FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Fairhope Public Library will host two September events, giving residents the chance to read poetry aloud and to hear from a shark biologist with 36 years of research behind him.
Poetry Open Mic Night, Sept. 15
The Poetry Open Mic Night is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The program follows a similar event held in April for National Poetry Month.
Mike Turner, Alabama’s Poet of the Year for 2025, will again serve as master of ceremonies alongside local poet and author Deb Hackbarth.
The free event is open to everyone. Participants are invited to bring a poem to read — famous, obscure or their own work. Registration is required for anyone planning to read.
To register, call (251) 929-1464 or visit the Fairhope Public Library Reference Desk.
Bring Someone Else’s Poem
The detail worth highlighting is that readers may bring work that is not their own. Open mic events often carry an implicit expectation of original material, which deters people who read poetry but do not write it.
Removing that expectation changes who shows up. Someone who has carried a favorite poem for thirty years and never read it aloud in a room has something to contribute, and hearing a range of work chosen by different readers produces a different evening than a succession of original pieces.
The Poet of the Year designation Turner holds is conferred through the Alabama State Poetry Society, which has supported poets across the state since 1969 through readings, competitions and publication.
Shark Talk With Dr. Glenn R. Parsons, Sept. 24
The library will host Dr. Glenn R. Parsons for “Shark Talk” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.
The all-ages presentation will focus on sharks and on Parsons’ extensive work with the animals, which inhabit the region’s marine environment. He will discuss the role sharks play in the ecosystem and the science behind animals that are frequently feared and misunderstood.
Copies of his books, including a new fiction thriller, will be available for purchase.
Who Parsons Is
Parsons retired from academia in 2022 after 36 years as a professor of biology at the University of Mississippi. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, a master’s from the University of South Alabama and a doctorate from the University of South Florida.
An internationally recognized ocean researcher, he has published numerous scientific papers and books on fishes. His primary research area was shark biology, and he has studied sharks extensively in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the waters surrounding Dauphin Island and Mobile Bay.
That last detail gives the talk local specificity. A researcher who has worked the waters off Dauphin Island is describing the animals in the water where the audience swims and fishes, not sharks in the abstract.
Why the Ecosystem Framing Matters
Parsons’ stated focus on the role sharks play in the ecosystem reflects a well-established point in marine science that rarely reaches a general audience.
Sharks are apex predators, and their principal ecological function is regulating the populations below them — not only through predation but by influencing where prey species feed and how they behave. Remove the predator and prey populations change their distribution and abundance, which affects the species below them in turn.
Documented consequences of shark declines in some systems have included cascading effects on shellfish beds and seagrass, both of which matter directly along the northern Gulf Coast.
Shark populations globally have declined substantially, driven largely by fishing pressure. That decline sits awkwardly beside the public perception of sharks as a threat, which is the gap a talk like this one is meant to address.
The Gulf of Mexico supports a considerable diversity of shark species, and the waters around Mobile Bay and Dauphin Island are used by several as nursery habitat — shallow, protected areas where young sharks grow before moving offshore.
Two Different Rooms
The pairing of these events within a single month illustrates what a public library does that no other institution quite replicates.
One evening is participatory, drawing people who will stand and read. The other is a lecture, drawing people who want to learn something from a researcher who spent a career on the subject. Neither requires a ticket, a membership or a credential.
Event Details
Poetry Open Mic Night
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Free; registration required to read: (251) 929-1464 or the library Reference Desk
Shark Talk with Dr. Glenn R. Parsons
Thursday, Sept. 24, 6 p.m.
All ages; books available for purchase
Both events are at the Fairhope Public Library.