“Greenville would be interesting to study.  Greenville, Mississippi has produced more published writers, for example, than Memphis, Tennessee, which is many times its size.”

           Shelby Foote

“From the time I was in elementary school, I always knew it was not only respectable to be a writer, but honorable, desirable.  The literary tradition was strong.  Who our next writer would be was always pondered.  Teachers were on the lookout.  The effect of this is invaluable.”

                    Beverly Lowry

“Those looking for answers to the question of why the South has produced so many writers frequently turn to the example of Greenville, Mississippi, which boasts (quite literally) a string of writers.”

          Charles East

Charles Bell has said, ”Everybody from Greenville wanted to be a writer.” 

“Greenville not only reads books, but with the capacity for the excessive that seems to flow from its rich earth, is feverishly writing them.  It shelters so many practicing and aspiring writers that sober citizens wonder who will do the useful work of the community such as baking bread and repairing cars.”

             David Cohn