Mexico. But I have writer and scholar friends all over the country.