BPL To Start Hosting Monthly Adult Poetry Classes

Award-winning poet and community activist John Paul Taylor will lead free adult poetry workshops on the first Tuesday of every month through November 2012 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Gifts of a Wordsmith will take place on the library's second floor in the Story Castle.

The class will cover how to get your thoughts down on paper, overcoming writer's block, copyright issues, self-publishing, how to perform, and more. Future classes will be held the first Tuesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. at the Central Library. The Friends of the Birmingham Public Library will fund the workshops.

Taylor is one of the founders of Real Life Poets, a nonprofit creative writing program based in Birmingham. This summer he presented two workshops as part of BPL's adult summer reading program. Participants enjoyed the adult classes so much that they wanted to see them continue.

"We offered it this summer and the people wanted it back. That's why I wanted to do it,'' Taylor said. "We know it works. But it's cool when your community says, 'This is valuable.' ''

Some of the participants from this summer's adult poetry class will join Taylor and a diverse group of poets in performing at Railroad Park on Sunday, August 26, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., as part of "Flow Tactics on the Tracks,'' a free poetry and music event. Different community vendors, including BPL, will be present. Taylor also teaches a youth poetry class on the first Saturday of every month, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., at the Central Library.

For more information on the adult poetry class, contact Taylor at johnpaul@reallifepoets.org or 205-585-8271. The Real Life Poets website is www.reallifepoets.org. The BPL contact is Haruyo Miyagawa, 205-226-3670. Her email address is hm@bham.lib.al.us.