UA Writer’s Harvest will Support West Alabama Food Bank

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama Writer’s Harvest will be held on campus Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in 205 Smith Hall with proceeds from the event going to benefit the West Alabama Food Bank.

The UA Writer’s Harvest – part of a national campaign to fight hunger sponsored by Share Our Strength – will feature more than a dozen local and University writers, reading poetry, short works of fiction, nonfiction and essays in the benefit event.

Admission is free with a donation or a contribution of canned goods, which will go to the West Alabama Food Bank, located in Tuscaloosa.

The West Alabama Food Bank is a nonprofit organization working to fight hunger in nine West Alabama counties: Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa. The food bank operates a 10,000-square-foot warehouse with on-site cold storage from which its member agencies distribute food to the hungry in communities throughout the area. During the past 15 years, West Alabama Food Bank member agencies have distributed more than 7 million pounds of food.

This year marks the sixth consecutive year that the UA English department has participated in the Writer’s Harvest, the nation’s largest reading series. Each year, the event raises millions of dollars in grants and gathers thousands of pounds of food for hunger-fighting organizations throughout the country.

Event organizers say that every night 30 percent of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry. The Writer’s Harvest is an easy way to contribute, assist the less fortunate and support local writers, they add.

The list of writers who will read Thursday night includes: Tony Bolden, Andy Duncan, Sophia Karsonis, Josh Bell, Faizah Sari, Paul Guest, Teresa Pappas, Tim Early, Jolee Gibbons, David Nighttrain Parker, T.J. Beitelman, Eliot Khalil Wilson and Robert Geyer.