New Coleen Salley Endowment Launches

The family of New Orleans storyteller Coleen Salley has created the Coleen Salley Storytelling Endowment at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

The news comes after Salley’s death on September 16, 2007 at the age of 79, following the discovery this summer that she had Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

The University of Southern Mississippi is home to the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, one of North America’s leading research centers in the field of children’s literature.

Salley’s family has donated 10,000 of her children’s books to the collection, says David Salley, son of the late children’s book author.

"Coleen’s books and papers are a treasure trove," says Curator Ellen Ruffin. "She will be in good company because her collection will be alongside those of H. A. Rey and Ezra Jack Keats."

Salley had a longtime presence at USM’s Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival, which is held each April in Hattiesburg, MS. The new fund will foster storytelling during the book festival.

"My mother’s annual ‘Hotel Party’ was legendary at the Book Festival," says David Salley. "An invitation to squeeze into an overcrowded hotel room for cheap wine and beer was cherished by anyone who received one."

Meanwhile, the nonprofit Coleen Salley-Bill Morris Literacy Foundation has plans to donate between $5,000 to $10,000 to help fund the Coleen Salley Storytelling Endowment. The foundation, which targets educational groups serving underserved children in Louisiana, also honors the memory of Morris, Salley’s close friend and colleague, says Genevieve Athens, Salley’s daughter.