2025 BPL Local Authors Expo Spotlight: Discover the Magic of Moonlight Ridge with Ramey Channell

 

Magic, Mystery, and Moonlight Ridge: Meet Alabama Author Ramey Channell

Leeds resident Ramey Channell caught the “writing bug” in elementary school, penning imaginative tales about a rabbit and a fairy in fourth grade, a “wild west” adventure in fifth grade, and an epic poem about a dodo bird in sixth grade. Today, a retired librarian, Ramey has written four books, including two in 2021: The Treasure of Moonlight Ridge (the third installment in her Alabama fiction Moonlight Ridge series) and the children’s picture book Mice From the Planet Zimlac.

Come meet Ramey Channell at the Birmingham Public Library 2025 Local Authors Expo, presented by the Tri-County (Alabama) Chapter of The Links, Inc. on Saturday, November 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Central Library in downtown Birmingham, 2100 Park Place. She will join 30 authors from across Alabama sharing their books, stories, and creative journeys. This year's theme is "Local to Global." 

Follow the Local Authors Expo on the BPL website as well as our BPL Facebook page for more information.

An award-winning poet and author, Ramey’s work has appeared in Aura Literary Arts Review, Alalitcom, Birmingham Arts Journal, Ordinary and Sacred as Blood: Alabama Women Speak (1999), Belles’ Letters 2: Contemporary Stories by Alabama Women (2017), and many other journals and collections. She has received the Barksdale-Maynard Award for Creative Writing, the Thomas Brown Award for Poetry, and numerous honors from the Alabama State Poetry Society.

Ramey, who has two adult daughters and a grandson, retired from Leeds Library in 2019 after previously working at Springville Road Regional Library in Birmingham and Irondale Public Library. She attended Bellarmine University in Kentucky before majoring in art at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Learn more about Ramey Channell in this Q&A with the Birmingham Public Library.

What inspired you to start writing?

Ramey: I knew at a very early age that I wanted to be a writer. In elementary school, I wrote poems and stories inspired by the people and places around me. My mother and grandmother were avid readers, and hearing them talk about books fueled my own desire to write. I had work published in my high school literary magazine, VOX, and my first national publication was a poem in National Scholastic Magazine at age 20. I’ve been working at it ever since.

Can you tell us a little about your latest book?

Ramey: The Moonlight Ridge series is Southern fiction, blending fact and fiction drawn from my childhood and family stories. Set in the 1950s Alabama backwoods and a small town called Eden (which locals recognize as Leeds), the stories follow young protagonists Lily Claire and her “twin” cousin Willie T. as they explore the woods, encountering mystery, magic, and occasional danger.

In the latest book, The Treasure of Moonlight Ridge, a half-frozen stranger appears during an unusually harsh winter, and a mysterious message from the past sets off a chain of intrigue, danger, kidnappers, mishaps, and a search for ancient treasure.

How has your experience as an Alabama author shaped your voice or storytelling?

Ramey: Writing about the places and people I know best is both easy and enjoyable. Alabama is rich in folklore, wisdom, and unexpected stories. Living near forests, isolated woodlands, and country communities steeped in unexplainable events naturally shaped my writing with elements of magic, beauty, and mystery. As Lily Claire says, “We have always lived with ghosts on Moonlight Ridge.” Magical realism is just part of life here, and my stories reflect that.

If you could share one message from your book with the world, what would it be?

Ramey: There is magic all around us, all the time. You don’t have to imagine it. It happens naturally in the world and in our lives.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring writers?

Ramey: Try to write something as good as the books, stories, and poetry that inspired you to write. Brad Watson encouraged me early on with this advice during my first book, Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge. I’ve also learned: “Write what you’re afraid to write.” Some passages I thought no one would believe turned out to be the most defining parts of my series.

Where can readers find your books?
Ramey: Readers can find my books on Amazon.