“.. even after April by God there is no excuse for May,” which is to say, it doesn’t have to be National Poetry month for we Weeklies to be psyched about poems and the people that make them. To wit: we’re as-a-clam happy about the Premiere Open Mic event on Friday, May 9, at Greencup Books. Read the full story

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In their Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Race Beat, journalists Hank Klibanoff and Gene Roberts interviewed the journalists that covered the Civil Rights Movement to reveal how they responded (slowly at first) to the desegregation of the South. They also use private correspondence and unpublished articles to show how the media didn’t respond. The full picture captures one of the most exciting, controversial, and thrilling times in American history through the eyes of the reporters who were there. To hear a bit about this book from one of the authors, Hank Klibanoff, come to the Birmingham Civil Rights Insitute, Wednesday, April 23.

The Alabama native and managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will be signing books at 5:30 p.m. and speaking at 6 p.m.

For more information or to RSVP call 948-5429, or e-mail bobbijogrady@yahoo.com, or visit www.alabamabooksmith.com.

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Happily for us, the author of The Well and The Mine has had quite a few bylines in Birmingham Weekly. And as proud as we’ve been to have Gin Phillips on the masthead, it was far more thrilling to run her name on the cover last week, announcing the publication of her debut novel..

You can read an excerpt from the first chapter on the Birmingham Weekly website.

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For some time the man who helped bring Birmingham’s park plan into fruition was unknown, his letters lost in the many collections of the Library of Congress. But now, The Birmingham Historical Society is celebrating the publication of Hand Down Unharmed, a collection of letters and materials that explain the genesis of the Birmingham park system in the words of those who did it. Tonight the Historical Society will have their annual meeting, which is open to the public. The meeting will feature a short talk by co-editors of Hand Down Unharmed, Katie Tipton and Marjorie White, on “The Man Who Brought Olmsted to Birmingham.” Tipton and White’s talk will explain how timber trader and Maryland native M. P. Phillips recruited the most talented and successful park designers in America to design Birmingham’s park system. The Olmsted Brother’s firm was responsible for the beautiful park systems of major cities like Boston, Baltimore, Seattle and Chicago. In addition to his work with the parks, Phillips arranged to donate his fortune to Birmingham-Southern College before his death in 1925.
To find out more about one of Birmingham’s first open spaces advocates come out the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Auditorium tonight, February 19th, at 7:30 p.m.

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Halleleujah, I am happy to hear about the advent of Greencup Books. Scheduled to open on Feb. 15, Greencup is the brainchild of once-and-future Weekly contributing writer Russell Helms: a community space located downtown whose explicit mission is “to propogate CREATIVITY.”

Besides selling new and used (!!) books, Greencup will offer eight-week writing and art classes year-round and provide a venue for art openings, yoga classes, community meetings, readings and other literary events.

Located at 105 Richard Arrington Blvd. South (right next door to Bare Hands Gallery) Greencup will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Events already on the bookstore’s calendar include a Feb. 8 reading and release party for Stories from Real Life, a collection of short fiction by Tony Crunk paired with art by Peter Wilm. Feb. 13 marks the start of two eight-week courses being taught at Greencup: “Writing the Memoir” with Tony Crunk and “Publish Your Book” with Russell Helms.

Learn more at www.greencupbooks.com

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