Based in Chicago, Tupelo native Catherine Lacey is the 2017-2018 Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. Lacey has just released her “urgent and propulsive” second novel, The Answers (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The book follows Mary, who is out of options, estranged from her evangelist family, plagued by debt collectors and beset by chronic pain, so she signs up for a mysterious job advertised as ‘The Girlfriend Experiment.’ The New York Times says Lacey is “the real thing, and in “The Answers” she takes full command of her powers.” Lacey’s previous book was her debut novel, Nobody Is Ever Missing which won the prestigious Whiting Award in 2016.

And the Echo is a synth-pop/electronica duo from Oxford, a collaboration between Winn McElroy and Morgan Pennington. They released their self-titled debut album in April of 2015. Their second album, And The Echo II was released earlier this year and the duo will be touring this fall.