5 Poets to Co-Host Bards & Brews Poetry Slam on November 5
When: Friday, November 5, 2021, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Where: Central Library Grand Reading Room, 2100 Park Place, Birmingham, AL, 35203
Details: 10 talented spoken word artists will compete for a $300 grand prize in BPL's Bards & Brews poetry slam. For more information, call Bards & Brews Creative Director Candice Hardy at (205) 925-6178.
Birmingham, Ala. - Five veteran poets will co-host this Friday's Bards & Brews Poetry Slam, in which some of Alabama's most talented spoken word artists will compete for a grand prize of $300 live at the Central Library in downtown Birmingham.
All five of the co-hosts - Jahman Hill, Lee Green, K Lovell Spencer, Caleb Calhoun, and Jamil Glenn - say the late Bards emcee Brian "Voice Porter" Hawkins - was a personal mentor who inspired them to share their talents through Bards & Brews. Voice Porter, who had been a part of Bards & Brews since the Birmingham Public Library founded the event 11 years ago, died at age 42 on August 25. His unexpected death devastated many who admired Voice Porter's passionate support for the arts community as well as his powerful oratorical skills as a spoken word artist.
A poetry slam is a competition using elimination rounds in which individuals perform their own original poetry before an audience of volunteer judges chosen from the audience. During the Friday, November 5 Bards & Brews poetry slam, the 10 poets will compete to advance through four rounds of competition centering on four specific themes -Joy, Pain, Music and Love.
Poets interested in participating in the Bards & Brews Poetry Slam should arrive early as there are only 10 spaces available in the competition. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. in the Central Library, 2100 Park Place. Admission is free and masks are encouraged.
Bards & Brews is sponsored by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit www.cobpl.org or call Bards & Brews Creative Director Candice Hardy at (205) 925-6178.
Meet each of the five poets serving as Bards & Brews Poetry Slam co-hosts by clicking below:
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| Jahman Hill |
Jahman Hill is a creative talent and poet based in Birmingham. As an artist, Hill has created an award-winning film, "Vanderwaal's Journey." The Black sci-fi/horror short film follows a young man from Ensley as he battles both COVID-19 and gentrification (check out the Birmingham Times feature on the film by clicking here). In 2019, Hill created/starred in an award-winning off-Broadway one man show, "Black Enough."
Hill claimed the title of the third-best slam poet in the world in 2018. After the pandemic struck, Hill founded Poetry University to offer online poetry classes. He is the executive director of Flourish Alabama, an organization he co-founded with Eric Marable to help young artists bloom. Hill is an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama.
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| Lee Green |
A longtime supporter of the Birmingham Public Library, Lee Green has shared his poetic gifts at Bards & Brews since Voice Porter encouraged him to participate in 2009, and has served on its board since 2016. Green performed for many years in various Birmingham area community theater venues and serves on the Theatre Downtown board. Green and his talented wife, Delaine, a graphic artist and visual artist, love spending time with their Golden Retriever, Britain.
Green wants to dedicate his performance and co-hosting of Friday's Bards & Brews Poetry Slam to the memory of his great friend, inspiration, artist, and heart and soul of Bards & Brews Voice Porter.
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| Caleb Calhoun |
Caleb Calhoun is an author, poet and journalist who has spent his entire adult life living in and writing about the Southeast. Since moving to Birmingham in April 2021, Calhoun has stepped into a leadership role with Bards & Brews and has shared the stage with such Birmingham creative stalwarts Ashley M. Jones (Alabama's first black poet laureate), Jahman Hill, Davis Little, Early James, and The StepDads. He is a founder of the Asheville Slam Poetry Team and a member of the Blake Gallant's Motion and Matter, a debut album that features a three-piece horn ensemble and spoken word by Calhoun. The creator and publisher of "Get on the Bus," an interview series filmed on location in an RV in Ashville, N.C.,
Calhoun is also the director of Humans and Poetry an online version of a poetry slam based in Ashville, N.C. Calhoun's writings have been published more than 450 times in magazines and periodicals ranging from Grow Magazine to Urban Climber. He will be recording his first album of poems at The Studio Nashville on November 15 this year. Calhoun was recently hired as a Library Assistant II at BPL's Powderly Branch Library, where he can feed his addiction to the written word in peace.
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| K. Lovell |
Since returning to Birmingham a few years ago, K. Lovell Spencer has pursued his renewed interests in poetry, art and music. As a former college mathematics professor at Miles College, Talladega College, Lawson State and Pensacola State, his students often applauded the lectures and demonstrations about the "marriage" of mathematics and music. K. Lovell often refers to the engagement with other artists and audiences - in any capacity - as "therapy."
This winter, K. Lovell plans to publish a book of poetry and lyrics including some of his original illustrations (he is also a talented painter). He will also complete his first album of "unobtrusive music" around the same time. Simultaneously, K. Lovell has again fallen in love with art - and with Birmingham.
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| Jamil Glenn |
Jamil Glenn - also known as "B'Ham's Poet," "Poet Jamil" or "The Peoples Poet" - is a creative artist from Birmingham. Poet Jamil recently self-published his first book of poetry, I am Birmingham: The Peoples Poet. He is currently self-engineering his own spoken word singles, EPs and albums. Glenn is a professional photographer, and is currently working on a history book project that will highlight and capture the creative community in a more definitive way.
Glenn is also the president of the nonprofit organization Momentous, Inc., which aims to create accountability among boys and men. Momentous aims to unite the young men, adolescents and grandfathers in the inner-city through community events, activities, conferences, and creative arts to build relationships and encourage accountability among each other as brothers.
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