Lots going on in the next few days.

Day after tomorrow, April 19, I am taking 15 students to Alabama State University’s annual High School Journalism program, which this year is focused on the First Amendment in the Service of Civil Rights. The panel discussions will include journalists, activists and other speakers discussing how journalism played a role in the movement.

Then the Alabama Book Festival is Saturday, April 21. We have the Student Readers Group with Solomon Seay, Jr. to open the day at 9 AM, my students’ display table in the exhibitor area throughout the day, and my talk about Children of the Changing South to end the day at 4 PM. The Alabama Book Festival is also free and open to the public.

Finally, next Tuesday, April 24, at AUM, the ceremony and reception for the Department of Liberal Arts’ Distinguished Alumnus Award will be held in the Library Tower at 6:30. That event is . . . you guessed it, free and open to the public.

Finally, the following Saturday, April 28, four of my students and I will be at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for the awards ceremony of their Young Southern Writers Project competition. Those four students were all named finalists, and we will find out that day who takes top honors.