Bards & Brews Open Mic Poetry Performance Scheduled for March 3 at Central Library

Poet Blaque Diamond took the stage at the February All Star Show

What:  Bards & Brews Open Mic Poetry Performance/Beer Tasting
When:  Friday, March 3, 2017. Music by George Griffin begins at 6:30 p.m., poetry at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Central Library, Fiction Department, 1st floor
Details: Free and open to the public. Attendees must be at least 18 to enter and 21 to participate—ID is required.
How to Donate: Call Brandon C. Smith at 205-591-4944. Donations are being accepted at the door, online at www.bplonline.org/about/contributions/ or by mail at The Birmingham Public Library, Development Department, 2100 Park Place, Birmingham, AL 35203.

The Birmingham Public Library will host its popular spoken word event Bards & Brews March 3 at the Central Library. This event, designed to raise funds to help keep Bards & Brews alive, will be open mic, allowing both novice and veteran poets to sign up to share their spoken word talent.

Like the February 3 Bards & Brews All-Star event that featured a lineup of past winners, donations will be accepted at the door or online for the March 3 Bards & Brews. Beer tasting will be available courtesy of Grayton Beer Company of South Walton County, Florida, and The J. Clyde will be serving the beer. Blues guitarist George Griffin will provide musical entertainment beginning at 6:30 p.m., with poetry beginning to flow at 7:00 p.m. with poet Brian “Voice Porter” Hawkins serving as host.

Hawkins is among several poets and community supporters helping BPL staff raise money for the popular spoken word event. A grant that funded Bards & Brews for six years has run out, and BPL is in need of the public’s help to keep the monthly program going, Hawkins said.

The public can make donations to support Bards & Brews at www.bplonline.org/about/contributions/ or send donations to Birmingham Public Library, Development Department, 2100 Park Place, Birmingham, AL 35203. For more information about Bards & Brews, call Brandon C. Smith of the Eastwood Branch Library at 205-591-4944 or email him at bcsmith@bham.lib.al.us.

Follow Bards & Brews on Facebook and look for more news on fundraising efforts on the BPL website at http://www.bplonline.org/programs/BardsBrews.aspx.

Read more about the effort to raise funds for Bards & Brews at the link below that ran in the Birmingham Times: https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2017/02/bards-brews-poets-urge-public-to-support-librarys-popular-spoken-word-event/.