Jamie O'Quinn,
Hattiesburg Chapter Head
Hattiesburg Chapter Head
Jamie O'Quinn, Jamie O'Quinn,
Hattiesburg Chapter President, is a very
active volunteer in her community. She
has also spearheaded several MWG
events in the Hattiesburg area including
an authors fair, “Honoring Historic
Mississippi Writers” presentations, and
Michael Garrett’s publishing workshops,
and Thomas Larson’s “Writing the
Memoir” workshop.
O’Quinn is a former editor and currently
works as a freelance writer and
photographer. See Jamie's website
“Hollywood South”
Hattiesburg Chapter President, is a very
active volunteer in her community. She
has also spearheaded several MWG
events in the Hattiesburg area including
an authors fair, “Honoring Historic
Mississippi Writers” presentations, and
Michael Garrett’s publishing workshops,
and Thomas Larson’s “Writing the
Memoir” workshop.
O’Quinn is a former editor and currently
works as a freelance writer and
photographer. See Jamie's website
“Hollywood South”
Visit Hattiesburg here
The Hattiesburg Chapter meets
the first Saturday of each month
at 1 pm at the downtown
Hattiesburg Library on Hardy
Street. Please join us.
the first Saturday of each month
at 1 pm at the downtown
Hattiesburg Library on Hardy
Street. Please join us.
| Jamie O'Quinn |
Nationally published and Amazon #9 Best Selling author Dean Meador Smith was
the guest speaker at a Hattiesburg Chapter of the Mississippi Writers Guild
meeting. Smith, a native of Hattiesburg spoke from her heart about her
experiences and inspiration as a writer.
Smith originally wrote “The Lenten Tree” for her children and later shared it with
church members and other local churches. When the church copy machine broke
and they could no longer make copies, a request from an out-of-state church
planted the seed to publish it. After 20 rejections from publishers, Smith self-
published and sold out of her original 2000 copies within two weeks. The book
was picked up by a local publishing company and later a nationally known
company. In 2008, “The Lenten Tree” made #9 on Amazon’s Holiday Best Seller
List. After 20 years, it has sold over 50,000 copies.
In addition to “The Lenten Tree”, Smith also authored “The Advent Jesse Tree”,
“Wrestling with Rejection from a Job”, and a newly created cookbook for her
tearoom entitled “Ms. Sippy”.
Smith is co-owner of Simply Teavine in Hattiesburg, an award winning actress for
the Mississippi Theatre Association and a musical director/conductor.
Pictured front L to R: Peggy Williamson, Dean Meador Smith, Nell Allen
Back L to R: Lee Smith, Norma Perry, Gary McGregor, Virginia Butler,
Jean Taylor, Dorothy Lucas, Verna Ebbert, Jamie O’Quinn"
Back L to R: Lee Smith, Norma Perry, Gary McGregor, Virginia Butler,
Jean Taylor, Dorothy Lucas, Verna Ebbert, Jamie O’Quinn"
Past Events
THE SMALL TOWN CRITIC'S “ONE-DAY SCREENWRITING SEMINAR was held on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at Main Street Books, Hattiesburg, MS. The turnout was overwhelming and the 9 to 5 day sped by as Coop delivered this informative workshop. See photos from that event HERE |