Birmingham’s inaugural FOOD+ Culture festival kicked off this week with a series of tastings, luncheons, speakers and dinners. While the four-day celebration of Alabama’s food and hospitality scene features a number of ticketed signature events, one of the festival’s most immersive highlights will be “Inked and Echoed” the free four-hour literary showcase during FOOD + FARMERS, the special edition of the Saturday Market at Pepper Place.

Presented by the Alabama Humanities Alliance and the Little Professor, the celebration of Southern stories will feature cookbooks by chefs participating in the festival and books from authors in the region, coupled with a series of book signings.

Inked and Echoed will also feature a lineup of discussions and poetry readings about Southern food, history, and culture. The signings and conversation will take place on the patio of Ovenbird restaurant in Pepper Place.

AHA outreach coordinator Tania Russell and Salaam Green, the founder of Literary Healing Arts, designed Inked and Echoed to foster conversation about the impact women have sustained evolution of the South’s history and foodways. Saturday’s participants include vegan organic farmer Yawah Awolowo and Lisa McNair and Kimberly McNair Brock, the sisters of Denise McNair, one of the four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

“You get civil rights activists. You get agriculture. You get people. Almost everyone on these panels are educators,” said Russell. “One of the functions of this is that Black and brown people exist on different forefronts of foodways.”

Headed to “Inked and Echoed”? Here’s a rundown of the book signings, culture panels, and poetry performances.

BOOK SIGNINGS

8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m: Erica Barrett, restauranteur and executive chef at SOCU

9 a.m. -9:30 a.m: -David Guas, executive chef and restauranteur at Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery

9:30-10 a.m.: Toni Tipton Martin: James Beard award-winning author and editor-in-chief of Cook’s Country

10-10:30 a.m.: Emily Blewjas, author of “The Story of Alabama in 14 Foods”

10:30 a.m.-11 a.m.: – Justin Robinson, chef and owner of the brand Rock Star Chef

11 a.m-11:30 a.m.: Ann Taylor Pittman, executive food editor of Cooking Light magazine and Scott Mowbray, editor of Cooking Light.

11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Lisa McNair, speaker and author of “Dear Denise”

PANELS AND POETRY READINGS

8:35 – 9:15 a.m.: 21st Century Food, Culture, and Farming in the South

Salaam Green will moderate a panel about Southern agriculture with Ama ‘Ifabagmila’ Shambulia, chef and owner of A Beautiful Life Enterprises, Susan D. Mitchell, the director of Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust, and vegan organic farmer and chef Yawah Awolowo.

9:18 – 9:23 a.m.: Poetry: Kerry B & Queen Da Poetess, Owners of Majesty Lounge

9:25– 9:55 a.m.: Sweet Home Alabama Story Time with April McClung Owner of Emily’s Heirloom Poundcakes

Emily Blejwas, the author of the “Story of Alabama in Fourteen Foods” will interview April McClung, the CEO of Emily’s Heirloom Poundcakes

9:57 – 10:02 a.m.: Poetry by Karima Moor

10:05 – 10:35 p.m. Urban Birmingham Culture and Food Stories

Salaam Green will moderate a conversation about business and food with Tanisha Foster the founder of Chop Friendly and Tanesha Sims-Summers the owner of Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co.

10:40 – 11:25 a.m. The Freedom of Food and Culture Talk: Author Signing with Q & A

Salaam Green will join Kimberly McNair Brock, chef, and business owner of Bitty’s Living Kitchen, and Lisa McNair, the author of “Dear Denise” for a conversation about food, history, and culture.

11:25 – 11:30 a.m.: Closing remarks by Tania Russell