Washington Post Journalist and Author Casey Parks visits the University of Mississippi for a reading from her book Diary of a Misfit and a Q&A. A book signing and casual reception will follow the event.

Part memoir, part investigative reporting, award-winning reporter Casey Parks’ debut book Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and Mystery is the story of her life-changing journey to unravel the mystery of Roy Hudgins. Over a decade of reporting trips to Dehli, LA, Parks reckons with her own sexuality, her fraught Southern identity, her tortured yet loving relationship with her mother, and the complicated role of faith in her life.

Parks covers gender and family issues for the Washington Post. She spent a decade as a staff reporter at The Oregonian, where she wrote about race and LGBTQ+ issues and was a finalist for the Livingston Award. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Oxford American, ESPN, USA Today, and The Nation. Parks’ stories have won the Deadline Club Award, Front Page Award, National Headliner Award, and multiple Society for Features Journalism awards. A graduate of Millsaps College and a former Spencer Fellow at Columbia University, Parks lives in Portland, Oregon.