W. Ralph Eubanks

W. Ralph Eubanks grew up on a farm outside of Mount Olive, Mississippi.  After graduating from the University of Mississippi, he moved north to the University of Michigan, where he earned an M.A. in English Language and Literature. He is author of  three books: Ever is a Long Time: A Journey into Mississippi’s Dark Past, The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South, and A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through a Real and Imagined Literary Landscape.  In addition to his books, Eubanks has contributed articles and essays to the American Scholar, the New Yorker, WIRED, Vanity Fair, and the Oxford American. A 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, Eubanks divides his time between Washington, D.C., and Oxford, Mississippi, where he is a visiting professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. Find out more at www.wralpheubanks.com.

Ten Things I Can’t Do Without

1. My family; my wife and children mean the world to me
2. Friends, both old and new
3. A spiritual life to keep me grounded
4. Laughter
5. Books, on paper between covers (nothing smells better than a book right off the presses)
6. Reading, since reading made me a writer
7. Poetry, which feeds my love of language
8. Music, all kinds (some hip-hop is even growing on me)
9. Running and exercise
10. Hot coffee in the morning and cold beer in the summer