Alabama Writers' Forum

Tuesday, September 17 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Jim Morris, author of The Cancer Factory
2024-09-17 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Environmental journalist Jim Morris joins us for a talk about his highly praised new book, The Cancer Factory. The story concerns a group of Goodyear Tire and Rubber workers who were exposed to toxic chemicals, the lawyer who sought justice on their behalf, and the shameful lack of protection our society affords all workers. With four decades of reporting behind him, the author offers an authoritative and chilling account that is also a clarion call for change. We are fortunate to host Jim Morris at The NewSouth Bookstore for a talk and signing on Tuesday, September 17 at 5:30pm. Hope you can join us.

Thirteen Bridges Review Short Fiction Submissions Open Sept. 13-Dec. 1, 2024
2024-09-13 08:00 - 2024-12-01 23:59 | AUM, 7400 East Drive, Montgomery, AL, United States
At Thirteen Bridges Review we are looking for beautifully written, character-driven fiction pieces for our online monthly story feature and are open to all forms and styles.
Stories should be readable in one sitting, so we’ll consider anything from flash/micro up to about eight pages double spaced.
We are happy to accept simultaneous submissions. Just let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Please do not submit previously published work.
Please submit only one short story or up to three flash/micro pieces.
Please submit as Microsoft Word document only.
We look forward to reading your work.
Accepted submissions will be published on our website as a monthly story feature and will also be considered for publication in our print journal this spring.
Thirteen Bridges Review Submission Manager – Call for Short Fiction – Thirteen Bridges Online (submittable.com)

Thirteen Bridges Review Poetry Submissions Open Sept. 13- Dec 1, 2024
2024-09-13 08:00 - 2024-12-01 23:59 | AUM, 7400 East Drive, Montgomery, AL, United States
At Thirteen Bridges Review, we are currently featuring new poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction as a monthly feature on our website, and we’d love the chance to consider your work.
Please send us your best poetry, up to three poems. We are open to all forms and styles.
We are happy to accept simultaneous submissions. Just let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Please do not submit previously published work.
Please submit as Microsoft Word documents.
We look forward to reading your work.
All accepted submissions will be published on our website and will be considered for publication in our first print issue this spring.
Thirteen Bridges Review Submission Manager – Call for Poetry – Thirteen Bridges Online (submittable.com)

Third Thursday Poetry Series to Feature Poets Catherine Carter and Brian Gastle at Pebble Hill in Auburn, Sept. 12, 6:00 p.m.
2024-09-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
This month’s Third Thursday reading will begin at 6:30 on September 19. Guest writers will be poets Catherine Carter and Brian Gastle, both of whom teach at Western Carolina University. The location, as usual, will be Pebble Hill on Debardeleben St. in Auburn.

Refreshments and book sales will be available beginning at 6 p.m.

The Third Thursday Poetry Series is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, Auburn University Department of English, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn University; and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Writing Workshop With James Braziel and Tina Mozelle Braziel at Standard Deluxe, Sept. 12, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
2024-09-12 17:30 - 19:00 | AL
Writers of Glass Cabin James Braziel and Tina Mozelle Braziel will conduct a writing workshop at Standard Deluxe in Waverly, Alabama, on Thursday, September 12, from 5:30-7 p.m. All experienced and aspiring writers are invited to attend.
Registration: https://www.facebook.com/events/52245821030271

Thursday, September 12 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Grace Elizabeth Hale book talk about In the Pines: A Lynching, a Lie, a Reckoning
2024-09-12 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
In this “courageous, compelling and essential and critically important book” (Bryan Stevenson), an award-winning scholar tackles her toughest research assignment yet: the unsolved murder of a Black man in rural Mississippi while her grandfather was the local sheriff, a cold case that sheds new light on the hidden legacy of racial terror in America. John Grisham calls the work “remarkable.” Join us at The NewSouth Bookstore for a talk by Grace Elizabeth Hale about her new book — a work of national and personal reckoning — on Thursday, September 12 at 5:30pm.

Writers-in-Residence in Auburn: Tina Mozelle Braziel and Jim Braziel, September 8-13
2024-09-08 16:00 - 2024-09-13 10:00 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
Tina Mozelle Braziel and Jim Braziel
Writers-in-Residence – September 8 – 13
Co-sponsored by CMDCAH and Alabama Writers Forum

Sunday, September 8
After 4:00 p.m.
Check-in Lowrey Guest House
101 S. Debardeleben Street, Auburn

Monday, September 9
Auburn High School Class Visits
1:00 to 1:52 p.m. – Carley Muschara’s Composition 102
1:59 to 2:45 – Carley Muschara’s Composition 102
2:50 to 3:35 p.m. –Michelle Hopf’s Creative Writing Class
*Teachers have rec’d excerpt of Glass Cabin. Agenda for sessions will Q&A and
conversation around the excerpt/book and probably general questions on writing.

Tuesday, September 10
9:00 am – 10:30 a.m. – Ken Autrey’s Poetry Class
Pebble Hill

2:00 to 3:15 p.m.
Anton Disclafani Class Visit
Contact: Anton Disclafani, abd0025@auburn.edu, 404-218-4081

5:30-7:00 pm
Workshop at Opelika Public Library
Contact: Rosanna McGinnis Library Director, (334) 705-5380; rmcginnis@opelika-al.gov

Wednesday, September 11
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Justin Gardiner’s Class

2:00 p.m.
Signing at Auburn Oil Bookstore
Contact: Robin O’Bryant, robin@auburnoilbooksellers.com

Thursday, September 12
5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Workshop at Standard Deluxe
Contact: Amy Miller, amy@darlingspot.com, (612) 807-6268

Friday, September 13
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Pebble Hill – Q&A/conversation with OLLI writers (12 people max). They will receive
excerpt from Glass Cabin. Ken Autrey will facilitate. They will enjoy a reading
from the book.

Pack up and check-out of Guest House thereafter.

Open Call for Writers and artists, longform included
2024-09-02 - 2024-09-30 | Online, NC
Longform fiction and CNF are accepted at Sunspot Lit. Current open call for the Longform category (3, 501 to 7,500 words) closes September 16. Open calls for shorter works, poetry and art close September 30. Submit here: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit.

Third Thursday Reading to Feature Auburn Writers: Ernest Gibson (poetry), Maria Kuznetsova (fiction), & Ken Autrey (poetry)
2024-08-29 18:30 - 20:30 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
This month’s Third Thursday reading will begin at 6:30 on August 29 and will feature a trio of Auburn writers: Ernest Gibson (poetry), Maria Kuznetsova (fiction), and Ken Autrey (poetry).The location, as usual, will be Pebble Hill on Debardeleben St. in Auburn.

Third Thursday readings are free and open to the public. Refreshments and book sales will be available beginning at 6 p.m.

The Third Thursday Poetry Series is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, Department of English, and Southern Humanities Review in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn University; and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

BRITTANY HOWARD & JASON ISBELL: IN CONVERSATION
2024-08-26 18:30 - 20:30 | Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, Von Braun Center, 700 Monroe St SW, Huntsville, 35801, United States
Part of the 2024 Alabama Colloquium series, this event features an in-depth conversation between Grammy-winning musicians and songwriters Brittany Howard and Jason Isbell. The duo will be recognized as Alabama Humanities Fellows for how they use the humanities — and their Alabama roots — to lift others up and bring us together. Their powerful storytelling challenges us all to think, to empathize, and to explore what it means to be human. Howard and Isbell will be presented their awards by Patterson Hood, another legendary north Alabama musician and songwriter.
This event is a benefit for the Alabama Humanities Alliance, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that provides public programming and grant opportunities statewide. For 50 years, storytelling has remained at the heart of AHA’s mission. When we share — and listen — to each other’s stories, what we’re really doing is getting to know each other better. We’re linking the past to the present. And we’re discovering the common ground, and the common humanity, that binds us all.

Alabama State Poetry Society Online Open Mic
2024-08-26 18:30 - 19:30, 2024-07-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
Join us for online poetry open mics the 4th Monday of each month!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85693609367
Meeting ID: 856 9360 9367

Announcing a group read of Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons: Thursday, August 22, at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore!
2024-08-22 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Off the smashing success of our three-part program on the great 19th-century writers, Dr. Lee Farrow will lead us in discussion about one of her favorite books, Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. The 1862 novel explores generational clash in mid-19th-century Russia, delving into the themes of love, politics, and societal change. Quite controversial at the time of publication, the work has endured for its modern sensibilities and powerful story. Pick up a copy of Fathers and Sons at The NewSouth Bookstore for reading in the next ten weeks, then join us for our group read
event in August. Mark your calendars with the date: Thursday, August 22 at 5:30pm.

It's Local Author Day at The NewSouth Bookstore on Saturday, August 17 at 2pm!
2024-08-17 14:00 - 16:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
The NewSouth Bookstore is hosting a local author event — our first — on Saturday, August 17, at 2pm. We’ll welcome a dozen-plus writers from our local community with whom you’ll enjoy talking and learning about their work. The authors have published across a range of book categories, including children’s, YA, romance, faith, and more. There’ll be happy noise in our dedicated events space where these authors will be tabled: Christiann Henderson, Tim Lawrence, Michael Jones, Martin Mayer, and Monica McCollough, just to name a few. Come meet these fine writers and others on the afternoon of August 17!

Ken Autrey Reading at Auburn Oil Company August 17 at 4:00 p.m.
2024-08-17 04:00 - 17:00 | Auburn Oil Booksellers, 169 East Magnolia Ave., Auburn, AL, 36830, United States
Join Ken Autrey, Saturday, August 17, at 4 p.m. at Auburn Oil Booksellers in Auburn for a brief reading from and conversation about his poetry collection, Circulation.

Ghost Ranch Writer's Retreat
2024-08-11 - 2024-08-15 | Ghost Ranch, 280 Private Drive 1708 Highway, US-84, Abiquiu, NM, 87510, United States
Austin Film Festival hosts a yearly screenwriters and filmmakers’ retreat at the artists’ haven Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. This year, our creative getaway will take place August 11-15, 2024. In a small group setting, the retreat explores finding and developing your creative voice.
This year, Wendy Calhoun (writer/producer – The Rookie: Feds, Prodigal Son, Station 19, Empire, Nashville, Revenge, Justified) and Jim Hart (writer Hook, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Contact, Muppet Treasure Island, August Rush, The Hot Zone) will speak and offer insight on their writing process.
Previous attendees have described the Ghost Ranch Writers Retreat as:
– “The AFF Writers Retreat is a deeply meaningful experience for all writers. Its humanity, its warmth, its sincerity; none can be overstated.”
– “By far my best investment to grow and challenge my writing in a supportive environment.”
– “A magical historical creative oasis, a place where ideas and conversations flow and grow. You disconnect to reconnect—one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”
We are currently offering a $25 off promo code for AWF member use: GHOST25OFF.
Hope to see you at Ghost Ranch! If you have any questions on the event, please feel free to visit our website or call the Austin Film Festival office at 512-478-4795.

Mary Annaïse Heglar at The NewSouth Bookstore, Thursday, August 8 at 5:30pm!
2024-08-08 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Author Mary Annaïse Heglar is our special guest on Thursday, August 8 at 5:30pm, here to talk about the themes of her new novel, Troubled Waters, an unforgettable story of climate crisis, Black resistance, and the enduring power of family. Heglar will be in conversation with Kandeaux, a Tuskegee University alumna with a BS in Agricultural Business and a concentration in sustainability. She is the founder of The Farm Plug. We love how the bookstore gives us the opportunity to introduce new voices to you, with stories that spark understanding and engagement. Please join us!

Tuesday, August 6 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer talk about The Fall of Roe
2024-08-06 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
“The most important book in the lead up to this election,” according to MSNBC, is The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America. We are thrilled to bring to the store its two authors, Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer. The book from these top New York Times journalists is a tour de force, which tells the story of the plan to overturn Roe v. Wade and the consequences for women, abortion, and the future of America. This is a story located at the intersection of religion and power. There will be insights aplenty from this amazing team. At The NewSouth Bookstore on Tuesday, August 6 at 5:30pm. Don’t miss it.

Alabama Writers' Cooperative 2024 Conference, September 6-8 at Orange Beach!
2024-08-06 12:30 | Oarange Beach Community Center, 27235 Canal Rd., Orange Beach, AL, 36561, United States
AWC Conference 2024 Registration

September 6-8, 2024
The Alabama Writers’ Cooperative presents this year’s conference in beautiful Orange Beach, AL!
Our focus is to nurture and engage a diverse community of Alabama writers with this year’s conference, and we’re pleased with how the backgrounds and expertise of our faculty reflect that focus.
Registration is required. Manuscript consultations and First-page critiques are available to AWC members only.
Please follow the link below to become a member or to renew your membership if you’d like to register for one of these options, before you continue to registration. Annual membership is $25.
alabamawriterscooperative.org/membership

AWC Conference 2024 Registration

September 6-8, 2024
The Alabama Writers’ Cooperative presents this year’s conference in beautiful Orange Beach, AL!
Our focus is to nurture and engage a diverse community of Alabama writers with this year’s conference, and we’re pleased with how the backgrounds and expertise of our faculty reflect that focus.
Registration is required. Manuscript consultations and First-page critiques are available to AWC members only.
Please follow the link below to become a member or to renew your membership if you’d like to register for one of these options, before you continue to registration. Annual membership is $25.
alabamawriterscooperative.org/membership
About this year’s conference:
Prices:
– Full Conference – $175 (includes awards dinner)
– Student Discount – $150
– Saturday Workshops Only – $100
– Saturday Awards Dinner – $60
The conference will include manuscript consultations and a first-page reading at no additional charge for Full Conference attendees. AWC membership is required. These spaces are first come, first serve. Space is limited.
Manuscript Consultations:
Members may submit up to 10 pages. Each will be discussed during one-on-one sessions on Friday afternoon.
– Caleb Johnson (fiction) will accept the first 8 registrations.
– Sue Brannan Walker (poetry) will accept the first 8 registrations.
– Brooke Champagne (nonfiction) will accept the first 8 registrations.
First-page Reading:
The conference will also include a First-page Critique, where AWC members may submit the first page of their manuscript in progress to Aimee Hardy. She will read as many submissions aloud as time permits, providing comments on what’s working and what’s not, and giving general advice on what agents are looking for. This will be informative for participants to observe even if they don’t submit their first page.

Keynote Address:
The keynote speaker for Saturday’s Awards Dinner is JavaciaHarris Bowser.

AWC’s Annual Membership Meeting:
Sunday’s line up will feature the AWC annual membership meeting where AWC members will vote for next year’s board members.

Location:
*All workshops, open mic, awards dinner, and hotel will be located on Canal Rd. within a 4-mile stretch.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday workshops
Orange Beach Community Center
27235 Canal Rd.
Orange Beach, AL 36561

Wine Down Social & Awards Dinner
Magnolia Hall (located behind BuzzCatz Coffee & Sweets)
25689 Canal Rd Suite C
Orange Beach, AL 36561

Hotel:
Springhill Suites – Orange Beach at the Wharf
$145 per night – AWC group rate
www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1715202895586&key=GRP&app=resvlink
***Hotel reservations must be made on or before August 7, 2024 to receive the AWC group rate***
Conference Schedule
Friday 9/6/24:
Orange Beach Community Center

12:30 PM Bookstore Check-In & Networking

1:00 PM Don Noble – “Confessions of a Book Critic”
2:00 PM Matthew Layne – “The State of Alabama’s Libraries”
3:00 PM Barbara Barcellona Smith – “Let’s Write Books! Perspectives from the Writer of Let’s Eat Snails!”
4:00 PM Hallie Christensen and Emma Fox – “Writing Fantasy Novels for Young Readers”

1:00-5:00 PM Manuscript Consultations

5:00-5:30 PM Network & Netwine (BYOB) the Community Center has a refrigerator & ice machine
5:30-6:30 PM Open Mic
7:00 PM Bookstore Closes

7:00 PM (Optional) Opening Night After Party at The Galway Irish Public House – 2301 E 2nd St, Gulf Shores, AL

Saturday 9/7/24:
Orange Beach Community Center

8:30 AM Bookstore Opens & Networking

9:00 AM (Concurrent) Tina Mozelle Braziel and Jim Braziel – “Writing in Place”
*This workshop ONLY – will be located at Orange Beach Waterfront Park – 26425 Canal Rd
9:00 A.M (Concurrent) Don Keith – “Going Beyond Getting Ready to Start to Commence to Begin Thinking About Writing or Completing Your Novel”
10:00 AM Sue Walker and Saundra Grace – “Publishing Your Poetry Manuscript”
11:00 AM Aimee Hardy – “First-page Critique”
LUNCH ON YOUR OWN
1:00 PM Melissa Carrigee and Mandy Haynes – Publishing Panel: “Queries, Proposals, and Submissions”
2:00 PM T.K. Thorne and Debra Goldstein – “Understanding the Art of Mystery Writing”
3:00 PM Jason McCall – “Music Writing and the EkphrasticTradition”
4:00 PM Neal Wooten – “Make ‘Em Laugh”

5:30 PM Bookstore Closes

6:00 PM Wine Down Social – Magnolia Hall (located behind BuzzCatz Coffee & Sweets) 25689 Canal Rd Suite C

7:00 PM Awards Dinner – Magnolia Hall
Keynote Address: Javacia Harris Bowser – “Write With the Whole World in Your Arms: Building Writing Communities”

Sunday 9/8/24
Orange Beach Community Center

7:30 AM Bookstore Opens & Networking

8:00 AM Don Keith and Neal Wooten – “Beyond the Big Five: Assessing the Publishing Landscape”
9:00 AM Aimee Hardy – “Taking the Leap: How to Jump from Short Story- and Poetry-Writing to Novel-Writing”
10:00 AM Mike Turner – “Strategic Management for Impactful Writing”
11:00 AM AWC Annual Membership Meeting

12:30 PM Bookstore Check-Out

Southern Humanities Review Open for Submissions
2024-08-05 08:00 - 2024-10-15 17:00 | AL
Southern Humanities Review is seeking poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for our next quarterly issue. Submissions will be open until October 15. Fiction is capped at 250 submissions, and we are currently only open to historically underrepresented writers in poetry. There are 100 free submissions available for historically underrepresented writers in each genre. Contributors receive a small honorarium.

Sunday, August 4, at 3pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Mike Coleman presents on the themes of his new memoir, The Way from Me to Us
2024-08-04 15:00 - 16:30 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Join us in celebration of the release of The Way from Me to Us by Mike Coleman. The book tells the powerful story of his coming out as a gay man at a time when doing so meant you could lose everything. But Coleman wins in this amazing story of how he took chances and found the love of his life. Together, he and his partner staked out a life together at a time when such things “just weren’t done,” bravely battling challenges of every variety, including from within. Coleman is a Georgia Author of the Year finalist; his story will move and inspire.

Nancy Owen Nelson and Harry Moore at Pebble Hill
2024-08-01 16:00 - 17:30 | Pebble Hill, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36830, United States
Join poet Nancy Owen Nelson and author Harry Moore for a reading at Auburn University’s Pebble Hill.
Nancy Owen Nelson earned her BA from Birmingham-Southern and her MA and PhD from Auburn University. Her poems have been published in The South Dakota Review, Graffiti Rag, What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest, The MacGuffin, A Cloud of Possibility, Oberon, and This/That/Lit online journal. Published books include her memoirs, Searching for Nannie B: Connecting Three Generations of Southern Women (2015) and Divine Aphasia: A Woman’s Search for Her Father (2021); her poetry chapbook, My Heart Wears No Colors (2018); and her poetry book,Portals: A Memoir in Verse (2019). In 2019, her poem “Africatown,” was awarded second place for free verse in the Alabama Writers Conclave competition.
Recipient of the 2014 Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, Harry Moore is the author of the poetry collection Bearing the Farm Away (Kelsay Books, 2018) and four chapbooks: What He Would Call Them(Finishing Line Press, 2013); Time’s Fool: Love Poems (Mule on a Ferris Wheel Press, Huntsville, AL, 2014); Retreat: A Way Forward(Finishing Line Press, 2017); and Beyond Paradise: The Unweeded Garden (Main Street Rag, 2020). His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Plainsongs, Xavier Review, Pudding Magazine, Main Street Rag, South Carolina Review, Blue Unicorn, Slipstream, Anglican Theological Review, Ponder Review, and other journals.

Thursday, July 25 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel talk about Glass Cabin
2024-07-25 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Join us on Thursday, July 25 at 5:30pm to welcome poets Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel with their book Glass Cabin.This new work is a pretty amazing volume of storytelling, which chronicles the thirteen years they spent building their home on Hydrangea Ridge out of secondhand materials — found tin, tornado-snapped power poles, and church glass. The poems explore the work it takes to measure cuts for the stairs, to haul water up the mountain, to write. The Braziels will read from and share the experiences behind this new work, as conceptually interesting as the dwelling space it commemorates. Join us!

Edda Fields-Black at The NewSouth Bookstore Tuesday, July 23 at 5:30pm!
2024-07-23 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
A new book by Professor Edda Fields-Black — an exceptional work of American history — tells the story of one of Harriet Tubman’s most extraordinary exploits. The author joins us at The NewSouth Bookstore on Tuesday, July 23 at 5:30pm to discuss it. Combee is an account of the Combahee River Raid, an expedition of 150 African American soldiers led by Tubman into Confederate territory, who then rescued and carried back 700+ enslaved people. Members of the daring operation included the author’s great-great-great-grandfather. Join us for this exciting program featuring Dr. Fields-Black celebrating the release of her work.

Thursday, July 18 at 5:30pm at the NewSouth Bookstore: Michael Streissguth presents on Highways and Heartaches, with music by the Montgomery Dulcimer Players at 4:45pm!
2024-07-18 16:45 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
A fun evening is in store for you with a talk by Michael Streissguth about his new book, Highways and Heartaches: How Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Children of the New South Saved the Soul of Country Music. Mark your calendars to join us on Thursday, July 18 at 5:30 pm. In his entertaining book, Streissguth tracks the evolution of country music from the rural routes of 1960s and ‘70s Appalachia to the 1980s country music boom that paved the way for modern Americana. David and Barbara Betts and a couple of others from the Montgomery Dulcimer Players will open the program playing for your enjoyment starting at 4:45pm.

Jonathan Rigsby at The NewSouth Bookstore Thursday, July 11 at 5:30pm!
2024-07-11 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Jonathan Rigsby spends his days as a crime intelligence analyst and nights as an Uber driver. Reeling from a divorce and struggling to pay rent while caring for his autistic son, Rigsby became a rideshare driver, joining the millions of people with a side hustle just to make ends meet. With a compelling blend of honesty and wit, Rigsby invites readers in Drive into his car to reveal the harsh reality of gig work. Drive is an engaging personal story and a chronicle for social change. The author joins us at The NewSouth Bookstore on July 11 at 5:30pm.

The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture (LCLC) - Call for Papers
2024-07-09 08:00 - 2024-10-18 23:59 | University of Louisville, 2301 South 3rd Street, Louisville, KY, 40292, United States
2025 CALL FOR PAPERS
52nd Annual Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture
FEB 17-18 – Virtual
FEB 20-22 – In-Person
Featuring Keynote Speakers
RACHEL KUSHNER, BEN LERNER, JAHAN RAMAZANI,
and GEORGIE MEDINA MARCANO!
The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture welcomes critical papers and full panel discussions about literature from the 20th and 21st centuries and its connections to other art forms and academic fields. The conference also welcomes creative submissions, such as literary compositions, videos, or hybrid genres. Additionally, critical-creative submissions exploring poetics, crafts, or writing practices are welcomed.
Confirmed LCLC52 events include The Hero Project of the Century: Tyrone Williams As iZ (Aldon Nielsen, organizer) and The Function of Music in Poetry (Adeena Karasick and Mark Scroggins, organizers). And so much more to come!
VENDORS and EXHIBITORS are welcome. Contact Emily Ravenscraft, Conference Coordinator at lclc@louisville.edu to learn how you can be a part of LCLC52.
Submissions are accepted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hebrew, and Italian. Panels involving global literature and culture in other languages are encouraged. We also encourage proposals that bring together people from different universities or organizations, with varying levels of experience in academia, and from various fields of study. Recent society participants include the African American Literature & Culture Society, Charles Olson Society, E.E. Cummings Society, International Harold Pinter Society, International Lawrence Durrell Society, International Virginia Woolf Society, Iris Murdoch Society, T.S. Eliot Society, among others.
Conference registrants may participate in up to two of the following activities: (1) a critical, critical-creative, or group/society panel; (2) a creative session; (3) or as the leader of a seminar. Additionally, registrants may also chair one or more panels, as well as participate in seminars. Submissions are limited to one entry per category.
Deadline for submissions is 11:59 P.M. EST on September 15, 2024.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
Email submissions to lclc@louisville.edu
Please use the Subject line exactly: LCLC52 Submission, [Type of submission]
Example: LCLC52 Submission, Roundtable Session
Submission Components:
Individual Critical / Critical-Creative Submissions
Please send as 2 separate attachments
1) Cover sheet: Name as it is to appear in program with any institutional affiliation, Paper Title, and a biographical statement (250 words).
2) Abstract: be sure to omit all references to the author and the author’s name (250-300 words).
Individual Creative Submissions
Please send as 2 separate attachments
1) Cover Sheet: Name as it is to appear in program with any institutional affiliation, Title of Work Submitted, and a biographical statement (250 words).
2) Writing Sample: suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation.
Full Panels, Roundtables and Societies Sessions (single panels or streams) Submissions:
Sessions are to be designed for a 90-minute time slot. The organizer should submit the following documents:
Please send as 2 separate attachments
1) Cover Sheet: Names and Institutional Affiliations, Titles of Work Submitted, biographical statements.
2) Dependent on the subject of the submission please submit either:
a) Abstract: be sure to omit all references to the author and the author’s name (250-300 words).
b) Writing Sample: suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation
SEMINARS. These 120 minutes sessions typically feature informal conversation moderated by the seminar leader(s) on the topic and or activity. If you wish to propose a seminar for LCLC52, contact LCLC Coordinator Emily Ravenscraft and we will evaluate it in advance of our second CFP which will be circulated in August 2024. See below for the current line-up of for this the current LCLC52 seminars. Each seminar has it’s own process for submission, so please read the descriptions carefully.
SEMINAR I
Translation Chapbook Workshop and Reading
Dr. Mark Mattes & Dr. Clare Sullivan
Participants will take part in a bookbinding workshop led by Dr. Mattes of Louisville-based Hot Brown Press and create chapbooks of their translations. All tools and materials will be provided. Then, in a subsequent panel, chapbook contributors will share their work and participate in a group discussion led by LCLC committee member Dr. Clare Sullivan. Participants should submit 1) Cover sheet and 2) Sample of original, unpublished translations into English from any language. Limit your selection to 150 words – excerpts are fine. Include the source text with your submission and a brief citation.
SEMINAR II
Poetry, Games, and Magic
Dr. Brandon Harwood & Dr. Robert Eric Shoemaker
This seminar explores the interplay between poetry, magic, and games. What similarities, practical and theoretical, may be drawn from these fields? How can the poetics of play, or the magic circle of the video game, inform our understanding and practice of each? What do today’s multimedia games and poetries say about or to ancient rituals, sociocultural stratification, or morality and purity rules? What openings do we see in language and culture to bend rules in order to break open systems? Participants should submit 1) Cover sheet and 2) Abstract touching two of these fields: game studies, poetry/poetics, and the magical/occult.
SEMINAR III
Pandemic Studies
Martha Greenwald, Seminar Leader
Participants will pursue the imaginative structures, disputed narratives, cross-pollinating conspiracies, and contested discourses used to make sense of COVID-19 as well as other past, contemporaneous, or future pandemics. As we accept that life now is increasingly lived with the COVID-19 virus as a normalized and never-ending event, Narrative frameworks and genres of the pandemic experience have shifted and need now additional study. We seek surprising, ambitious, theoretically-rich, and provocative response. Participants should submit 1) Cover sheet and 2) Abstract. Contributions that introduce fiction or generic hybridity are welcome.

Go and Write! Summertime Retreat on the Bay of Fundy—St. Martins, New Brunswick (Canada)
2024-07-07 08:00 - 2024-07-14 17:00 | St. Martin’s County Inn, 303 Main St., Martins, New Brunswick, Canada
July 7-14, 2024. Private, ensuite bedroom in historic shipbuilder’s estate in the fishing village of St. Martins, NB. All breakfasts and five suppers, private concert, trips to Kings Landing Historical Settlement and the Fundy Trail, workshops, written feedback, and dedicated writing time.

Call for Submissions: The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize
2024-07-01 - 2024-09-30 | TRP: The University Press of SHSU, United States
$10,000 + Publication + Residency at Vermont Studio Center
2024 Judge: Diane Seuss
Established in 1998, The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize highlights one full-length collection of poetry per year. Since 2024, the Prize comes with a $10,000 advance, TRP’s X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize Fellowship at Vermont Studio Center, a standard royalty contract, and 10 copies of the published book.
Recent judges include Richard Blanco, Kimiko Hahn, Kazim Ali, Maggie Smith, and Marilyn Nelson.
Submissions open each year on July 1 and close on September 30.

Call for Submissions: The George Garrett Fiction Prize
2024-07-01 - 2024-09-30 | TRP: The University Press of SHSU, United States
Winner Receives: $2,000 + Publication
Judge’s Selection Receives: $1,000 + Publication
2024 Judge: Kaveh Akbar
Thanks to generous support from the judge, Kaveh Akbar, a Judge’s Selection from this year’s George Garrett Fiction Prize will also receive a $1,000 advance and publication.
Established in 1998, The George Garrett Fiction Prize highlights one book a year for excellence in a short story collection or novel. Starting 2024, the Prize comes with a $2,000 advance, a standard royalty contract, and 10 copies of the published book.
Recent judges include Manuel Muñoz, Vi Khi Nao, Selah Saterstrom, Joe Wilkins, and John McNally.
Submissions open each year on July 1 and close on September 30.
