Magic City Poetry Festival launches inaugural event week of April 2-7

For Birmingham native Ashley M. Jones, poetry isn’t just a cute arrangement of words or a demonstration of how she can play with language – it’s indispensable conversation.

“So often, artists are seen as optional, but art is essential to our survival and our prosperity as a society. Artists tell our stories, and they preserve said stories for future generations,” Jones said.

Although the Magic City Poetry Festival founding director said she’s been part of the creative writing community since she was 12 years old, Jones said her involvement didn’t start in earnest until she got back to Birmingham in 2015 after receiving her master’s in poetry at Florida International University as a James L. Knight Foundation Fellow.

Since then, she’s been locally involved in the Nitty Gritty Magic City Reading Series, the Sister City Connection, Real Life Poets and with the Desert Island Supply Company. Now, creating Birmingham’s first poetry festival is part of that list.

The Magic City Poetry Festival, which is free and open to the public, will be a weeklong celebration of Birmingham poetry at various locations from April 2-7.

“When I encounter or write a poem, I feel a certain spirit, a certain magic, and I want all Birminghamians to feel that. I also want to be a part of the movement to value artists in Birmingham,” and all over the world, Jones said.

Currently, she is also a faculty member of the creative writing department at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, as well as a newly published author to her poetry book, “Magic City Gospel,” which was published in January 2017 and is described by her as a love song to the city of Birmingham.

Jones said she has met and gotten to know many talented local poets in Birmingham and she wanted them to have an opportunity to showcase their work and let locals get to know them.

“Birmingham deserves every good thing — a poetry festival is just one small way I can give back to my home city and add to its arts and culture scene,” Jones said.

Jones said there are four events planned for the Magic City Poetry Festival:

► April 2: Opening Mixer/Open Mic at Studio 2500, 6 p.m.

The event is meant to kick off the week’s events and serve as a showcase for local poets. The poets include L. Lamar Wilson, Lauren Goodwin Slaughter, Laura Secord, Alina Stefanescu and two poets from Real Life Poets, Inc.

► April 4: Keynote event at the Civil Rights Institute, 6 p.m.

The main event, Jones said, will commemorate the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, in addition to serving as a bridge between literature and activism. Poets Kiese Laymon and Jacqueline Trimble will share work and discuss race and progress in the South. This portion is funded by PEN America’s Press Freedom Incentive.

► April 5: Open Mic at Naked Art Gallery, 6 p.m.

Sponsored by the Alabama State Poetry Foundation, Jones said this event invites locals to read and listen to new work.

► April 7: Community Poetry Showcase at Desert Island Supply Company, 3 p.m.

Community Poetry Showcase at Desert Island Supply Company: The final event will feature Alabama State Poet Laureate Jennifer Horne, as well as Katherine Webb-Hehn, Maria Vargas, Kwoya Fagin Maples, Tina Mozelle Braziel, Jason McCall and two youth poets from the Woodlawn Writers Corps.

All events will feature snacks and coffee provided by Church Street Coffee and Books, Jones said, and the festival will curate a poetry bookshelf in-store.

There will also be remote viewings in Huntsville with Out Loud HSV and in Tuscaloosa with the University of Alabama MFA programs, and the keynote event will stream them live so that they can participate and ask questions.

Jones hopes for the festival to become an annual event and continue to grow after this year, until it fills the whole month of April with poetry-related events.

“We can be as literarily ‘hopping’ as Miami, as New York — all we need are the programs and resources, and I’m hopeful that I can be a part of that effort,” Jones said.

To learn more, go to facebook.com/magiccitypoetryfestival.