By Nita McCann

NATCHEZ —For those involved with the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, the timing could not have been better.

After a year of attempts fell through due to her tight schedule, Myrlie Evers-Williams will be in Natchez Feb. 28 to accept the NLCC Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award.

“We are so happy that she will be able to accept the award and to make remarks,” said NLCC founder and co-chair Carolyn Vance Smith. “She is a remarkable lady.”

The award, which was established in 1994, honors writers for their body of work.

Recipients of the award must have strong ties to Mississippi – and must be present to win, Smith said.

Evers-Williams was selected in 2014, but a tight schedule made it impossible for her to be at that year’s celebration.

But Evers-Williams, 81, resigned late last month from Alcorn State University, where she was a scholar-in-residence.

Evers-Williams said she resigned to devote more time and energy to the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute.

That organization supports scholarship, historic preservation and promotion of civil rights advocacy, according to its website.

Evers-Williams called Smith late Thursday afternoon to say her mother would be able to attend the awards ceremony.

“She said, ‘My mother’s schedule just opened up,’ ” Smith said.

Evers-Williams worked beside her husband, the state’s first NAACP field secretary, to make progress on civil rights, according to information from the NAACP’s national office.

On June 12, 1963, Evers was shot dead in front of his house in Jackson.

His wife continued to fight for civil rights as an author, lecturer and educator. In 1995, she was elected chairperson of the NAACP. Three years later, she founded the Evers Institute.

Evers-Williams wrote her autobiography, “Watch Me Fly,” which was released in 1999, and edited “The Autobiography of Medgar Evers,” released in 2005.

The award ceremony will be hosted at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 28 at the Natchez Convention Center.

Those receiving the award for 2015 are Natchez native Glen Ballard, who has written song lyrics for years, and historian and author Robert Hayes.