Murray State University announced on April 16 that author Jeremy B. Jones will be featured in the Murray State Reading Series, hosted by the Department of English and Philosophy. The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Faculty Hall room 208 on campus and is free and open to the public.
The reading offers students, faculty, and community members an opportunity to engage with a recognized author whose work explores personal history and regional identity. Such events are part of ongoing efforts to promote literary appreciation and dialogue within the university community.
Jones is known for his nonfiction book “Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries” (Blair, 2025) as well as his memoir “Bearwallow: A Personal History of a Mountain Homeland” (Blair, 2014). His essays have appeared in publications including Oxford American, Garden and Gun, The Bitter Southerner, Brevity, and Our State Magazine. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa and teaches English studies at Western Carolina University.
In his latest work “Cipher,” Jones examines coded diaries discovered in Wadesboro, North Carolina that detail the life of William Thomas Prestwood—a white Southern farmer from the nineteenth century who turns out to be Jones’s great-great-great-great grandfather. A retired National Security Agency cryptanalyst deciphered these diaries after they were found in a house set for demolition in 1975.
“The reader is left,” the codebreaker wrote, “with the lasting impression that here in these pathetic little books is the very essence of Everyman’s life from the cradle to the grave.”
Jones’s research fills out Prestwood’s story while reflecting on family history more broadly. After his reading at Murray State University there will be an opportunity for attendees to purchase books and meet with Jones during a signing session.
