Festival Headliner, Jon Meacham
The Hoover Public Library is set to host the 2026 Southern Voices Festival, a celebration of Southern literature, art, and music that has grown into one of the region’s most anticipated cultural events.
Taking place in February, the festival draws together authors, visual artists, and musicians, offering audiences an immersive experience that spans genres and generations.
Continue reading Southern Voices Festival 2026: Celebrate the Literary Spirit
Every parent wants to raise children who are both imaginative and courageous. Books remain one of the most powerful tools for nurturing these qualities in young minds. Through stories, children learn to dream big, face their fears, and explore new possibilities in safe yet meaningful ways.
The right books can transform how children see themselves and the world around them. When kids encounter characters who overcome obstacles or create something beautiful from nothing, they internalize those lessons. They begin to understand that creativity and bravery aren’t mysterious traits reserved for heroes but qualities anyone can develop.
Continue reading 7 Types of Books That Teach Kids About Being Creative and Brave
Photo By Gail
This bronze figure of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) appeared in 2023 on New York City’s 5th Avenue, near Central Park on a low wall in the garden of the Payne Whitney Mansion, which houses the Villa Albertine, the cultural center of the French Embassy. This statue is based on the beloved character from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 novella, which is one of the most translated and best-selling books in the world, though I have never read it.
Continue reading The Little Prince Bronze Statue on 5th Avenue
If you’ve ever walked past your bookshelf and felt, just felt, that your bobblehead was giving you the side-eye, you’re not paranoid — you’re perceptive. In her hilarious new release, Tchotchkes and Their F*cked-Up Thoughts (The Collective Book Studio, $15.95), Elisabeth Saake confirms what many of us suspected all along: our collectibles have opinions, and most of them are deeply unhinged.
Continue reading Yes, It Exists: Tchotchkes And Their Fucked Up Thoughts
Photo By Gail
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Bob Stinson of The Replacements took a drunken detour into Dante’s Inferno, well, Stinson’s Inferno answers that question in the most gloriously unhinged way possible. This 24-page graphic novel is a punk-rock fever dream where LA’s Sunset Strip stands in for Hell, and Stinson, guided by none other than Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones (as Virgil), stumbles his way through an afterlife packed with fallen rock gods. Yes, it exists. Continue reading Yes, It Exists: Stinson’s Inferno Graphic Novel
