Birmingham Botanical Gardens to Host Shakespeare-Inspired Bards & Brews Open Mic Event, May 2

A performance gets judged at April's SLAM! at Vestavia Hills Library.

The Birmingham Public Library’s monthly Bards & Brews poetry performance and beer tasting will be held on Friday, May 2, 2014, at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, 2612 Lane Park Road. The open mic night will feature music by Michael “Loose” Cannon at 6:30 p.m., with poetry starting at 7:00 pm. Cahaba Brewing Company will provide the beer tasting.

The event will celebrate William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday. Guests are encouraged to share their favorite Shakespearean sonnet or lines from his plays, or their own verses inspired by Shakespeare.

Brian “Voice Porter” Hawkins will emcee the event, which is free and open to the public. Attendees must be 18 years or older to attend, and 21 years or older to be served. IDs will be checked.

Also, Birmingham-area student participants in the library's Teen Poetry Initiative will be performing at halftime to raise money and awareness to send a team to the Brave New Voices, International Youth Poetry Slam in Philadelphia in July.

Bards & Brews, which is made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, is usually held on the first Friday of the month at various locations around Birmingham. For more information, call 205-226-3670, send emails to hm@bham.lib.al.us,  or visit the Bards & Brews Facebook page.