Women’s Studies and the Salmon Library are partnering in a series of programs featuring local writers reading their work. We hope to eventually draw in a diversity of writing groups from Huntsville and its environs, and we are beginning with the focus on women writers.

The series begins Friday, February 11th, at 4 pm with the Coweeta Poets: Susan Luther, Rosemary McMahan, Margaret Vann, Erin Reid, Debbie West, Rose Norman, and Evelyn Hurley. This group got started in the 1990s at a retreat led by Susan Luther at McClure Mill, near Franklin,NC, on the porch over Coweeta Creek, and has been meeting quarterly in each other’s homes ever since. They will be reading from their new chapbook, Something More Solid Than Earth.

The series continues on Tuesday, February 22, at 6 pm, with a program called “She Speaks,” featuring poetry by Ruth Braswell, Katina Walton, Symonia Montgomery, Shawana Ariel, La’Shea Monique Johnson, and Caneeka Miller. La’Shea has a new book, Paradigm: Poetry Through Life Lessons. Caneeka Miller, whose work will be featured, also has a new book of poems, Smeared Eyeliner & Faded Lipstick.

On March 8, at 7 pm, the series will celebrate International Women’s Day with readings by the local writing group BWFFs: Susan Gorrell, Erin Reid, Susan Phelan, Kathie Butler, Marylyn Coffey, Heather Kilgore, Betty Clemens, Sandra Shattuck, and Bee Barbara.

All readings are at the Salmon Library art gallery, on the ground floor just past the reference desk, near Jazzman’s Cafe. Admission is free, and Jazzman’s Café will be open before the Tuesday night readings. We expect Coffeehouse Writers programs to continue through the end of April and will be advertising them in groups of several programs at a time.

For information about the programs, to propose a program for the series, or to become a sponsor for the series, call Marylyn Coffey at 256-824-6114 or email coffeymt@uah.edu.