The Alabama Center for Literary Arts is located at Alabama Southern Community College in Monroeville, and since 1998 it has been home to the annual Alabama Writers Symposium.   Above is the beautiful fountain on the campus and inscribed on front is, "Monroeville Writers Fountain."

The Symposium brings together many of Alabama's most distinguished writers and scholars for a weekend of readings, lectures and discussions that combine the best elements of a literary festival and an academic conference.

At an awards luncheon, best selling and critically acclaimed author of Southern non-fiction Rick Bragg was presented with the Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer 2009.

Rick also spoke on Saturday morning in the courtroom of the historic Old Courthouse.  As always, he's a delight to listen to---combining his humor, sensitivity and deep love for the south and his working class people. 

Another author I very much enjoyed was Ravi Howard.  Winner of numerous prestigious writing awards, Howard wrote the novel, Like Trees, Walking.......a fictionalized account of a true story, the 1981 lynching of a black teenager in Mobile, Alabama.  In the photo below, Howard is on the left, being interviewed by moderator and scholar, Alan Brown.

The next author is Gin Phillips, a freelance writer who lives in Birmingham.  The Well and the Mine is her first novel and it was named a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and has received the 2009 Alabama Library Association's Award for Fiction.  I did purchase her book.  It looks very good and after I read it, I'll post about it here.  Phillips is on the left in the following photo, reading from her novel, and the moderator and scholar is Nancy Anderson.

An author I was very excited about meeting was Carolyn Haines.  My good friend, Carol Murdock over at the blog, The Writers Porch, is friends with Carolyn and told her I was also going to be at the Symposium.  Carolyn was only present on Saturday as a keynote speaker at the brunch and told Carol to tell me to be sure to come up and introduce myself.  I had also purchased her book, Wishbones, and wanted her to sign it for me, which she did.

Carolyn is the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence.  Her latest novel, Wishbones, is the 8th in the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series, which is set in the Mississippi Delta.  Greedy Bones, the ninth in the series, will be released this summer.

Carolyn was a delight to meet!  Extremely friendly and personable.  I liked her immediately.  We chatted about her twenty-one animals.....yes, 21!  Horses, cats, dogs and some were rescued from Hurricane Katrina.  Huge animal lover that I am.....Anyone who would have and love 21 animals is a good person, with a good heart.  She was presented with a gorgeous framed poster depicting Monroeville as the Literary Capital of Alabama.  Here's Carolyn with the President of the college, Dr. Johnson.

After we chatted and she signed my book, we even managed to get a photo together.  And you can visit Carolyn's website at her Official Mississippi Delta Website, so pay her a visit.

These were just some of the authors present, but the highlights of what I wanted to share with you.

Join me here next time and I'll tell you all about that incredible community theater production of To Kill A Mockingbird...............