What Lemuria Books is known for
Lemuria Books has run as an independent bookshop in Jackson since founder John Evans opened it in 1975, building a reputation around Southern literature, signed first editions, and author events. The shop now occupies its longtime Banner Hall space and remains tied to Jackson's literary community, including ties to the Eudora Welty House.
Lemuria Books is an independent bookstore in Jackson, Mississippi, opened by John Evans in 1975 in a converted apartment in The Quarter on Lakeland Drive. Two years later it moved to Highland Village along the I-55 North frontage road, where it stayed for eleven years. In 1988 it crossed the interstate into Banner Hall, where it remains. The shop specialises in signed first editions, and its First Edition Club has run for more than 25 years. New hardbacks and paperbacks fill the main rooms and a children's section called OZ has its own space. Genres run from gardening to Zen and from history to music. The store's focus is literary fiction, with an emphasis on Southern writers. Half a century of signings has built relationships with authors, above all Jackson native Eudora Welty. Willie Morris, Barry Hannah, Ellen Gilchrist and Jim Harrison have read here. So have Richard Ford, Larry Brown, John Grisham, Greg Iles, Jesmyn Ward and Angie Thomas. Evans describes small business as a matter of adding value and taking part in the community. That means bringing in writers the staff love and supporting the writers Mississippi already has. Lemuria marked its 50th birthday on April 11, 2026, an anniversary reported by SuperTalk Mississippi, which called it one of the state's first independent bookstores.
In the press
Best for — Signed first editions and Southern literature
Jackson, Mississippi
Where next
- Tattered Cover Book Store — Denver
- Owl & Turtle Bookshop Cafe — Global / Online
- BookPeople — Austin
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