Announcing the 2022 AWC Conference
On the final weekend of August, the Alabama Writers’ Cooperative will partner with the O’Neal Library in Mountain Brook, Alabama, to host the venerable literary organization’s first in-person annual conference since 2019. Conference activities will begin on Friday, August 26, and end on Sunday, August 28, with most events taking place at the library.
The conference’s keynote speaker, Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones, will present a talk entitled “Poetry as a Path to Reparations: The Role of Art in the Justice Struggle.” Winners of the AWC’s annual literary contest will be announced at the awards banquet on Saturday evening, following the keynote address.
Jones, whose most recent collection of poetry is Reparations Now!, was selected unanimously by the AWC membership at last year’s virtual conference to serve as Alabama’s thirteenth poet laureate. Jones says that, for her, the personal and the political always intersect. With that in mind, her hybrid lecture and poetry reading will examine the ways art is a necessity in any struggle for freedom, whether individual or societal. “The ideas of ‘justice’ and ‘reparations’ are sometimes abstract and difficult to tangibly conceptualize,” she says. “Through my life, however, art—poetry in particular—has opened a door to my own self-esteem, cultural pride, and passion for social justice.” AWC president TJ Beitelman says the organization considers Jones’s keynote address at this year’s event as a way to publically celebrate her historic appointment last year as the first Person of Color and the youngest person to ever hold this position in Alabama. “Ashley embodies everything that is good and hopeful about the literary arts in this state. We’re lucky to have her as an ambassador, and we’re very much looking forward to her keynote address.”
Another highlight of this year’s conference will be a panel discussion celebrating the life and work of renowned naturalist, author, and Alabama native E.O. Wilson, who passed away late last year. Moderated by UAB researcher Maggie Amsler, distinguished panelists Dr. James McClintock (UAB), Dr. R. Scot Duncan (Birmingham-Southern), Alabama Poet Laureate emerita Sue Brannan Walker (University of South Alabama), and Jimmy Stiles (Auburn) will discuss Wilson’s legacy as both a scientist and as a writer.
Other featured faculty in this year’s conference are former Alabama Poet Laureate Jennifer Horne; Don Noble, host of Alabama Public Television’s “Bookmark;” decorated poet and director of UAB’s Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop, Tina Braziel; and recent NEA Fellowship-winner and director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, Charlotte Pence.
In addition, panels and talks will cover topics as diverse as writing for television and film; writing about the natural world; and writing horror fiction. AWC members who register for the conference will also have the opportunity to pitch book concepts to literary agents and to submit samples of their original works in progress for free manuscript consultations with working writers and editors.
Established in 1923, AWC is one of the longest-standing writers’ organizations in the United States. Its mission is to nurture and engage a diverse community of Alabama writers, and its annual conference is its primary means of fulfilling that mission for writers and poets across Alabama and beyond. Since 1931, it has also been the organization responsible for selecting the state’s Poet Laureate.
For more information and to register for the AWC Annual Conference, visit https://alabamawriterscooperative.org/2022-conference.
Questions should be directed to AWC Conference Chair JJ Jones at jjsayspoetryplz@me.com.