Plaza

Do you speak a foreign language, but never get to practice? Are you learning a new language and want to practice more? Join us for Conversations @ the Plaza. The featured language for August is Spanish.

Join us for a taste of summer as Coffee-ol-ogy Coffee Café demonstrates how to make frozen and blended coffee drinks. Free tasting to follow with tropical truffles.

Visit the Plaza to relax, read, meet friends and enjoy the music of fiddler Kevin Nicholson. This event is FREE.

Opening Reception Sunday, June 27, 3-5 p.m.

Please join us for an ESL practice conversation. Beginners to the highly-fluent are welcome. This program is FREE and open to the public.

Join us as Carol Casey author of the Dear Baby books series speaks about the creative and business process of getting your book to market. Book sales and signing to follow. Open to everyone.

Please join us for an ESL practice conversation. Beginners to the highly-fluent are welcome. This program is FREE and open to the public.

Betsy Bancroft will discuss her most recent works of poetry, Wild Honeysuckle and Green Again. Book sales and signing to follow.

About the Author
Betsy Barber Bancroft is a distinguished author of poetry whose work incorporates the tumultuous emotions of life with the beauty of nature and the importance of family. She has been honored by the Education Department of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and by Northwestern State University of Louisiana, where her works are housed in the Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library. Her book of poetry Wild Honeysuckle won the Printing Industries of America Award of Excellence in Printing and Design upon its first publication.

A bout with typhoid fever in her early childhood contributed greatly to the depth of feeling in her work. Mrs. Bancroft’s affinity for nature dates back to her experiences growing up on her grandparent’s acreage and her love of the Alabama countryside. Having learned the importance of family early in life, Mrs. Bancroft never let her work get in the way of spending time with her children and husband. She stayed active in her community as well by becoming a member of multiple groups, including the National League of American Pen Women. She served as an officer of such groups as the Women’s Committee of 100 for Birmingham, the Alabama Writers’ Conclave, and the Alabama State Poetry Society. She is also a fifteen-year member of the board of directors for the Bluff Park Art Association.

Mrs. Bancroft spent three years at Howard College, now Samford University, studying English. She first sold her poetry at the Bluff Park Art Show, and she has been sharing her love of poetry through speaking, radio, and television opportunities ever since. Writing poetry and spending time with her family are what Mrs. Bancroft enjoys most. She is the grandmother of seven and the great-grandmother of two. Native to Birmingham, Alabama, and having lived in various places throughout the state, Mrs. Bancroft is once again proud to call Birmingham home.

Enjoy a concert-reading by Alabama author and songwriter Frye Gaillard and singer-songwriter Kathryn Scheldt exploring the power and poetry of Southern music. This event is free and open to the public.