Exclusive: First Joint Interview with Poet Laureates, Ashley M. Jones and Salaam Green, on Making History

By Javacia Harris Bowser | For The Birmingham Times It’s a sunny Tuesday in January, and Salaam Green is making a couple of stops in the Magic City. First, she attends a Birmingham City Council meeting, which is no ordinary gathering—it’s where she is sworn in as Birmingham’s first Poet Laureate. Now, Green is arriving at the Birmingham Museum of Art for a conversation with another local poet who has made history—Ashley M. Jones, Poet Laureate of the state of Alabama. In 2021, Jones was tapped to serve as the state’s Poet Laureate from 2022 to 2026. Jones, 33, is the first person of color and the youngest person to hold this position since it was established in Alabama 93 years ago. In December, Green, 48, was announced as the city of Birmingham’s inaugural 2024–2025 Poet Laureate. Green is the founder and director of The Literary Healing Arts, a program designed to “promote the healing power of words,” and a certified trainer for the Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) initiative. She is also well known in the local literary community for leading her “Write to Heal” workshops—a series of seminars that teach both individuals and organizations how...