Mobile-raised author Watt Key will be the featured guest at the History Museum of Mobile’s monthly Learning Lunch series on Wednesday, May 13, at noon, giving local readers a chance to hear from the writer behind some of the most acclaimed young adult fiction to come out of south Alabama in recent years.
Key, a Mobile native, earned his undergraduate degree at Birmingham-Southern College before returning home to complete an MBA at Spring Hill College. He was working as a computer programmer when he began sending his manuscripts to publishers, a pursuit that eventually launched a full-fledged literary career rooted in the landscapes and wildlife of the Alabama backcountry.
His debut novel, “Alabama Moon,” became a breakout success, earning the 2007 E.B. White Read Aloud Award and the 2006 Parents’ Choice Award. Time magazine later included the book on its list of the Top 100 Young Adult Novels of All Time, and the story has since been translated into eight languages, carrying Key’s Alabama-rooted storytelling to readers around the world.
Key followed that debut with the companion novel “Dirt Road Home” in 2010, then “Fourmile” two years later, both continuing to draw praise from critics and young readers alike. His catalog is set to grow further this year, with “Among the Swamp People” slated for a September 2015 release and “Terror at Bottle Creek” expected to follow in January 2016.
At the Learning Lunch, Key will discuss his path to publication and his approach to storytelling, and he will have copies of his work available for purchase, including “Alabama Moon” for $16. The event is free to attend, though guests are encouraged to bring their own lunch; the museum will provide complimentary beverages.
The History Museum of Mobile is located at 111 S. Royal St. in downtown Mobile. Those seeking more information about the Learning Lunch series can contact Howard McPhail, the museum’s Curator of Minority History, at 251-208-7557 or howard.mcphail@cityofmobile.org.
The appearance comes amid a busy stretch for arts and culture around Mobile. The Mobile Symphony Orchestra is closing out its season with a program of Russian romantic music at the Saenger Theatre, 6 S. Joachim St., on May 9 and 10. The concerts will feature Mikhail Glinka’s “Ruslan and Ludmila” Overture, Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major, known as the Classical Symphony, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, performed by pianist Olga Kern. Kern, who comes from a family with ties to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and trained at the Central Music School of Moscow, won first prize at the inaugural Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at age 17 and later took top honors at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001, going on to perform at the Kennedy Center and the White House. The Saturday, May 9, performance begins at 8 p.m., and the Sunday, May 10, matinee starts at 2:30 p.m. Tickets range from $20 to $100, with $10 tickets available for students from kindergarten through college; more information is available by calling 251-432-2010 or visiting mobilesymphony.org.
Elsewhere downtown, passersby near the new grocery store at the corner of Broad and Government streets may notice muralist Devlin Wilson at work on a large new wallscape for Greer’s latest location. Wilson, a co-owner of Innova Arts on St. Louis Street, is painting the wall facing Government Street United Methodist Church, known locally as the Bee Hive, with historic scenes of Greer’s markets and a collection of antique vehicles. A portrait of company founder Autry Greer is also planned for a separate wall. Wilson, working with Innova Arts partner Shelley Ingersoll on the project, has previously created greyscale murals depicting a paddlewheeler, the old drydocks entrance and other vintage Mobile street scenes near his St. Louis Street studio, along with murals at Loop Ice and Mobile Regional Airport.
And families looking for a stage show can catch “The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking” at Playhouse in the Park, Mobile’s oldest children’s theater, running May 1 through 17 at 4851 Museum Drive in Langan Park. The story, created roughly 70 years ago by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, follows the mischievous 9-year-old Pippi and her friends, the horse, the monkey, and neighbor children Tommy and Annika. School performances are set for Friday, May 1, at 9 and 10:30 a.m., geared toward students in kindergarten through sixth grade, though open to all; teachers can reserve tickets by calling 251-422-0079. Public performances run Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m., with reservations recommended by calling the Playhouse at 251-602-0630. Reserved tickets must be picked up at least 10 minutes before showtime, and any unclaimed seats will be released for first-come, first-served purchase at the box office. More information is available at playhouseinthepark.org.