The Department of English at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is excited to host the H.E. Francis Readers and Writers Festival. The festive will be held Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, in Morton Hall. The festival is completely free and open to not only UAH students, but all members of the greater Huntsville community. It will feature readings from Susan Tekulve, James Braziel, and Sam Moe.
A Department of English tradition, the Flash Fiction Contest comes with a prize! The top two writers will each receive a $50 gift card. Flash Fiction encompasses an entire story arc in one brief moment. It is suggested (but not required) that your flash fiction stories should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, which consists of a “twist.”
In order to submit to the Flash Fiction contest, your piece must be a minimum of 300 words, and a maximum of 1,000 words. Your story should have a tentative title, be written in 12-point Times New Roman Font, and double-spaced. To register and submit entry, please visit our entry page.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE FLASH FICTION CONTEST, INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP CONFERENCES, AND THE STUDENT/COMMUNITY READING.
Schedule of Events
Friday, April 4
5:00 – 5:50 pm Flash Fiction Contest. Morton Hall room 145.
6:00 – 7:00 pm Readings by Sam Moe and Susan Tekulve. Morton Hall room 145.
7:00 – 8:00 pm Reception and Book Signing. Morton Hall Atrium.
Saturday, April 5
10:00 am – 12:00 pm Small Group Conferences. Various Locations in Morton Hall.
12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch. Morton Hall room 106.
2:00 – 2:50 pm Academic Roundtable. Morton Hall room 146.
3:00 – 3:50 pm Academic Roundtable Morton Hall room 146.
4:00 – 4:50 pm Reading by James Braziel Morton Hall room 145.
5:00 – 5:50 pm Light Refreshments. Morton Hall Atrium.
6:00 – 7:30 pm Student and Community Reading. Morton Hall room 145
Author Bios
Susan Tekulve’s newest book Bodies of Light is her first full-length poetry collection. She is the author of Second Shift: Essays (Del Sol Press) and In the Garden of Stone (Hub City Press), winner of the South Carolina Novel Prize and a Gold IPPY Award. She’s also published two short story collections: Savage Pilgrims (Serving House Books) and My Mother’s War Stories (Winnow Press). Her photo essay, “White Blossoms,” appeared in Issue 12 of the KYSO Flash Anthology. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry has appeared in journals such as Denver Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Louisville Review, Puerto del Sol, New Letters, and Shenandoah. Her web chapbook, Wash Day, appears in the Web Del Sol International Chapbook Series, and her story collection, My Mother’s War Stories, received the 2004 Winnow Press fiction prize. She has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She teaches in the BFA and MFA writing programs at Converse University.
James Braziel is the author of four books, most recently Glass Cabin (cowritten with his wife, Tina Mozelle Braziel). A meditation on hope, on frustration, and on people’s places in the wilder parts of the world, Glass Cabin (Pulley Press) chronicles the thirteen years the Braziels spent building their home by hand on a ridge in rural Alabama. Glass Cabin was named Southern Literary Review’s 2024 Poetry Book of the Year, and one of AWF’s Best Books of 2024. His collection of stories, This Ditch-Walking Love, won the Tartt Fiction Award. Ditch-Walking (Livingston Press) was inspired by the people who live on Alabama’s Cumberland Plateau. His novels, Birmingham, 35 Miles (Bantam) and Snakeskin Road (Bantam) follow a family in the aftermath of an environmental disaster in the future South. His shorter works have appeared in the New York Times and other places. He has received fellowships from Hot Springs National Park, Alabama State Council on the Arts, and Georgia Council for the Arts. He has been a writer-in-residence at the Lowrey Guest House at Auburn University, and he currently teaches creative writing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Sam Moe’s newest book I Might Trust You is her first full-length short fiction collection. She is the author of Heart Weeds (Alien Buddha Press), Grief Birds (BS Lit), and Cicatrizing the Daughters, forthcoming in Spring 2025 from FlowerSong Press. Her chapbook, Animal Heart, won second place in the 3-Day International Chapbook Contest, judged by Diane Seuss. Her fiction, memoir, and poetry has appeared in journals such as Brink Literary, Peatsmoke, Thirty West Publishing, Invisible City, The Texas Review, The Southeast Review, The Penn Review, and others. She has received nine Pushcart nominations and ten Best of the Net nominations. She has attended the Sewanee Writers’ conference and received fellowships from the Longleaf Writers’ Conference, Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference, the Key West Literary Seminar, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. In spring and summer 2025, she will be an artist and writer in residence at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow and Château d’Orquevaux. She teaches creative writing at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Conference Closing: Student and Community Reading
We invite attendees and participants of the festival to publicly share in the reading of their writing. Writers of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction are welcome. You do not have to be a student to read. Readers will be limited to five minutes maximum (at most 2 pages of double-spaced material).
Questions about the Event
For questions about the event, please contact the UAH Department of English at english@uah.edu.