Books and other writing
Coming soon…
Exuberance and excitement filled our home at the end of the 2014-15 school year – not just because Ian our youngest son was graduating from Dyersburg High School. That year many young men on his soccer team beat the odds to compete for the regional championship. After writing about their experience on Facebook, many people commented that I should submit the story to the State Gazette, the hometown newspaper in Dyersburg, Tennessee. What a thrill when they published it! First time I’d been published in a hometown newspaper since my own senior year in 1982-83 when I was a regular contributor to the Oxford Eagle for Oxford High School in Oxford, Mississippi.
My Papouli and His Irene:
My Southern Greek Mayflower Memoir
Discover the untold history behind one of the 2025 New York Times top fifty restaurants in the United States, the iconic Mayflower Cafe in Jackson, Mississippi. Pursuing the American Dream, a 1913 teenage Greek immigrant surmounts the odds to cofound one of the most enduring restaurants in the South.
Author Reni Bumpas strikes all the right chords in My Papouli and His Irene, harmonizing research, interviews, and anecdotes into a compelling narrative to restore a forgotten restaurateur to his place in history
An uplifting and heartfelt memoir of a Greek son’s legacy of family, faith, and perseverance for the Mayflower’s loyal patrons, Mississippians, and anyone who has ever rooted for the underdog.
Mayflower cover photo courtesy of artist Mark Millet.
Running Away to Home
Broken by divorce, abuse, abandonment, and betrayal, sixteen year-old Maggie McDuff longs for a safe place. Will she ever find the home she seeks?
When sixteen-year old Maggie McDuff pedals away from her dad’s, adrenaline and fear assure her she can make it the 180-mile trek to her mom’s trailer on her ten-speed. Terrified her dad will find her before she reaches safety, or worse that her mom will send her back to Charleston from Pleasant Springs, what she dreads most is facing the kids who once nick-named her Maggot. But Maggie’s not the dumpy girl she was in middle school, and her newfound good looks are turning heads.
Desperate for attention, she’s out to find love at any cost. Only one thing troubles Maggie: What is wrong with her that keeps her always searching and never finding?