The Alabama Writers’ Forum
The Alabama Writers’ Forum, a partnership program of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, works to cultivate our state’s literary culture. We do that through supporting writers at all stages. We encourage our young writers to find their creative voice through the Father Goose Poetry Festival for Kids!–and through our Alabama High School Literary Arts Awards. We support the work of our state’s literary community through our Alabama Authors Directory, First Draft magazine, and other programming and opportunities for writers across the state. And we celebrate our state’s rich literary legacy through the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame. We are, above all, a community of writers united by our desire to advance the literary arts in Alabama. If that describes you — join us! There are many ways to get involved.
Be Not Afraid
Be Not Afraid: A Southern Journey Through Law, Liberty, and Civil Rights By Jack Drake The University of Alabama Press; 2026 Hardcover: $110.00; Paperback: $34.95; eBook: $34.95 Genre: Memoir Reviewed by Edward Journey Sometime in the late 1960s, my father took a side job printing a freshman booklet for the University of Alabama. Mom and I were recruited to collate, and I spent several evenings walking around the dining room table putting together and stapling pages for the crimson-clad manuals. As a kid aspiring to a college career, I paid special attention to the pages. Near the front of the publication were letters of welcome from two current UA students: Don Siegelman, the SGA president, and Jack Drake, a law school student. The names stuck with me, and over the years, I watched Siegelman become a successful Alabama politician, and, eventually, the governor. Drake was an attorney in Tuscaloosa, litigating cases involving civil and patients’ rights, when I matriculated at the University of Alabama in 1973. I spotted him around town back then and, occasionally, years later, at Birmingham Museum of Art events. We never met, but after following his career over the decades, I was curious to learn more about the writer and the backstory when Drake’s memoir, Be Not Afraid, was recently published. The book’s subtitle refers [...]
