Magic City Reading Series Gatherings Scheduled for January, February, and March

When I think about how poets see in ways that help people belong, I recall this quote from my first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other:

Poets see more clearly the spaces that terrify us, and they are more equipped (or perhaps just more willing) to enter those spaces. Anna Kamienska, Audre Lorde, Dionisio D. Martínez, Max Ritvo—they have framed loneliness loneliness with nouns and verbs and rhyme and meter. Their poems give us language for the haunting elements of unbelonging that we are unable to put words around on our own. Their poems open us up to truths we would rather turn away from, to truths we wish were false.

And when I think about what it means to belong to Birmingham, my mind often turns to Birmingham poets whom we’ve placed at the center of Belonging through Art’s new initiative—the Magic City Reading Series.

Our first three Magic City Reading Series gatherings will be on January 9, February 13, and March 13 from 6:30-8 p.m. at a private home in the Cahaba Heights area.

Each Magic City Reading Series gathering will highlight a trio of Birmingham-based poets, their poems, and a facilitated conversation about how poetry helps us belong to this place, its people, its history, and its things.

Registration, schedule, and poet lineup coming soon.

The Magic City Reading Series is presented by Belonging through Art. Our featured partners are Birmingham Poet Laureate, Salaam Green, and Magic City Poetry Festival. Our additional partners are Church Street Coffee & Books, Laura Secord, and Tania De’Shawn.

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Want another way to celebrate poetry in Birmingham?
Donate to Magic City Poetry Festival here to support MCFP 2025 events and efforts.

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Many thanks to all of our partners and participating poets for helping make these gatherings happen.