Alabama Writers' Forum

A Conversation on Reckoning At Ramsay High School
2023-02-23 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Ramsay High School, 1800 13th Ave. S., Birmingham, AL, 35205, United States
https://alabamahumanities.org/event/reckoning-at-ramsay/

Kent Quaney at the NewSouth Bookstore
2023-02-23 17:30 - 19:00 | NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S Court St, Montgomery, AL, 36104-4003, United States
Kent Quaney, Assistant Professor of English at AUM, has a new novel out. One Breath from Drowning charts a tale of lost faith and lost love with insight. We’ll host him for a talk about it and a reading from the book on February 23. Come meet Kent and enjoy literary discussion with friends.

"The Promise of Living the Tender Land" Panel Discussion Featuring Jerry Siegel & Richard McCabe
2023-02-23 11:00 - 12:30 | International Arts Center at Troy University, 158 International Blvd., Troy, AL, 36082, United States
Grantee Spotlight: Jerry Siegel artist conversation

Caylor Roling and Amanda Edwards at the NewSouth Bookstore
2023-02-22 17:30 - 19:00 | NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S Court St, Montgomery, AL, 36104-4003, United States
Caylor Roling and Amanda Edwards of E.A.T. South give us the benefit of their expertise in composting in this special program conceived of for our NewSouth Bookstore friends and customers. The idea for this program developed from a story that appeared in the NY Times recently describing environmental issues, which include methane generation, posed by food waste disposed of in landfills. Roling and Edwards will discuss E.A.T. South’s composting plans, City of Montgomery initiatives, vermicomposting vs. traditional composting, and provide tips to get started and more. Come get educated and inspired!

Alabama Authors Day
2023-02-19
Historic Blakeley State Park invites all those interested in the literary arts to join us at Five Rivers Delta Resource Center for our annual Alabama Authors Day. This special celebration showcases the work of accomplished writers throughout the state, with an emphasis on Gulf Coast authors and those who explore topics associated with regional history and natural heritage.
This year’s lineup includes a presentation on the latest findings by the team that conducted archaeological investigations on the Clotilda; retired Auburn University professor Dr. Wayne Flynt, reflecting on his relationship with To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee; Gulf Coast historian Dale Cox discussing the story of the “Creek Pocahontas”; former USA professor Dr. Dan Rogers with a new book on the USS Alabama; travel writer Joe Cuhaj discussing his new guide to Mobile and Gulf Coast history; local author Paula Webb presenting her new novel, Mississippi Mojo; author and graphic artist Laura Murray talking about her series of children’s books; and retired professor Dr. Tennant McWilliams with a discussion about his role in the republication of a landmark volume on the history of Fairhope.
Author presentations and book signings begin at 12:00 p.m., in Delta Hall at Five Rivers Delta Resource Center, 30945 Five Rivers Blvd., Spanish Fort. Admission to lectures and book signings is FREE.
The Apalachee Exhibit Hall at Five Rivers , featuring taxidermy, live animals, local artwork, and exhibits, will be open throughout the day.
During the day, Blakeley’s Delta Explorer will venture into the wild and scenic lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta on five different cruises. There will be a 2.5 hour “Secret Delta” excursion at 9:00 a.m., and four one-hour cruises will be offered in the afternoon, showcasing this amazing natural habitat.
The Greek Gals Food Truck will be on hand from 11-2!
For a full schedule of events or cruise tickets visit: www.blakeleypark.com/Events

Beth Ann Fennelly reading at Center for the Arts & Humanities, Pebble Hill
2023-02-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
Auburn University’s February 16 Third Thursday Poetry Series guest will be Beth Ann Fennelly, former Poet Laureate of Mississippi, and Associate Professor of English at the University of Mississippi. She has published 3 volumes of poetry, a memoir, a collection of “micro-memoirs,” and a novel (co-authored with her husband).
The reading will be at the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities at Pebble Hill in Auburn. The program is free and open to the public.
Food and drink will be available beginning at 6 p.m. A brief open mic reading will begin at 6:30, followed by Fennelly’s reading. Her books will be available for purchase and signing.
The Third Thursday series is supported by Pebble Hill, Alabama State Council on the Arts, Auburn University Department of English, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn University.

Andrew Young at ASU
2023-02-16 11:00 - 13:00 | Ralph Abernathy Hall, 1625 Harris Way, Montgomery, AL, 36106, United States
Alabama State University will host a student Civil Rights symposium about the impact of Civil Rights activism on college campuses. Andrew Young, American politician and Civil Rights leader, will be the featured speaker. With an eye on the past and another on the present, attendees will be able to discuss and debate the commonalities of civil rights problems and present-day civil rights challenges. A book signing will immediately follow the symposium!

Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse
2023-02-14 08:00 - 2023-05-25 17:00
Livingston Press announces its new annual Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse. Recommended length: 90-160 pages. $500 prize plus 20 copies, standard royalty contract. Publication in trade paper, e-book, and Kindle. There is no entry fee. Submission deadline: May 25. Send Word attachment including contact information, brief bio, and letter to jwt@uwa.edu. Please list Novel-in-Verse on your subject line.
Previous similar titles from Livingston:
An Art, A Craft, A Mystery – Laura Secord
Don Quickshot – William Van Wert
Forthcoming title:
Near Where the Blood Pools – Ben Terry

Jeff Miller at Read Herring
2023-02-09 17:30 - 19:00 | NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S Court St, Montgomery, AL, 36104-4003, United States
Jeff Miller, a 1976 Auburn University grad and career-long sportswriter, will be at The NewSouth Bookstore on February 9 to recall Auburn’s legendary “Punt Bama Punt” football game at Legion Field, a game that stunned Alabama, which is the subject of his new book, Teammates for Life. The book both recounts the team’s accomplishments and catches up with its players today. This will be a fun event as players Roger Mitchell, Johnny Simmons, Randy Walls, and Rusty Deen will all be present to celebrate the release of Miller’s new book. Folks, we will have no team partisanship here. All football fans in the state of Alabama are welcome! (Weather permitting, we may be outside for this big event.)

Fiction Reading by Dionne Irving
2023-02-09 16:00 - 18:00 | University of South Alabama, Student Center Terrace Room
Acclaimed fiction writer Dionne Irving will read from her latest short story collection, Islands, which explores colonialism, immigration, sexual discrimination, and class in the lives of Jamaican women who emigrate to London, Panama, France, Jamaica, and Florida. Her other work includes the novel Quint, based on a real-life Canadian family of quintuplets who became celebrities in the 1940s, and the essays such as “Treading Water” and “Do You Like to Hurt?” which were Notable essays in Best American Essay 2017 and 2019.

PEN AMERICA BIRMINGHAM: A Conversation with Imani Perry
2023-02-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Miles College, 5500 Myron Massey Blvd., Fairfield, AL, 35064, United States
Please join PEN America Birmingham for the final event in the Birmingham Reads program featuring a conversation with National Book Award winner Dr. Imani Perry, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.
Join us for a discussion between Perry and Birmingham-based teaching artists Tania De’Shawn and Brianna Jordynn Wright. The discussion will be followed by an audience q&a.
The Birmingham Reads Project is a citywide literary event dedicated to engaging and uniting Birmingham community members in reading one book of fiction or nonfiction in one given year. This year’s selection, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation (winner of the 2022 National Book Award for nonfiction), by Birmingham native Imani Perry, is an ambitious accounting of the beauty, tragedy, and history of the Southern United States.
Please note: You don’t have to read South to America to enjoy this event. This event is free and open to the public.
ABOUT IMANI PERRY
Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Perry is the author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, winner of the 2019 Bograd-Weld Biography Prize from the Pen America Foundation. She is also the author of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons; Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation; and May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem. Perry, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Chicago, lives outside Philadelphia with her two sons.
TEACHING ARTISTS
Tania De’Shawn is a poet, teaching artist, and entrepreneur. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Berea College; she is the author of her debut poetry collection, Be Gentle with Black Girls. Her collection serves as an entry point to addressing the adultification bias that negatively affects the education and social development of Black girls across the nation. She is set to be the Keynote Speaker for the Birmingham Public Libraries Local Authors series to discuss her book further and hold an open discussion on addressing the adultification bias within her community. Her collection was nominated for the 2022 VIP Heavy Hearts Neighborhood Award. Tania’s poetry has been featured at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Sidewalk Film Festival, Birmingham Public Library, the historic Majesty Lounge, and more. Her co-choreographed choreopoem “Sister Circle” debuted at the Berea College Kinetic Expressions showcase in 2018. She uses her craft to keep the legacy of Ntozake Shange alive by teaching choreopoetry to artists of all ages and backgrounds. Tania is currently based in Birmingham; she serves the community as a volunteer with Flourish Alabama, which helps young artists bloom. Tania is the founder of Element Agape, an organization that nourishes artists to create art that affects social change.
Brianna Jordynn “B.J.” Wright is a writer, educator, and scholar based in Birmingham, AL. In 2019, she graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology (minor in Women’s Studies) and African American Studies (concentration in Historical Investigation and Cultural Awareness). She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Africana Studies from Georgia State University (concentration in Community Empowerment). She takes inspiration from classic scholars such as Dr. W.E.B. Du Boise, Zora Neale Hurston, Harold Cruse, Audrey Lorde, Dr. Huey P. Newton, bell hooks, and Toni Morrison. Her current research interests include, but are not limited to the impact of language policing on Black adolescents, the role of Blackness in comics and anime, and conceptually defining the Master’s House.

Open calls closing in February
2023-01-31 - 2023-02-28 | Online, NC
Sunspot Lit’s calls for novelette-length and very longform fiction, CNF, graphic novels and poetry are closing in February. The Supernova category takes works from 7,501 words to 17,500, while the novelette call takes works up to 49,000 words. Detailed guidelines on the submission forms at Submittable: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit or Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/sunspot-literary-journal-LIXJW.

AUM Visiting Writers Series: Poet Jason McCall
2022-11-10 19:00 - 21:00 | AUM, 7400 East Drive, Montgomery, AL, United States
