Hattiesburg attorney and author, Clark Hicks, will be signing copies of his book, Mississippi Musings: Stories of Life and Laughter, twice in the coming week. The first signing will take place at Buzy Beez in Summit from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9 and the second at The Author Shoppe in downtown Hattiesburg on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. Buzy Beez is located at 1014 Robb Street, Suite C in Summit, and The Author Shoppe is at 140 East Front Street in Hattiesburg.
Originally from McComb, Hicks completed his undergraduate degree at Mississippi College in Clinton and went on to earn his law degree from Ole Miss in Oxford. After graduation, Hicks came to Hattiesburg in 1992 and has called the Hub City home since then. He has been a regular contributor of columns and opinion pieces for many years and has published a compilation of his many works, Mississippi Musings.
“I wanted to leave a legacy for my children,” said Hicks, “I’d been writing [newspaper] articles for about 17 years. I told my wife, Kathia, that I’d compiled all of this material, but I wanted to compile the works into one central location, perhaps in book form, to leave for my two sons.” Hicks painstakingly compiled his 17 years of monthly articles and arranged them in such a way as to lead his readers through his formative years in McComb, his educating in Clinton and Oxford, then finally into Hattiesburg where he raised his family. Hicks said, “I wanted to write as much as I could about the stories that happened right here in Hattiesburg because I knew that most of my readers would be here and in the surrounding areas of the Pine Belt.”
Influenced primarily by Mississippi writers, Hicks describes his style of writing as storytelling. He acknowledged that storytelling is a part of Southern culture and that readers need an escape from the negativity and stresses of everyday life. Hicks recalled, “I wanted to write something that is easy, straightforward and conversational. I wanted to write stories that people could relate to.”
When asked for advice for aspiring writers, Hicks said, “Don’t try to sound pretentious or worry about the quality of your writing. Just write about things you know about or are important to you. You’ll be a better writer if you write about your own experiences and things you are passionate about.”
Hicks is currently working on his second book, which will be more academic in nature. While studying at Mississippi College, he wrote his honors graduate thesis on events before, during and after the civil rights movement in McComb in the 1960s. Hicks said, “I’m going to take that very academic honors thesis, Quiet Powder Keg, written by my 21-year-old self and make it much more readable.”
To learn more about Hicks, view his blog and order his book, visit clarkhicks.com.
