UA’s Slash Pine Poetry Festival to Feature Readings

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — More than two dozen writers will read from their work during the Slash Pine Poetry Festival Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12, in venues at The University of Alabama and in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The events are free and open to the public.

Among the writers reading at the festival are Sean Patrick Hill and Shane Seely, winners of the Slash Pine Poetry Chapbook Contest.

Also featured are Sean Sexton, author of “The Empty Tomb” (Slash Pine Press, 2013), as well as local writers including Jason McCall, winner of the 2012 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize; Joseph P. Wood, managing editor for Noemi Press; and Dr. Norman Golar, chair of the Stillman College English department.

“The festival mirrors most closely what we do at our press and in our internship program: foster and promote the work of rising writers at all levels, from those who are engaged in undergraduate creative writing programs to those published by nationally significant presses,” said Patti White, director of Slash Pine Press.

“We want to invite everyone in the community to join us as we celebrate the way words bind us together, not only intellectually but in deep and lasting ways that alter the way we see the world,” White said.

The first Slash Pine reading will be at 4 p.m. Friday, April 11, on the lawn in front of UA’s Gorgas House. The reading will feature UA undergraduates Jordan DeWitt, Amber Smith, Mathew Pereda, Katherine Kosich, Kasey Jowers, Katy-Whitten Davidson and Lily Daly.

At 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Slash Pine Interns will host “Interrobang: Slash Pine Presents Literary Trivia” at the Druid City Brewing Co.

The first reading Saturday, April 12 will be at 10:30am, at the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum. It will feature Joseph P. Wood, Shane Seely, Katy Rossing, Abby Melton, Carlos Estrada, Freya Gibbon, Kathryn Starbuck and Will Gillette.

The second reading Saturday will be at 2:30 p.m. at the Green Bar, 2350 Fourth St. in Tuscaloosa. Featured authors will be Sean Patrick Hill, Jeff Newberry, Alex Chisum, Norman Golar, Scott McWaters, Sally Rodgers, Jenifer Park and Alexandra Franklin.

The final reading will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Grace Aberdean Habitat Alchemy, 2124 Ninth St. in Tuscaloosa and will feature Jenny Gropp Hess, Nathan Parker, Jason McCall, Ashley Chambers, Stephen Thomas, Sean Sexton, Kori Hensell, Stephen McClurg and Phillip Spotswood.

For more details, go to http://slashpinepress.com/ or contact Slash Pine staff members Patti White at patti.white@ua.edu or Abe Smith at smith248@as.ua.edu

Founded in 2009, Slash Pine Press publishes chapbooks of poetry and mixed-genre work. Slash Pine Press is housed in UA’s English department, part of The College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.

Support for the Slash Pine festival comes from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, The Alabama Writers Forum, Creative Campus, department of English, the Creative Writing Program, The UA College of Arts and Sciences and the UA Office of the Provost.