Photos from 2006

L-R: BSC President Dr. David Pollick, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute President Emerita
Odessa Woolfolk, 2006 Grand Master and former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove, and
Writing Today 2006 Co-Chair Nabella Shunnarah. Ms. Woolfolk introduced Ms. Dove at
the Grand Master luncheon in March 2006

Advisory Committee member Abe Fawal greets Writing Today 2006 Major Speaker Nathalie Handal. Ms. Handal is a poet, writer, playwright, and cultural activist who addresses women's issues and Palestinian culture in her work.

Advisory Committee members Janet Davis and Myra Crawford welcome novelist Mark Childress to Writing Today 2006

Opening morning of Writing Today 2006. L-R: Advisory Committee member Shaun Crawford, Chairman Ron Council, Co-chair Nabella Shunnarah, Advisory Committee member and Director of the Hackey Literary Awards Myra Crawford. (Ron Council's wife Martha, an avid supporter of the conference, is in the background.)

Advisory committee members, program guests, and community leaders enjoy the annual Authors and Patrons Party held at Southern Progress Corporation during each conference. Enjoying the evening are L-R: Advisory Committee member Ruth Cook, German author Fred Viebahn (husband of the Grand Master), 2006 Grand Master Rita Dove, Writing Today 2006 Co-chair Nabella Shunnarah.

Birmingham native and BSC alumna Nancy Huddleston Packer visits with conference patron Joe Johnson. Ms. Packer is Professor of English Emerita at Stanford University and former director of the Creative Writing Program there.

Major Speaker Nathalie Handal and violinist Karen Bentley Pollick (wife of the president of BSC) delighted the closing session of Writing Today 2006 with profound musical settings for Ms. Handal’s poetry. Visiting together after that performance are L-R: Co-Chair Nabella Shunnarah, Ka

BSC President Dr. David Pollick greets Birmingham Civil Rights Institute founder Odessa Woolfolk.

Odessa Woolfolk visits with Grand Master Rita Dove and Major Speaker Douglas Hofstadter during Writing Today 2006.

Odessa Woolfolk greets 2006 Major Speaker Juan Williams. Mr. Williams is a senior correspondent with National Public Radio and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel. .

Advisory Committee member Hank Collins visits with Major Speaker Nathalie Handal and Advisory Committee member Abe Fawal during the 2006 Authors and Patrons Party at Southern Progress Corporation.

Advisory Committee member Shaun Crawford visits with faculty member Deborah Serra. Ms. Serra is a screenwriter and adjunct professor of screenwriting at the University of California at San Diego

Hackney Poetry Award winner for 2006 James Mersmann, a poet, teacher, and literary critic. Writing Today presents the Hackney Literary Awards, including cash prizes, at the conference each year. This competition has been sponsored since 1969 by the Cecil Hackney family.

Dr.Wayne Flynt conducts a session on writing about Alabama during the 2006 conference. Dr. Flynt is Professor Emeritus of Auburn University and editor-in-chief of the new online Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Major Speaker Douglas Hofstadter greets his former high school classmate Karen Bentley Pollick, wife of BSC President Dr. David Pollick. Dr. Hofstadter teaches cognitive science and computer science at Indiana University. He won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and is an American Book Award recipient.