Alabama Bound 2009

Forward, march! March 28th, 2009 is the time to join us at Birmingham Public Library for Alabama Bound!, a celebration of books and authors with Alabama connections. This event is free and open to the public, so double-time down to the library, meet and mingle with our authors, and hear all the news about their latest and future books.

This year the Alabama Bound! ranks include the former mayor of Birmingham, Richard Arrington, the author of There’s Hope for the World: the Memoir of Birmingham, Alabama’s First African-American Mayor. Horror fans will be pleased to welcome back another Birmingham resident, Robert McCammon (Queen of Bedlam) and poetry lovers will turn out for Sonia Sanchez (Homegirls and Handgrenades).

This is only a small sample of the diverse offerings at this Alabama Bound! event. With the recent popularity of graphic novels, we are pleased to feature Scott O. Brown, whose Atlantis Rising has been optioned by DreamWorks for a live action film, along with Cody Miller (Youth Defenders) and Mark Waid (Brave and the Bold), Editor in Chief at Boom! Studios.

As an event for all ages, Alabama Bound! features excellent choices for young readers. Local poet Charles Ghigna, AKA “Father Goose,” will be on hand with Snow Wonder. Fans of Young Adult fiction will not want to miss In the Company of Owls, the latest novel from Peter Huggins, or The Pledge by Chandra Sparks-Taylor.

Adult fiction will also be well-represented at this year’s gathering. Fans of mainstream fiction will relish The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips, and followers of Christian fiction will want front-row seats for Vanessa Davis Griggs (If Memory Serves). If the March weather is icy, Mary Monroe should generate plenty of steam heat with She Had It Coming, but readers who prefer the cold can visit with mystery writer Thomas Lakeman (Chillwater Cove) for shivers and thrills.

Attendees who prefer non-fiction will be riveted by Melissa J. Delbridge and her autobiography Family Bible, an account of her Southern childhood that is by turns heartbreaking and humorous. Political science devotees will want to examine the latest thoughts on the JFK assassination from James W. Douglass (JFK and the Unspeakable). Local history fans will welcome another venture into nostalgia from Birmingham author Tim Hollis (Selling the Sunshine State), and researchers pursuing their own family history can pick up pointers from Frazine Taylor (Researching African-American Genealogy in Alabama). Lovers of the great outdoors will want to come inside for at least long enough to meet with Floyd Edwin “Ed” Mashburn (Fishing Alabama) for updates on the best fishing spots in the state.

Alabama Bound! will also welcome representatives from the book and magazine industry who will be on hand to discuss their publication and submission guidelines, as well as various writers’ groups from throughout the state. Past attendees include Birmingham Magazine, Birmingham Arts Journal, Alabama Media Professionals, Alabama Writers’ Forum, Women Writing for (a) Change, and many others.

All Alabama Bound! activities and presentations will take place on the first floor of the Central Library. BPL staff will be operating the Atrium Café and attendees are encouraged to visit the book sale area. So march right over and mark your spring calendar now for Alabama Bound! at the Birmingham Public Library from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 28th. For all the latest news and updates, please visit our website at http://www.alabamabound.org/