Alabama Writers' Forum

Thursday, August 14 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Announcing a group read of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy with Lee Farrow
2025-08-14 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Dr. Lee Farrow has led some of our most popular bookstore events to date. We look forward to hosting her again for an evening of discussion about Anna Karenina, a timeless and beloved classic of the nineteenth century by Leo Tolstoy, a giant of Russian literature. Join us for a talk about Anna Karenina on Thursday, August 14 at 5:30pm. Purchase a copy of the book at the bookstore and dive in. First published in 1878, the book is an engrossing story of love, betrayal, marriage, and family set against the backdrop of Imperial Russian society. When William Faulkner was asked to name his three favorite novels, he replied: “Anna Karenina, Anna Karenina, and Anna Karenina.” Come join us and discover the book’s enduring appeal.

Reading of BLESSINGS AND DISASTERS by Alexis Okeowo, 6:30 p.m. at Thank You Books
2025-08-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Thank You Books, 5502 Crestwood Blvd Unit B, Birmingham, AL, 35212, United States
Thank You Books presents author Alexis Okeowo, reading from her new book, Blessings and Disasters, Thursday 6:30 p.m.
5502B Crestwood Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35212
6:30PM CT – Event
Contact: Kristen Iskandrian, kristen@thankyoubookshop.com
Event linked here.

3rd Friday at The NewSouth Bookstore!
2025-08-15 16:00 - 20:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Explore the downtown district after 4pm for special menus and drinks, special events and discounts. The NewSouth Bookstore will participate, of course. Sawyer White, a talented young guitarist with a rich repertoire, will be outside The NewSouth Bookstore, on our patio, playing for your pleasure. Relax to his music and join us inside for a complimentary glass of wine and to browse our store. All book purchases after 4pm on August 15 will be discounted 10%. Support your local downtown retailers and enjoy the offerings at The NewSouth Bookstore along with Lorraine’s Bake Shop, Plant Bae, Ravello, Red Bluff, Central, the Trilogy Hotel, and others. More than two dozen downtown hotels, restaurants, and retailers are participating in all.

Thursday, August 19 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Scott Spillman with Making Sense of Slavery
2025-08-19 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
We are thrilled to host historian Scott Spillman with his new book, Making Sense of Slavery, on Thursday, August 19 at 5:30 pm, at The NewSouth Bookstore. Making Sense of Slavery is an essential history of the study of slavery in America, from the Revolutionary era to the 1619 Project, showing how these intellectual debates have shaped American public life. It’s a breathtaking survey of nearly two centuries of scholarship, rich in insights and surprises. The Washington Independent Review of Books calls the book “accessible, important, and engaging” — a much needed work to fill in the gaps of our understanding. Don’t miss this exciting program with Scott Spillman coming up soon!

Thursday, August 21 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Caleb Gayle to talk about Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State
2025-08-21 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Award-winning journalist Caleb Gayle is our special guest in August with his new book, Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State. In this paradigm-shifting work of American history, Gayle recounts the extraordinary tale of Edward McCabe, a Black man who championed the audacious idea to create a state within the Union governed by and for Black people — and the racism, politics, and greed that thwarted him. The book is a wild ride through American history, which Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life, calls “an unforgettable account of a forgotten hero.” Hope you can be with us at The NewSouth Bookstore on Thursday, August 21 at 5:30pm.

It’s Local Authors Day at The NewSouth Bookstore on Saturday, August 23, from 12pm-4pm.
2025-08-23 12:00 - 16:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
The NewSouth Bookstore invites you to our second annual Local Authors Day, held right in the bookstore. The event showcases the amazing writing talent in our greater metro Montgomery region. Meet authors writing fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, self-help and inspirational titles, and more. It’ll be festive and fun!

Alabama State Poetry Society Online Open Mic
2025-08-25 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-09-22 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

Jay Busbee - Iron in the Blood: How the Alabama vs. Auburn Rivalry Shaped the Soul of the South @ Alabama Booksmith
2025-08-26 17:00 - 18:00
Come meet one of America’s most respected sportswriters, Jay Busbee as he signs copies of his authoratative & delightful book about the nation’s greatest football rivalry.
You may purchase signed first editions of IRON I N THE BLOOD (33.00) to pick up at the event, at the store later, or have them carefully wrapped and mailed worldwide by Clicking Here.

Tuesday, August 26 at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Ralph Ellis with The Accident Report
2025-08-26 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Author/journalist Ralph Ellis joins us at The NewSouth Bookstore for what will surely be a most enjoyable program tied to his new novel, titled The Accident Report. The story is set in 1974 in North Carolina. It stars Ronald Truluck, a rookie reporter who is inspired by Watergate and hopes to uncover a scandal to make his bones as a reporter. It won’t be easy. The paper he works for, The Millerton Eagle, runs pet-of-the-week pictures on the front page, not corruption stories. And Ronald is a stoner who’s loosey-goosey with the facts. With a little help from his friends, he finally lands the story—but with results nobody expected. Come listen to Ellis spin a yarn or two about his new book and how he came to write it. (Hint: He’s been a working journalist.) Tuesday, August 26 at 5:30pm.

Third Thursday Reading at Pebble Hill in Auburn, 6 p.m.
2025-08-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
The first Third Thursday reading of the 2025-26 season will be August 28 at Pebble Hill in Auburn and will feature three local writers: Justin Gardiner, Steve Harrison, and Ash Parsons. Reception and book sales begin at 6 p.m. Readings begin at 6:30 p.m.

The Third Thursday Literary Series is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, the 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.

All readings are free and open to the public.

DEL SHORES FOUNDATION WRITERS SEARCH FINAL DEADLINE
2025-08-31 12:00 - 17:00
CALL FOR UNPRODUCED SCRIPTS BY LGBTQ+ SOUTHERN WRITERS
The fourth Del Shores Foundation Writers Search, inspired by the career of SORDID LIVES playwright and screenwriter Del Shores, is now open for submissions from unproduced playwrights and screenwriters who identify as LGBTQ+ and currently live in the South.
CASH AWARDS are given to the semifinalists, finalists and winners and PRODUCTION GRANTS accompany the winning scripts to move their work toward production.
USE WAIVER CODE “DSFAL” for FREE SUBMISSION. Final submission deadline 8/31/25.
For more information and submissions visit https://www.delshoresfoundation.org/

Open Call at Sunspot Lit.
2025-09-02 - 2025-09-30 | Online, NC
Final quarterly calls closing in September for longform works up to 7,500 words, shorter works, flash, poetry, graphic novels and art at Sunspot Lit. Staggered closing dates and guidelines here: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit.

Jim Vickrey introduces his new book, "Awakenings to Racism in Alabama"
2025-09-07 15:00 - 16:30 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
A frequent guest at our bookstore programs, we are delighted to host Jim Vickrey for a talk about his new book, Awakenings to Racism in Alabama: The Education of a Native Son and the Lessons He and His Peers Learned Resisting Jim Crow. Join us on Sunday, September 7 at 3pm. Five years in the research and writing, Awakenings is a memoir of coming of age in the Jim Crow South. The book chronicles Vickrey’s youth, a period in which he had few Black friends, an epiphany about race which he had while at Auburn University, and his becoming a civil rights advocate early in his career, including in Florida higher education and then at the University of Montevallo. The book describes his friendship with George Wallace, whose racial policies Vickrey opposed, and more. A big work of reflection on the subjects of race and personal growth, we look forward to welcoming Vickrey on Sunday, September 7, at 3pm.

One Hour/One Poem: Discover the verse of Longfellow with Dr. Susie Paul
2025-09-09 17:30 - 18:30 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Make a date with a poem and Dr. Susie Paul. In an exciting new program hosted by The NewSouth Bookstore, titled One Hour/One Poem, Dr. Paul will teach one great nineteenth-century poem in each of four monthly sessions of an hour or less. The program will be a deep dive into the work of four significant American writers, all giants of the poetic form: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Paul is a master educator with a deep love of poetry, who is thrilled to have an opportunity to teach these works. Dr. Paul has selected “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in 1838, as the subject of her second session. Join us on Tuesday, September 9 at 5:30pm.

Lisa McNair talks about "Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew"
2025-09-11 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Lisa McNair is our special bookstore guest on Thursday, September 11 at 5:30pm. She travels to Montgomery to discuss her recently released book, Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew, a collection of forty letters from Lisa addressed to the sister she never knew, but in whose shadow of sacrifice and lost youth she was raised. These letters offer an intimate look into the life of a family touched by one of the most heinous tragedies of the Civil Rights Movement, the 1963 bombing by Klansmen of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. With her book McNair takes us on a stirring journey of remembering with a goal of racial healing. Needed as much today as it ever was.

Sarah Schulman Talk about "The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity"
2025-09-14 14:00 - 15:30 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
From award-winning writer Sarah Schulman, author of more than twenty books including the classic Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, comes a new book offering a brilliant examination of the inherent social challenges to solidarity movements and what it means for our future. Join us for a talk with Schulman about The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity led by Ashley Edwards. Schulman is one of the most astute social and political critics of our time. In this new work she unpacks the concept of solidarity in the face of inequality — unequal relations, resources, access, knowledge, and power — transforming our understanding of it as idea and practice. Don’t miss this special program on Sunday, September 14 at 2pm (note the 2pm time!), at The NewSouth Bookstore.

Corinna Barrett Lain Talk about "Secrets of the Killing State"
2025-09-16 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Corinna Barrett Lain is our guest at The NewSouth Bookstore on Tuesday, September 16 at 5:30pm. In conversation with Kacey L. Keeton, Lain will talk about her new book, Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection. The story of lethal injection is a story of gross incompetence, law breaking, torturous deaths, and stunning indifference to the way in which human beings die at the hands of the state. Death penalty expert Corinna Barrett Lain uses this groundbreaking examination of the dark reality of lethal injection to shine a light on the American death penalty more broadly and shows that the state at its most powerful is also the state at its worst. Washington Independent Review of Books calls Secrets of the Killing State “spectacularly engaging, crisply written, and full of moral clarity.” Don’t miss this special program, co-sponsored by the Faith Leaders of Color Coalition and Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Alabama Story
2025-09-19 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-09-20 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-09-21 14:00 - 16:30, 2025-09-24 14:00 - 16:30, 2025-09-25 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-09-26 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-09-27 14:00 - 16:30, 2025-09-28 14:00 - 16:30 | Bean- Brown Theatre, 600 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35405, United States
Set in Montgomery in 1959, this play delves into the heart of Alabama’s history, exploring themes of belonging, identity, and the fight to protect one’s home and heritage. When a state senator discovers The Rabbit’s Wedding, a children’s picture book, is about a black rabbit and a white rabbit getting married, he sets out to fire the state librarian protecting it. Meanwhile, a chance meeting between childhood friends, one white and one black, forces them to recall, confront, and reconcile their complicated past.

A “Voice Your Views” postcard-writing event led by Dr. Lee Farrow
2025-09-24 16:30 - 18:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Make your voice heard! Join us for a community postcard-writing event led by Dr. Lee Farrow. Let’s speak up about the issues that matter most. We’ll provide the postcards. You bring your passion and perspective. Write to your local, state, and federal representatives and take a stand for the policies you care about. Let’s write for change, together. Join us Wednesday, September 24 at 4:30-6pm.

Thursday, September 25, at 5:30pm at The NewSouth Bookstore: Ashley M. Jones with Lullaby for the Grieving
2025-09-25 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
In her fourth poetry collection, Lullaby for the Grieving, Ashley M. Jones studies the multifaceted nature of grief: the personal grief of losing her father, and the political grief tied to Black Southern identity. How does one find a path through such deep sorrow? Jones, Alabama’s first Black Poet Laureate (2022-2026), has been much celebrated for her verse. Of this new collection, Imani Perry observes, “Ashley M. Jones’s poems are at once history, sermons, and soul songs. A truth-teller in verse, Jones reaches into the past to teach us courage in the present.” Jones will read from and talk about Lullaby for the Grieving at The NewSouth Bookstore on Thursday, September 25 at 5:30pm. Hope you can join us.

Author Speaker Series with Joe Cuhaj at the Fairhope Museum of History
2025-09-27 13:00 - 14:00 | Fairhope Museum of History, 24 N. Section St, Fairhope, AL, 36532, United States
Join author Joe Cuhaj as he takes you on a fun and unique dive into the little known, obscure, and forgotten history of Mobile and the Alabama Gulf Coast. He will also preview his new book, Notable Women of Alabama, which profiles the lives of 50 Alabama women who changed the state and the world. Admission is free to this event at the Fairhope Museum of History, September 27, at 1:00 p.m.

The NewSouth Bookstore’s Third Annual Sidewalk Sale! October 1-4
2025-10-01 10:00 - 2025-10-04 16:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Our staff at The NewSouth Bookstore is preparing for it now! Our third annual Sidewalk Sale — bigger and even better this year — happens rain or shine starting on Wednesday, October 1 and running through Saturday, October 4. Thousands of books priced at an unbelievable $5, $3, and $1 are rolled out to our patio for your browsing pleasure. Come find treasures old and new! Mark your calendars!
