RIPLEY, Miss. (AP) - Ripley's annual Falkner Heritage Festival begins Friday with a focus on William Faulkner the soldier.

Ripley Main Street Director Libbi Bryant tells the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/YcRCwa ) that event kicks off with a showing of Faulkner's "Two Soldiers" at the Dixie Theatre.

On Saturday, there will be a tour of the Faulkner collection at the Ripley Public Library and a tour of Hindman Cemetery.

Storyteller Bruce Smith will talk about the author's Tippah County heritage and family history of Col. William Clark Falkner. Falkner was the author's great-grandfather.

Other events are a walking tour of areas of historic Ripley that figure into the Colonel Falkner saga and a Ripley Cemetery "Spirit Tour" with Ripley High School students in period costume.

Information from: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, http://djournal.com

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