Alabama Literature

The public library in Fairhope, Alabama has found itself in the crosshairs of battles over library content. The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Trustees voted Thursday to withhold state funding from the library. The action came after complaints from conservative parents about books in the teen section.

The Alabama Writers Hall of Fame is set to induct eight authors on March 7. The Hall of Fame was created in 2014 through a partnership between the Alabama Center for the Book and the Alabama Writers' Forum.

This story is about first impressions, dispelling stereotypes, and a smidge about politics. That is to say, how one overseas traveler views Alabama and the US. Last month, Croatian writer and radio producer Tomica Šćavina traveled more than five thousand miles to settle into the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts’ brief residency program

The Auburn Public Library will host several local authors on select Saturdays this fall. Each event is open to the public, and books will be available for purchase and signing. The series starts on Sept. 28.

The child literacy nonprofit Reach Out and Read Alabama is celebrating 15 years in a big way. The organization's Rx for Summer Reading campaign is wrapping up providing access to books for kids and families across the state through doctors and pediatricians.

Literacy, writing and spoken word are being promoted in Birmingham through a new initiative. The 2024 Summer Poet Fellowship is running through the summer months in the Magic City.

Red Rook Press is a student led press based out of the University of Alabama. They are in their second year and will be releasing a novel, a poetry book, and a republication of a novel from last year. Joe Moody reports on its origins and what makes this little independent press so unique.

In April 2024, The University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies will award a $15,200 in new, free books to elementary and high school libraries in Alabama via the SLIS Book Bonanza for the Black Belt & Beyond Program.

The City of Birmingham’s Poet Laureate Salaam Green will host a public reading of her new chapbook, “Once Upon a Magic City,” in honor of April’s Poetry Month. The free event will take place on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the Birmingham Public Library.

Book donations for schools in the thirteen counties along the Black Belt region in Alabama are in the final week of collections. The 18th annual Books for the Black Belt campaign wraps up on Friday, March 1