Alabama Writers' Forum

The NewSouth Bookstore in partnership with the Civil Rights Memorial Center hosting Fergus Bordewich
2023-10-18 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
The NewSouth Bookstore is offsite at the Civil Rights Memorial Center on October 18 at 5:30pm, partnering on a talk with Fergus Bordewich, author of Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, which releases just a week earlier. Klan War is a stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil, when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK. The author’s compelling narrative — by turns, frightening, bracing, and timely — will remind readers that today’s battle between white supremacy and human justice has a long history. Fergus Bordewich is the author of eight previous works of nonfiction, many award-winning, which include Bound for Cannan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement, a favorite among customers at our bookstore. Contact Jessala White if you cannot join us for the program and wish to reserve a signed copy of Klan War.

Alabama Colloquium featuring Imani Perry and David Mathews
2023-10-23 11:30 - 13:30 | Grand Bohemian Hotel, 2655 Lane Park Road, Birmingham, AL, 35223, United States
On October 23, the Alabama Humanities Alliance presents the 2023 Alabama Colloquium, sponsored by Regions. This annual gathering celebrates the power of the humanities — including literature! — to lift up Alabama. We’ll also honor our Alabama Humanities Fellows of 2023: acclaimed scholars, historians, and community-builders, David Mathews and Imani Perry. Both have authored numerous books, with Perry winning the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2022.
The day’s program will include an enlightening conversation between the honorees, as well as an introduction of AHA’s newest collaboration, Healing History. This initiative is designed to strengthen our communities and state by helping neighbor better know neighbor — across race, religion, political affiliation, and all those other frequent dividing lines that shouldn’t keep us apart.
Post-event, AHA will offer a limited-capacity listening tour of Wallace House, run by Klein Arts & Culture in Shelby County. Built in 1841, the Wallace House was once part of a 5,000-acre cotton plantation, which was worked by nearly 100 enslaved people. Today, descendants of the home’s White landowners and enslaved Black population work together to examine their shared history and create a space for mutual understanding and reconciliation.

Alabama Colloquium 2023
2023-10-23 11:30 - 15:00 | Grand Bohemian Hotel, 2655 Lane Park Road, Birmingham, AL, 35223, United States
The Alabama Humanities Alliance bestows its highest honor on Alabamians who have made our state and world a smarter, kinder, and more vibrant place to live. All through the humanities.
date+location
October 23, 2023
The Grand Bohemian
2655 Lane Park Road | Birmingham, AL 35223
schedule
11:30 a.m. | luncheon
noon | main program
3 p.m. | Wallace House tour*
program
• conversation with our Fellows: David Mathews and Imani Perry
• video tribute to our 2023 Alabama Humanities Fellows
• introduction to AHA’s Healing History initiative
• preview of AHA’s 50th anniversary in 2024
• award presentations + audience Q&A
• book signing opportunity
bonus experience*
Following the Alabama Colloquium, we’re offering a limited-capacity listening tour of Wallace House, run by our partners at Klein Arts & Culture. Built in 1841, the Wallace House was once part of a 5,000-acre cotton plantation, which was worked by nearly 100 enslaved people. Today, descendants of the home’s White landowners and enslaved Black population work together to examine their shared history and create a space for mutual understanding and reconciliation.

Alabama State Poetry Society Online Open Mic
2023-10-23 18:30 - 19:30, 2023-11-27 18:30 - 19:30, 2023-12-25 18:30 - 19:30, 2024-01-22 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

Hocus Pocus Movie Night and Costume Contest at The NewSouth Bookstore
2023-10-27 17:00 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
It wouldn’t be Halloween without kids and a little Hocus Pocus. Yes, we have that great book for sale, but we also have a fun event planned which includes screening of the Halloween classic, a costume contest, and more. Bring your children and come dressed at your spookiest best. This is safe family fun — even if there is a scare or two involved!

Built From the Fire: A Talking Book
2023-10-27 19:30 - 21:30 | Capri Theatre, 1045 East Fairview Avenue, Montgomery, AL, 36106, United States
Author Victor Luckerson partners with the close third to explore powerful parallels between Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” and Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery native and National Magazine Award nominee Victor Luckerson is partnering with collective arts organization, close third, to bring the story of Tulsa’s famous Greenwood District alive at the Capri Theatre this October.

Part Two of Great 19th-Century Russian Writers talk with Dr. Lee Farrow
2023-11-02 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Dr. Lee Farrow returns to The NewSouth Bookstore for the second talk in a series about the great 19th-century Russian writers. She will continue discussing the theme of the “superfluous man” in Russian literature, focusing on the works of Mikhail Lermontov, Ivan Turgenev, and Ivan Goncharov. These three authors portrayed the ideological and generational conflicts that were challenging Russian educated society, fixing a critical eye on the hypocrisies and ineffectiveness of both the intellectuals of the “old guard” and the younger generation that would replace them.” As many of you have already discovered, Farrow is a lively and knowledgeable presenter. You won’t want to miss her program!

Kauai Writers Conference
2023-11-06 - 2023-11-13 | Royal Sonesta Kauai Resort, 3610 Rice Street, Lihue, HI, 96766, United States
The Kauai Writers Conference, now in its tenth year, has grown to be regarded as the premier writers gathering in the U.S. Each November a faculty of 40+ renowned authors and top literary agents come to the Royal Sonesta Kauai Resort for a week. Conference participants work on their craft in master classes, workshops, and discussions with these authors and present their work to the agents for representation and critique.
You can learn all about this event at kauaiwritersconference.com
AWF members are entitled to a 20% discount on their registration. To get this discount, enter WG789 when asked for a code on the registration page.

Julie Williams with Wings of Opportunity
2023-11-09 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Join us for a fun National Aviation Month presentation with award-winning historian Julie Hedgepeth Williams. Her book Wings of Opportunity describes a lesser-known chapter of the Wright brothers’ history, which began in 1910 when Wilbur and Orville moved to Montgomery, Alabama to open our nation’s first civilian flight school. Says one reviewer of her book: “Dr. Williams is a masterful storyteller. In Wings of Opportunity, Julie Williams vividly recreates the complex tale of civic pride, two aviation pioneers who had little interest in public image, local journalists who didn’t know what to make of them, and the fascination of ordinary citizens with the amazing invention of flight.” Take-off is at 5:30pm on November 9!

Readings from works in progress with Kent Quaney, Katherine Gaffney, and Garrett Ashley
2023-11-15 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Join us for an evening of readings from works in progress with Kent Quaney and friends. We celebrated the release of Quaney’s One Breath from Drowning last year. Come listen to a reading from his next writing project. An Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Creative Writing at AUM, Quaney will be joined by two other talents: poet Katherine Gaffney, whose new collection, Fool in a Blue House, was published by the University of Tampa Press last year, winning the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry; and Garrett Ashley, whose short story collection Before the Snakes Came won the 2022 Moon City Press Short Fiction Award. This will be a fun evening of listening and discussion of the best kind.

Foster Hirsch with "Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties"
2023-11-16 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
We are pleased to host Foster Hirsch for a talk and signing on the subject of his newest book, Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties: The Collapse of the Studio System, the Thrill of Cinerama, and the Invasion of the Ultimate Body Snatcher — Television. The work offers a fascinating look at Hollywood’s most turbulent decade and the demise of the studio system—set against the boom of the post–World War II years, the Cold War, and the atomic age—and the movies that reflected these seismic shifts. Hirsch is the author of sixteen books on subjects related to theater and the movies. All the way from California, please join us in welcoming him.

An Evening with Poet Katherine Gaffney
2023-11-16 18:30 - 19:30 | Theatre AUM – Taylor Center, 7041 Senators Dr, Montgomery, AL, 36117, United States
Award winning poet Katherine Gaffney will be reading and discussing her work on Thursday, November 16, at 6:30 pm at Theatre AUM in the Taylor Center on AUM campus.
Gaffney is a graduate of the University of Illinois MFA program and the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers PhD program.
Her work has appeared in numerous journals, and her most recent collection, Fool in a Blue House, won the 2022 Tampa Review Prize for Poetry.

Mike Turner - “Songs to Poems (and Vice Versa!)”
2023-11-18 10:00 - 11:30 | Fairhope Museum of History, 24 N. Section St, Fairhope, AL, 36532, United States
Fairhope songwriter and poet Mike Turner gives a presentation on adapting poems to song (and vice versa), with examples from his catalog of original songs and poems. Includes readings and song performances. Hosted by The Pensters (A Fairhope Writing Group)
Location: Fairhope Museum of History, 24 N. Section St, Fairhope, AL 36532
Free; open to public; accessible

Southern Writers Reading Reunion
2023-11-18 13:00 - 19:30
Reunion anthology The Best of the Shortest available a block away at Page & Palette! Panels begin at 1:00 pm at Centennial Hall on the campus of Coastal Community College / 450 Fairhope Avenue / 36532. Panel I from 1:00-2:15; Panel II from 3:00-4:15; Rick Bragg and Sonny Brewer from 6:00-7:15. Donations to the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts in lieu of admission. Pictured here: Yours truly (with the anthology), Beth Ann Fennelly (Mississippi), Marlin Barton, Dayne Sherman (Louisiana), James Whorton, Jr. (New York), Patricia Foster (Iowa), and Rick Bragg.

Book Signing and Gathering with Michael Diaz-Griffith
2023-11-19 14:00 - 16:00 | Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House, 601 Riverview Drive, Florence, United States
Florence Arts and Museums is hosting a book signing and gathering with author Michael Diaz-Griffith on Sunday, November 19th, 2023, from 2:00-4:00pm at the Frank Lloyd Wright- Rosenbaum House, 601 Riverview Drive, Florence, AL. Michael will be discussing and signing his latest book, The New Antiquarians: At Home with Young Collectors (Monacelli Press, 2023). The book is available for purchase locally or online. Refreshments and drinks will be available.
Michael Diaz-Griffith is a native of Florence, Alabama. He is a writer, designer, art-world leader, and Executive Director of the Design Leadership Network. Prior to joining DLN, Diaz-Griffith served as Executive Director of the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation and as Associate Executive Director of The Winter Show, America’s most prestigious and longest-running art and antiques fair.
The program is free and is sponsored by the City of Florence Department of Arts and Museums and Books-A-Million. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House is located at 601 Riverview Drive, Florence, AL and is open, Tuesday – Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Call (256) 760-6379 or visit our Florence Arts and Museums website to RSVP.

Open calls for writers and artists
2023-11-28 - 2023-12-31 | Online, NC
Sunspot Lit welcomes art and fiction, nonfiction, poetry, scripts, and graphic novels. The journal accepts genre, commercial, mainstream and literary pieces. Final open calls for 2024 ending soon. Submit at https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit today!

Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center Holiday Market at Auburn University's Pebble Hill
2023-12-02 09:00 - 15:00 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
Make plans to join us now on Saturday, December 2, 2023 at our Annual Holiday Market at Pebble Hill on Auburn University’s campus. Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill
Sponsored by Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities
Date: December 2nd, 2023
Time: 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM
Join the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities and Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center for a special holiday event at Pebble Hill.
The day will include a holiday market, live music, artist demonstrations, and refreshments. The free event is sponsored by Black Belt Treasures Cultural Art Center and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University.
Featured artists:
Andrew McCall
Sarah Cole (Abadir’s)
Betty Anderson
Laura Spencer (Simply Making It)
Claudia Pettway Charley
Mary Virginia Pettway
Lisa Lemler, Carole Bandy Carson
Bud Rogers
Kristin Law
Laura Murray Creative.
About Black Belt Treasures:
Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center is a non-profit organization based in Camden, Alabama. The organization was started with the objective to stimulate the economy in Alabama’s Black Belt region through the sale and promotion of fine arts and heritage crafts, as well as the provision of arts education opportunities

The Best of the Shortest group talk and signing
2023-12-02 15:00 - 16:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Contributors to a fabulous new anthology of Southern writers, titled The Best of the Shortest, will be our guests at a program celebrating the recent release of that book. Suzanne Hudson, co-editor of the volume, along with Marlin “Bart” Barton, Joe Taylor, Jim Gilbert, and others will be our guests, reading from their work. Michael Knight is right about the book when he says, “This collection is quite positively on fire with humor and heartache, darkness and light, and countless blazing turns of phrase.” Come meet the artists and fall in love with short fiction all over again, as we did in shaping this program.

Reading of Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner
2023-12-03 15:00 - 17:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
The best event of Montgomery’s 2023 holiday season may be our one-afternoon-only reading of The Long Christmas Dinner by Thornton Wilder, which John Martello kindly agreed to take on as a project for The NewSouth Bookstore. The little-performed play, short in running length, showcases the lives of several generations of the Bayard family, and some of their Christmas dinners, over a period of nine decades. Wilder breaks the boundaries of time as we measure it, and invites us to partake of “one long, happy Christmas dinner” — past, present and future. As generations appear, have children, wither and depart, only the audience appreciates what changes and what remains the same. This is a masterpiece of twentieth-century theater — a little gem. The reading is directed by John Martello, with Judith Broadway, Rodney Clark, Greta Lambert, Maire Martello, and Greg Thornton in the cast.

The NewSouth Bookstore hosting Ed George with Starlight and Other Stories
2023-12-12 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Author Ed George closes out our 2023 bookstore events season with a reading and talk about his newest book, Starlight and Other Stories. We know George as a poet (and artist/musician). His new book of stories is one of wry reflection, not without gentle humor and surprise. Read aloud, these are most enjoyable. Come congratulate Ed on publication of his latest writing project and hear what he’s been up to, and also meet artist Donna Pate, whose lovely oil painting graces the cover of George’s new book. She will be bringing the original painting, along with some of her other works.

Geminga 2024: $500 for Tiny Fiction, CNF, Poetry, Graphic Novel or Art
2024-01-01 - 2024-02-03 | Online, NC
Sunspot’s Geminga contest offers $500 for Tiny Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, or Art. No restrictions on theme or category. Submissions may be excerpts from longer works. Opening January 1- 31. Entry fee: $12.50. Enter through Submittable: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit/280341/geminga-24-500-for-tiny-fiction-nonfiction-poetry-graphic-novel-or-art or Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/sunspot-literary-journal-LIXJW.

Susan Willis with Shakespeare's First Folio
2024-01-14 15:00 - 17:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
The Bard and his book: The First Folio collected thirty-six of William Shakespeare’s plays, including eighteen that had never been printed before, seven years after his death. Come celebrate the 400th anniversary of its making with Susan Willis, Shakespeare scholar and former resident dramaturg for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF). Willis will make a lively presentation about the iconic work — called the most important secular book of the Western world, typos and all — for your education and merriment. This program has been arranged by The NewSouth Bookstore in collaboration with ASF. Thanks, Layne Holley! Again, that’s Sunday, January 14 at 3pm.

Alexander Heffner Book Talk: "A Documentary History of the United States."
2024-01-17 17:30 - 18:30 | Barnes & Noble at the Summit, 201 Summit Boulevard Suite 100, Birmingham, AL, 35243, United States
Join Alabama Humanities Alliance on January 17 for a book talk and book-signing event with journalist and civic educator Alexander Heffner. Presented by the Alabama Humanities Alliance in partnership with our friends at the David Mathews Center for Civic Life.
Heffner is the host of PBS’ “The Open Mind” and “Breaking Bread with Alexander,” seen on Bloomberg TV. He is also co-editor of “A Documentary History of the United States,” a fascinating collection, and interpretation, of documents that have forged American history.
The book — first published in 1952 by Heffner’s grandfather, the late historian Richard D. Heffner — has been updated by Alexander to include more recent history. The book includes everything from America’s founding documents, Supreme Court decisions, and inaugural addresses to era-defining speeches, letters, poems, debates, and even…tweets.

An Evening with Stacy Willingham: Unveiling Secrets, Twists, and Thrills!
2024-01-18 17:30 - 20:00 | The Haunted Book Shop, 9 S JOACHIM ST, MOBILE, AL, 36602-2707, United States
Prepare for an evening you won’t forget! The Haunted Book Shop is thrilled to host New York Times Bestselling author Stacy Willingham for an in-conversation and to sign her upcoming thriller “Only If You’re Lucky.” If you’ve been captivated by “A Flicker in the Dark” or been on the edge of your seat with “All the Dangerous Things,” you won’t want to miss this!
What’s In Store?
In-conversation: Stacy Willingham will dish with bestselling author Manda Collins about creating and writing the twisty plots, suspenseful scenes, and wicked characters we all love. Limited seating.
Book Signing: Stacy Willingham will be signing copies of her latest thriller, which delves deep into the complexities of female friendship and the dark places envy and loyalty can take you.
Specialty Cocktails: Next door at The Alchemy, enjoy a Stacy Willingham-themed cocktail menu.
Ease Your Wait!
We’ll be using a timed-entry system for the book signing. So instead of tiring while you wait, you’ll have more time to explore and sip on those delicious cocktails!
Purchase of the book equals your ticket to the event.
About the Author
STACY WILLINGHAM is the New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things and Only If You’re Lucky. Her debut, A Flicker in the Dark, was a 2022 finalist for the Book of the Month’s Book of the Year award, Goodreads Choice Best Debut award, Goodreads Choice Best Mystery & Thriller award, and ITW’s Best First Novel award. Her work has been translated in more than thirty languages. Before turning to fiction, she was a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies. She earned her B.A. in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and M.F.A. in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and Labradoodle, Mako.
Tickets are limited. Purchase your book (and your ticket!) now to secure your spot in an evening of mystery, suspense, and literary delight!
Looking forward to seeing you there!

Third Thursday Poetry Series featuring Virginia Poet Jim Peterson
2024-01-18 18:30 - 20:30 | Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, 101 S. Debardeleben St., Auburn, AL, 36849-5637, United States
The next Third Thursday Poetry reading, featuring Virginia poet Jim Peterson, will be at 6:30 p.m., on January 18, at the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities on Debardeleben Street in Auburn (Pebble Hill). Open bar and hors d’oeuvres available beginning at 6 p.m. Prior to Jim’s reading, there will be a brief open mic session for local poets.
The Third Thursday Poetry Series is supported by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center, the Auburn University Department of English, OLLI at Auburn University, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Burgin Mathews with Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America
2024-01-21 15:00 - 17:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Burgin Mathews is our special guest on Sunday, January 21 at 3pm with his new book, Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America. Mathews is a multitalented writer, educator, and creator of the popular radio show, The Lost Child, which showcases a wide range of downhome roots music: rhythm and blues, classic country, Southern soul, gospel, and rockabilly, to name just a few. It’s no surprise then that his new book authoritatively and engagingly recounts Birmingham’s distinctive jazz heritage. Tune in to his talk about it at The NewSouth Bookstore.

Howell Raines and Silent Cavalry at Alabama Booksmith
2024-01-24 17:00 - 18:00 | Alabama Booksmith, 2626 19th Pl S Homewood, AL, 35209, 2626 19th Pl S, Homewood, AL, 35209, United States
SILENT CAVALRY: HOW UNION SOLDIERS FROM ALABAMA HELPED SHERMAN BURN ATLANTA AND THEN GOT WRITTEN OUT OF HISTORY finally sets the record straight after Lost Cause historians distorted what really happened. This veteran Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former executive editor of The New York Times has written an epic story that took him six decades.
You may purchase signed first editions of SILENT CAVALRY (36.00) to pick up at the event, at the store later, or have them carefully wrapped and mailed worldwide from the Alabama Booksmith website.
