\u201cWhen thinking about possible recipients for the annual Lifetime Achievement Award, we look for someone who has demonstrated influence, innovation, patronage, resources, and dedication to writing, reading, listening, and speaking designed to stimulate other writers to further literary creativity and readers to explore worthwhile titles,\u201d said Susan Marquez, president of the guild. \u201cTricia Walker embodies all those attributes, and has been generous in sharing her talent and knowledge with others. For that reason, the Mississippi Writers Guild is proud to present Tricia with this year\u2019s Lifetime Achievement Award.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Walker spent 26 years in Nashville as a performer, music publisher, and music producer before coming to Delta State in 2006 to develop the DMI program. She retired from Delta State last June. Early credits also include being a backing musician with Connie Smith, Paul Overstreet, and a young Shania Twain. Walker performed at Robert Redford\u2019s Christmas Cantata at his Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. In 1988, Walker started Women in the Round at the renowned Bluebird Cafe with fellow songwriters Karen Staley, Ashley Cleveland, and Pam Tillis; a version of the show headlines downtown Cleveland each year.<\/p>\n
Walker delivered the keynote address and presented workshops at the guild\u2019s event, whose theme was \u201cLanguage, Lyrics and Legacies: the Rhythm of Writing.\u201d She received the Lifetime Achievement Award at a luncheon on July 27 at the Hugh Ellis Walker Alumni-Foundation House on the DSU campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very honored to be selected to receive this year\u2019s Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mississippi Writers Guild,\u201d said Walker, who earned a bachelor of music education from Delta State in 1974. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful that the guild, with its mission of supporting writers and aspiring writers, is spotlighting\u00a0the craft of songwriting within the literary arts\u00a0at this year\u2019s conference, which is fittingly being held at GRAMMY Museum\u00ae Mississippi. The guild is doing great work all across the state in encouraging writers of all genres, which bodes well for continuing the great tradition of Mississippi turning out great\u00a0writers.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/DSC_4948-312x430.jpg\")
Walker performs at the luncheon.<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/DSC_4954-645x430.jpg\")
Walker entertains at the luncheon.<\/p><\/div>\n
The Lifetime Achievement Awards, celebrating Mississippians with deep connections to words, began in 2015. Civil rights pioneer James Meredith received the inaugural award. Other recipients include prolific novelist Greg Iles, bookseller John Evans, and mystery writer Carolyn Haines. The Mississippi Writers Guild was formed in 2005; there are 12 chapters statewide. This year was the first time that the guild held the conference in Cleveland. Other 2019 conference presenters included writers Ellen Morris Prewitt, Michael Farris Smith, Diane Williams, and Michael Hicks Thompson.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/DSC_4920-800x288.jpg\")
Some of the attendees talk shop at the Mississippi Writer Guild luncheon.<\/p><\/div>\n
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