The Poet Laureate of Alabama, Ashley M. Jones, will give a poetry reading at Berry College Friday.
The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be at 4 p.m. in the College Chapel as part of the Georgia Poetry Circuit. Berry is a member of the Georgia Poetry Circuit, which works to bring acclaimed poets to 10 Georgia colleges. Jones is the first black Alabama Poet Laureate.
Jones has published three poetry collections, each of which garnered critical acclaim. Her debut, “Magic City”, was published in 2017 and received the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards. Her second collection, entitled “dark // thing”, was awarded the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry, and her most recent release “REPARATIONS NOW!” was longlisted for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry.
Her accolades further include the Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize, the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award, and an Alabama Author award from the Alabama Library Association. She also received a Literature Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Jones earned her MFA degree at Florida International University, and her work has appeared in CNN, the Academy of American Poetry, and POETRY. She is the founding director for the Magic City Poetry Festival and is a co-director for PEN Birmingham. Jones teaches Creative Writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.
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Written by Public Relations Student Assistant Caroline Cleland
Office of Public Relations
