NATCHEZ — Ancient legends from Africa and Europe will intertwine with classic folk tales, tall tales, fables and other stories this week to celebrate the tradition of storytelling in the South at this year’s Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

The 23rd annual celebration’s theme is “Legends, Lore, and Literature: Storytelling in the South.” It will feature Southern authors, musicians, master storytellers and storytelling scholars and highlight the South’s storytelling tradition and its influences.

NLCC’s Founder and Co-Chairman Carolyn Vance Smith said the ritual of storytelling in the South binds generations together.

“Storytelling has a binding factor,” she said. “Storytelling unites and links all of us.”

Smith said storytelling’s most important function is teaching.

“The stories teach us,” she said. “From hearing nursery rhymes as babies to fairytales as children, they are pieces of information that shape us and teach us values.”

The celebration will kick-off at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Natchez Convention Center with the presentation of “Supper Table Stories” by Lewis Lord, a journalist and historian formerly of Natchez.

Several events will continue through Sunday and include presentations, workshops, film screenings of stories and the history and impact of storytelling.

The celebration will include music from Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Tricia Walker, appearances from authors Greg Iles, Julia Reed and Roy Blount Jr. and stories from a few of Natchez’s own.

On Saturday, five Miss-Lou residents will tell their stories of living through last spring’s flood and their jobs that kept them front and center during the flood.

The celebration’s events are free and open to the public except for a lunch at The Carriage House at 12:30 p.m. and a gala benefit at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets for the gala are sold out, but $25 tickets to the lunch can be purchased by calling 601-446-1289 or 866-296-6522 or e-mailing businessoffice@colin.edu.

NLCC is sponsored by Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez National Historical Park, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Mississippi Arts Commission.

For a complete schedule of events, see the NLCC special insert with today’s newspaper or visit www.colin.edu/nlcc.