Paper, in the hands of acclaimed artist Imin Yeh, becomes a method for recreating and commenting on common objects in the world around us.

Dr. Reena Esmail, a celebrated Indian American composer who has spent more than 25 years creating vivid mixtures of Indian and Western classical traditions, is the next featured speaker in the Dr. Mulk R. Arora Endowed Lecture series presented by ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH) College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences.

The Department of English at ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH) would like to share this year's schedule for the H.E. Francis Readers and Writers Festival. The festival will take place on April 3-4, 2026, at Morton Hall on the campus of UAH.

The H.E. Francis Readers and Writers Festival celebrates the life of Herbert E. Francis, Jr. (1924-2024), Fiction writer and Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville from 1966-1988. Founder of the literary magazine Poem, and the recipient of multiple Fulbright Scholarships, Francis was an immense credit to the English department, and he was beloved by his peers and students alike.

Schedule of Events

Friday, April 3

Creative Writing at UAH
Morton 288 - Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Students will meet and discuss creative writing in a college setting. Students will hear from current faculty and creative writing students.

Workshop Sessions 1 - 3

Workshop Session 1: Publishing Your Creative Writing
Morton 288 - Friday, 11 a.m. - 11:45 p.m.
Workshop Group 1 will be a quick dive into the world of publishing single pieces of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. At the end of the presentation, there will be resources available to students interested in publishing collections. A Q&A will follow.

Workshop Session 2: Lunch/Tour
Morton 286 - Friday, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Participants will have lunch and a tour of Morton Hall, hosted by College Ambassadors.

Workshop Session 3: Reading Your Creative Writing Out Loud
Morton 289 - Friday, 1 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Workshop Group 2 will help students learn about how to present their writing at creative writing readings and events. A Q&A will follow.

Kick-Off Event: Flash Fiction Contest
Morton 145 - Friday, 5:00 pm.
An English Department tradition, the Flash Fiction Contest comes with the prize of a $50 gift card to two separate winners. Hear contestants read their works and congratulate the winners!

Keynote Reading: Emma Bolden, with Bradley Sides and Sam Moe
Morton 145 - Friday, 6:00 pm.
Bradley Sides will be reading from his latest book of fiction, Crocodile Didn’t Cause the Flood. Sam Moe will be reading from her newest book of poetry, Cicatrizing the Daughters. Emma Bolden will be reading selections from her new book, The Tiger and the Cage: A Memoir of a Body in Crisis. After, Sam Moe and Emma Bolden will co-interview each other about querying agents, and all things publishing.

Keynote Reception
Morton Atrium - Friday, 7:30 pm.

Saturday, April 4

Small Group Conferences and Workshops
Morton Hall (various locations) Saturday, 10:00 am.
Requires advance registration. Writers will work in small groups, led by a group leader. Participants should consult their email for specific directions.

Small Group Lunch
Morton 106 - Saturday, Noon.
For participants in the Small Group Conferences and Workshops.

Workshop 1
Morton 145 - Saturday, 2:00 pm.
Workshops will focus on the theme of worldbuilding (students will be put into separate groups). Students are welcome to interpret the theme openly, and for any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction). Some groups will have the opportunity to write during the session based on prompts distributed and some groups will need to bring examples to class.

The Author or the Algorithm? Rethinking Creativity in the AI Era
Morton 145 - Saturday, 3:00 pm.

This roundtable stages a lively debate between creative writers and instructors on one pressing question: is there a place for generative AI in creative work? Panelists will consider competing positions on authorship, originality, pedagogy, and the boundaries between human and machine-made writing, offering both sharp critiques and cautious endorsements of AI’s role in the field. Designed as an open exchange rather than a consensus-building conversation, the event invites attendees to grapple with the stakes of AI in writing and to decide for themselves where they stand.

Workshop 2
Morton 145 - Saturday, 4:00 pm.
Gianina Gabriel’s workshop about craft and creative writing. Exploring the personal narrative in collage and poetry, using symbolism, dualities, and surrealism. She will be selling leather accessories, collage prints, and poems after the event.

Break w/ light refreshments 5:00 - 6:00

Closing Community and Student Open Mic
Morton 145 - Saturday, 6:00 pm.
All writers are invited to share their writing - poetry, prose, and everything in between - at this open mic celebration. Readers are limited to 5 minutes.

For questions about the event schedule, please contact english@uah.edu. 

Author Bios

Emma Bolden

Emma Bolden is the author of a memoir, The Tiger and the Cage (Soft Skull), and the poetry collections House Is an Enigma, medi(t)ations, and Maleficae. Her fourth poetry collection, God Elegy, is forthcoming from BOA Editions. An NEA Fellowship recipient, her work has been featured in The Norton Introduction to Literature, The Best American Poetry, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Slowdown.

Bradley Sides

Bradley Sides is the author of two previous short story collections, Those Fantastic Lives and Crocodile Tears Didn't Cause the Flood, a 2024 Book of the Year finalist at Southern Literary Review. His work has been featured at Electric Literature, LeVar Burton Reads, Lit Hub, The Millions, The Rumpus, and elsewhere, and he is the host of "The Southern Summer Book Club" at Southern Review of Books. His next book, The Volcano Keeper, will hit bookstores this October.

Gianina Gabriel

Gianina Fleming Gabriel is a writer, artist and designer. A graduate of School of The Art Institute of Chicago (BFA 2011). She has been handcrafting leather goods under her brand, Well-Loved, since 2012. Gianina uses collage and poetry to explore the complexities of motherhood and relationships. Her work is playful and surreal, the truth is told through an imaginative lens. Originally from Chicago, she now lives in Huntsville with her husband and two daughters.

Sam Moe

Sam Moe the author of nine books. Her most recent poetry collection, RED HALCYON, is forthcoming from Querencia Press. Her debut short story collection, I MIGHT TRUST YOU, is out from Experiments in Fiction (2025). She has attended the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and received fellowships from the Longleaf Writer’s conference and the Key West Literary Seminar. Sam has also attended residencies at The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, VCCA, and Château d’Orquevau.

Dr. Jodi Price loves to celebrate good news with her students at ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System.

Local talent combines with guest artists to form exciting musical configurations for the spring 2026 Constellation Concert Series at ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH).

A podcast duo invites us to rethink the world through our ears instead of our eyes. An acclaimed scholar explores an American literary icon’s journey to the righteous fury of civil rights activism. And humanities researchers at ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH) share the varied ways they examine people and cultures across time.

American writer James Baldwin’s civil rights trajectory changed profoundly in the wake of the bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963.

It can happen anywhere on campus – standing in line for food, sitting together in class, having fun with the Association for Campus Entertainment (ACE).

ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, is accepting student applications for the Charger Innovation Challenge (CIC): Serious Games Edition, a semester-long ‘hackathon’ launching in Spring 2026.

ÒùÆÞÉç (UAH) honors the outstanding work of its students during the summer and fall 2025 semesters with the announcement of the Dean’s and President’s lists.